Free Who Loves Her? by Taylor Storm Page A

frustration.
    Please, Donna, it is nothing big, and I am not a spy or agent or something crazy like that.”  Susan was panicking.  Now even her attempts at sounding normal were sounding crazy.  A spy? Special agent? Where did her mind come up with these things!
    The pain in Susan’s head began knocking again .  The memories playing out behind her eyes left her breathless.  The best she could manage was to simply hold her breath and think of Nina.  As she tried to calm her trembling hands, she crossed her arms protectively over her stomach.  She felt very small, and she instinctively knew something was wrong.
    T he band kept singing the most horrible songs and telling Donna about the robbery.  “You were there with your friends.”  The drummer laughed and mimicked Nina.
    “Technically it was shoplifting,” h e said in a high pitched voice.
    “You should have seen them all, running around Jenna’s behind her trying to grab the train of the dress before she ripped the stolen dress into pieces.”  The harmonica player joined in with glee.
    “Friends !” the chorus added in perfect harmony.
    “And you stole what is to be stolen, a bride-to-be.”
    “A bride-to- be,” sang the chorus from the band again.
    “A bride-to- be, or not to be.”  The group laughed as the leader shouted.
    “That is the question, girls!” and again they laughed in unison.
    “Oh shut up, please.  For Christ sake, stop it.  You are not only humiliating me, but creating a situation here, you, Mr. Wise Guy.  You with the guitar.  Yes, you Fatso.  You stop this now or I am going to kill you all .  I have HAD IT!”  Susan stood up and spilled all the coffees.  She literally lost her cool.  She was shivering, sweating and shouting.  Donna backed away slowly and dialed Jim.  Susan knew it was over, but she pleaded.
    “No , please no… can’t you see they’re making this up!  I don’t know why they are here!  I don’t know why…I just needed my dress and then I got lost.  I just wanted to….”
    “Hi .  Listen.  The Susan lady here is with us, I don’t think she is what she told us.  Please get back here as soon as you can.  She’s ranting about a bridal dress and then she’s talking to this weird band and threatening…yes, of course.  They’re okay.”
    Donna spoke into her phone in hushed tones, keeping an eye on Susan, and almost covering her children behind her.
    “I AM NOT INSANE, OKAY ?!”  Susan shouted.
    And the chorus from the music band added, “INSANE .”  They laughed.  Donna tried to see where Susan was shouting, pulling back even further.  Susan’s eyes darted to every corner of the room.  Her head pounding in her temples as her body seemed to sizzle with numbness.  “Something so strange is happening,” she thought to herself.  She looked desperately for someone to rescue her.  In Alexandria, throughout her life, Nina had always come to the rescue.  She and Nina knew everything about one another-friends--from the beginning.  Somehow, some magical best friends’ sixth sense, Nina always knew when she was in trouble.  As Susan heard a car’s tires squealing to a stop, she turned to look.  Susan stepped out onto the sidewalk and dropped her head in utter and complete relief.  Nina!
    Right then, Nina’s car came to a screeching halt right beside her.  Susan jumped out of the way before realizing her savior.  With that she ran toward the car which was just a few feet away.  Nina opened the door as soon as she realized there was something really wrong with her friend.  She had never been through this before.  There were small drops of blood on her collar under her ear, and Nina knew it wasn’t good.  Susan got in as Nina quickly drove away.  She leaned over her lap quietly pulling her disheveled hair into a ponytail on her back.  The airconditioning over her face provided an instant connection to reality even as the blood streaming down her neck caused a moment of