Hi, all. School is officially back in session. It is nutzo.
I have decided to change the bad guy’s name from Tim to Nick (like I talked about in the post, Made and Effort to Walk Casually, and this post, Help Get Me Unstuck.) because it’s my brother-in-law’s name. BUT, it’s going to take some time. I changed all of the Tim’s to Nick in my personal copy of the story, but going through all the posts will be challenging.
Sorry, Tim. You’re not really a bad person, your name is just very common and came up when I searched “boy names.” 
Onward to where NICK is debating on what to do with Beth.
Story #1 Continues:
“Can’t find your phone, huh?” Nick asked, trying to contain his excitement. He was excited, oddly. It was a thrill like when he would steal things from the drugstore. He’d smile at the cashier and say, “Have a good day,” knowing that he had slipped expensive face creams into his pockets to sell online.
Sometimes he would even steal dumb things like pens or packs of gum just for the hell of it. His mom would say he’s going to hell for all the bad things he’d done. He tried not to listen to his mom, especially when she was drinking.
Nick felt the phone in his back pocket as he made sure to face his backside away from her. Beth looked back at him and said sharply, “Yes. I need my phone. Alec doesn’t know where I am.”
Beth could kick herself. She shouldn’t have said that. Now it sounded like she was going to call for help. She needed to conceal the fact that she was scared and didn’t trust him so he would let his guard down. Now what would Nick do?
“I’ll help you look after I get gas,” Nick said as he pushed aside Beth’s door–right into her hurt ankle that was sticking out of the truck.
“Aaaaaaaah. Shit. Jesus Christ on a cracker!” Beth exclaimed, hopping out of the truck on her good foot and holding her left leg. Now tears were definitely forming in her eyes. Out of pain and out of frustration.
“Oh, sorry,” Nick said half-heartedly. “Let me help you back into the truck.”
Beth’s eyes were stinging as she blinked away the tears and tried to look tough. Had he done that on purpose? He must have! What was she going to do?? She made an effort to make up for her earlier mistake of letting on that she didn’t trust Nick by answering, “Okay.” Pause. “Thank you.”
He grasped her arms to help her into the truck. He got a little too close for Beth’s liking–she could feel his breath on the back of her neck and she thought she felt her whole body cringe. He closed the door behind Beth. And locked the doors.
That’s when Beth knew. She wasn’t leaving anytime soon.
Updated word count and writing goal for August:
