Eve

“Please tell me that you didn’t really call Stan. Stan Meyers of all people?”

He seemed confused at what the problem was and I knew then that he had called his old high school buddy. It was the only lawyer that he knew, and my heart clenched a little in my chest with the very thought. I could still remember the last night I’d seen Stan and what had been going through my head. It was something that I couldn’t forget, and I didn’t like the idea of seeing him again.

“I wish you wouldn’t have done that.”

“Why wouldn’t I? He is a defense attorney, a good one that knows international law and he’s willing to help for free. Why wouldn’t I call him? He was one of my best friends when we were in school.”

I remembered him well because I’d had a little bit of a crush on him before the night I caught him in my bed with another girl. He wouldn’t have given me the time of day of course. How could he when I was so much younger than him? It hadn’t stopped me from fantasizing and freaking out when he was in the house though. Many of my brother’s friends were handsome, but there had always been something about Stan that had drawn me in. How embarrassing that Carl had called him of all people!

“I know, it’s just, God Carl, this is super humiliating. The last thing that I wanted you to do was get him involved.”

Carl didn’t get it and he wouldn’t because he never knew how I felt about Stan. No one did, save for Callie. She’d known that I’d been head over heels in love with him as only a teenager can be. It hadn’t done me any good and now he was finally going to ‘see’ me, but it was necessary in the light of present circumstances. I’d already seen him, all of him and it was going to be impossible to be around him and not think of that night, as I had many times before.

I pushed the thought away. I was a grown woman now. It was a bit too late to be worried about Stan now. I’d been turned on and hurt back then when I had seen it, sure that we were meant to be together and then finding out I was wrong. It was a hard lesson to learn, but I had. I’d also learned what I wanted from a man and how I wanted to feel. At the time, I remember thinking if I can’t have him, I at least want a man that could make me feel the way he made that skank feel on my bed.

“Well, you’re in a damn prison in Cambodia, Eve. I don’t know what else to do. They are talking about giving you some serious time and I don’t want that to happen.”

I didn’t want that to happen either. He was right. I was going to have to swallow my pride and accept help wherever I could get it at this point.

“I know, this is crazy. I don’t know how this even happened. We took a wrong turn and now we are here. I wish you could see this place. Its horrible. If I ever get out of here, I don’t think I’m going to be able to take enough showers to ever get clean. You know they don’t have to let you shower here?”

I was getting away from myself and I had to stop blabbing. They didn’t give us very much time on the phone and I wanted to make sure I knew what was going on. I wanted to be sure because it was going to be a while before I was able to call again.

“So, what is Stan going to do? Has he told you anything?”

“I don’t think he knows yet to be honest. This is going to be a challenge. I mean, they think you’re trying to leave the country with their culture.”

He started to crack up and honestly, I needed to laugh. It was kind of crazy when I really thought about it. There was no way that I would have done such things and I certainly wasn’t trying to leave the country. It was all an accident and I was still holding onto hope that they would hear the truth, see it for what it was, and I would be able to get back on with my life.

“I know, crazy right? Just tell me that you’re going to get me out of here? I must get out of here or I’m going to go crazy. I think Callie already has a little bit.”

“I’m going to get you out of there one way or another. Okay?”

I wanted to believe him and even if he was telling me what I wanted to hear, it was what I wanted to hear. I wanted this to all go away and for me to get back home, so I took his promise at face value.

“Thanks bro. I’ll see you soon.”

“I’m sorry I can’t come right now, but things are hectic.”

“Its okay, really. I know that you’d be here if you could be.”

I hung up because I was getting a dirty look from the guards. They didn’t talk to me much, usually just pushed me one way or another. I’d learned a few words of their language, but I really wish I would have studied up on the neighboring countries languages as well. It would have been damn handy now that I was here.

I walked back to Callie to tell her the news.

“Do you really think that they are going to get us out of here?”

Her blonde hair was a dark brown at this point and her clothes were disheveled. It was the same ones that we’d been wearing when we went for our hike last week. If I would have known that I would be wearing them this long, I would have maybe picked something a little lighter and stretcher. I was so sick of my slacks and shirt that I’d picked out that morning. It seemed like so long ago now.

“I hope so. Carl said that Stan is on his way and he’s going to try to help get us out. It’s our best chance so far, so I’m going to be hopeful. Carl said that he was some big shot lawyer in New York now and that’s why they never saw each other much anymore. It sounds like he could actually help us.”

I wasn’t sure how much of that I believed, but at the end of the day I had to make sure that I kept us both positive. It was easy to fall into despair when living in such situations with the way things were around me. It wasn’t the sort of place I wanted to stay longer than I had to, not in the least bit. It was the sort of place that people went to rot, and I refused to let that happen to us. We were going to make it.

“Good, because I can’t stay here much longer.”

“It might be a little while, a few more days, weeks, but you have to stay strong. This is just a roadblock.”

“I can’t believe you haven’t said it Eve. I know that I would if I were you.”

“Say what?”

“That you were right, and we shouldn’t have went down the road that wasn’t on the map.”

“Maybe it wasn’t on the map because it was in Cambodia or it led there. Still not sure what all happened, but I would never blame this on you. I agreed to go, so we made the decision together.”

She smiled, and I knew that she felt bad. I wouldn’t have had to say anything at all. Callie was beating herself up already and it wasn’t going to do us any good to rub it in and make it worse. We had to stick together to get out of this and we would.

I hope Stan was as big of a big shot as Carl thought he was. He was our last chance now.