What They Left Behind
Lauren had spent the last four days crying on and off in her cubbyhole bedroom. Why did life always want to take a crap on her? She would strive and strive again, but everything was always just out of her reach. And now this. As she wiped her eyes, she thought how stupid she was to have any feelings at all for Ben. The love part was all a big fantasy; she knew she would never be anything more than his sous chef. The daydreaming about a secret romance, it was obvious nothing would ever come of it. But she couldn’t leave well enough alone. She just had to go out there and test the waters, to see if he felt the same way too. Of course, she slipped up and not only was he not remotely interested, but she found out she was committing incest inside her own head. She was disgusted beyond belief.
She had totally burned all her bridges. She couldn’t dare face Ben again after what she told him. He probably thought she was a pervert now. So, that meant she couldn’t go back to being a sous chef at Michele’s. And Remi…she hadn’t written to him in about a month and a half. He probably gave up and found a new girlfriend, a wealthy French one. What was she going to do now?
Her mother was sleeping in her bedroom, oblivious to her cries. Lauren had no idea who she would turn to for help. As much as she adored Uncle Foster, she was afraid to tell him what had happened. Obviously, her real father was a long kept family secret, and he might be angry with her now that she found out the truth. The only solution she could see was to pack up and go somewhere else. She needed to start a new life away from her sick mother and this whole entire mess. She had cashed her four hundred dollar check a last week but hadn’t spent a cent of it yet. The first thing she would do with the money was buy a bus ticket out of town.
She walked through the house to the living room, where she took two suitcases out of the coat closet and brought them to her bedroom. She put as much of her clothing as she could in both of them and zipped them both closed. She didn’t bother with toiletries, she figured she could just stop at a K-Mart or Wal-Mart at the end of her journey and pick up what she needed there. She lifted both suitcases and made a quick exit out the back door. She ran down the rickety stairs, unlocked the gate, and slammed it behind her. She exhaled in relief when she reached Twenty-Fourth Street. The bus stop was only a few steps away. She would take the BART as far as it would go, which she was sure was all the way down to Millbrae. She would figure out where she wanted to go next when she got there. Now, her future was near. She said a silent goodbye to all her problems.
She took two steps toward the bus stop when she heard what sounded like a large freight train coming her way. Then she could have sworn she felt the entire sidewalk vibrate. At first, it was so subtle she barely noticed it but suddenly the vibration became an all-out tremor. She froze in terror. She could hear all the buildings shaking on their foundations. Of course, there wasn’t a soul around, even though it was five o’clock in the evening. Where were people when you needed them?
The next tremor brought her to her knees. She lay face down on the sidewalk, hoping the ground wouldn’t open up and swallow her. Now she could see the tremors. Shutters, rain gutters, and even whole facades quivered and were falling loose onto the sidewalk.
She heard something creaking and looked up just in time to see a light pole leaning dangerously close to her. She tried to crawl away but another tremor hit and the pole collapsed. She felt a painful blow to the top of her head and then nothing.
Chapter 86