The Light - Chapter 2

“So tell me how you know my father,” Anna directed at Nathan as he got in the turning lane to get onto the interstate. She had just realized that she had no clothes packed, no toiletries, and no idea of how long she would be wherever they were going. But she did have her Visa, so she pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind for now.


“Um… I’ve actually known your dad for quite a while now. He’s a really great man. You should be very proud of him.”

Anna didn’t know which feeling was worse… the anger she felt towards her dad for fooling someone else into thinking he was a “great man” or the jealousy she felt towards Nathan for having been in her dad’s life more than she had.

“I wouldn’t exactly say that. The man did abandon my mother and me for all these years. Or did you not know that?”

She looked over at Nathan as he lowered his head and took a deep breath. She really hoped he wasn’t about to start defending the man who ripped her world apart. She clinched her fists and turned back towards the window, just in time to see another street lamp blow out. There was no grin this time.

They were silent for what seemed like hours; Anna staring out the window, her mind replaying that dreadful day sixteen years ago over and over again; Nathan concentrating on driving and sneaking looks over at Anna every few minutes. She noticed that his right hand kept making spastic jerking movements, like he wanted to reach out to hold hers but kept deciding against it. But that was silly… he didn’t even know her.

Anna finally broke the silence when he got off on the exit towards South Carolina.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

She looked over at him. He had such a soft expression on his face, almost painful… like it was hurting him to look at her.

“We’re going to meet Paul. He’s in a little town in South Carolina called Cope.”

Cope… that’s ironic since that’s exactly what he couldn’t do with the life he had with Mom and me.

“Why is he in South Carolina? And why didn’t he come and get me himself? Tell me what’s going on!” she demanded.

Again, Nathan looked pained, like he couldn’t stand for her to be mad at him. It didn’t make any sense to her, but she figured maybe she could use it to her advantage.

She tried to put a pitiful look on her face. She had been in a few small productions in high school… this shouldn’t be too hard.

“Please,” she said, proud of how pathetic she sounded. “Please, just tell me what’s going on.”

He looked over at her, and she was shocked to see his eyes beginning to glisten with tears. Wow, she was better than she thought.

“Look… I’m really sorry to be putting you through all of this. You have no idea how sorry I am. But Paul asked me to come and get you and bring you to him. That’s all I’m allowed to tell you. But I promise, there’s nothing for you to worry about. You’re safe with me.”

She could tell that he truly meant every word of it. It was oddly endearing, and she felt that strong attraction to him again. But that wasn’t going to get her anywhere.

“Can you at least tell me how much longer it will be until we get there? I’m…” she was cut off by the loud growl of her stomach. That was a trait she was always embarrassed of as a child. She was normally very good at keeping something in her stomach to keep the beast at bay, but food hadn’t really crossed her mind in the past several hours.

“Do you want to stop and get something to eat?” Nathan asked, looking a little more relaxed. His cute little grin was back on his face now.

“We don’t really have time to stop anywhere, but I’ll go through a drive-thru if you’re hungry.”

Well… she was hungry. She was about to say so when her stomach answered for her. She blushed a little and looked down. Why did she have to be such a baby?

Nathan pointed to a sign addressing the available restaurants at the next exit.

“Is Chick-fil-A okay?”

It happened to be her favorite. They had the best milkshakes, and she was a milkshake-aholic.

“Yeah, that’ll be fine I guess.”

They pulled off the exit and found the Chick-fil-A half a mile on the right. It looked pretty deserted. Nathan pulled up to the speaker and ordered two of what Anna had asked for: a chicken sandwich and a cookies and cream milkshake with chocolate syrup added.

Is he just trying to get on my good side, she wondered, or does he normally order that?

She didn’t have much time to ponder that though. As they rounded the corner, two police officers stepped out of their parked cruiser and made their way towards the side door of the restaurant, which happened to be right beside the drive-thru window. Anna could hear Nathan’s breath catch in his throat. She thought for a moment that he was about to gun it and potentially run over one or both of the officers. But instead he just looked over at her… his eyes pleading… his breath still stuck in his throat.

“It’s alright,” Anna told him in a reassuring voice. She had made up her mind the second he mentioned her father’s name. Sure, part of her was yearning to start screaming at the top of her lungs and waving hysterically to get the cops’ attentions. But that part was largely outweighed by her need to see her father and find out what was going on. And despite everything, she really did trust Nathan.

He started to breathe again but didn’t take his eyes off of her until the policemen were both inside the building, he had paid for their food, and they were back on the interstate.

“Thank you,” he finally said to her as she was spreading the low-fat mayo onto her sandwich.

“No problem,” Anna responded, grinning over at him as she took a big bite.