Photo credit: joyosity via Foter.com / CC BY
This is the second half of a two-part story. If you haven’t done so already, you might want to read Part I before continuing.
Karen vowed she would not be lured into letting her guard down. She remained vigilant and came up with scenarios in which her escort might try to attack her and what she might be able to do to defend herself if he did. Her options were limited. The car had locked automatically as soon as he had put it in drive. What if he made a move and she couldn’t get the door open? What if he pulled a gun on her?
Karen knew it was possible to disarm a gunman and she had seen it enough times on TV to have a general idea of how it was done, but she also knew she was far from a trained professional. Not for the first time in her life, she wondered if it would be better to die than to endure whatever he might have in store for her.
At the same time, Karen tried to remain calm. Mr. Marstead had given her absolutely no reason to believe he meant her harm, and although that wasn’t necessarily proof of his innocence, it wasn’t proof of his guilt either. More than likely, he was just another harmless dad with a sweet tooth.
Nevertheless, Karen watched the road closely in case the promise of ice cream had just been a ruse to keep her calm while he took her someplace more nefarious. Karen made a mental map of all the ice cream shops in town. She started to tense when she realized they were traveling away from The Dairy Shop, which was the closest to her house. Then she realized they were headed in the direction of Frostyville, but she still wouldn’t let herself completely relax until Mr. Marstead parked the car outside the ice cream shop.
Even then, she remained vigilant as she named her favorite flavor and Mr. Marstead bought her a cone. It was unlikely he would try to slip a drug into her ice cream, but Karen was still careful to keep a watchful eye on her ice cream as he handed it to her. When he offered to get her some water she politely declined. It was safer to wait until she got home.
All the while, Mr. Marstead chatted with her and she did her best to keep him talking, especially when he brought up his kids. She figured if he was harboring any malicious plans, maybe she could thwart him by keeping him talking about his family. Karen found it reassuring the way his face lit up every time he talked about his kids. She was now fairly certain he didn’t mean her any harm, but she still refused to be caught off guard if he did try anything.
They finished their ice cream and got back in the car. Karen kept careful track of every turn he made, just in case he had plans to bypass her street and take her someplace where no one would ever hear her scream.
Karen’s heart rate picked up when he missed her street.
“Oops! That was your street, wasn’t it?”
“Yep.”
“I’ll just turn at the next one,” said Mr. Marstead.
Karen was relieved, but only slightly. He may have intended to miss her street all along and was just making a show of his mistake to put her at ease. Karen refused to relax until Mr. Marstead finally pulled up to the curb in front of her house and unlocked the car.
“Thank you for the ice cream and the ride,” she said as she gathered her things.
“No problem. Thanks for looking after the kids tonight.”
“Any time. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Karen.”
Karen climbed out of the car, closed the door behind her, and waved at Mr. Marstead as she made her way up to the front door.
Once inside, she was so exhausted from her period of hypervigilance that she collapsed on the sofa in the living room.
Her sister was sitting in the nearby armchair, watching a movie. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Just tired.”
“From babysitting those kids?”
“You could say that.”
“What went wrong?”
“Absolutely nothing.”
The end.
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