I stood in my spot for a long moment, just staring at the road ahead. It was a hot day, the sun was starting to burn and as I looked further down at the road, the view looked blurry, almost as if there was water right at the end of the road, but I knew that was just an illusion created by the hot sun. My already olive skin tone was looking pretty tanned as I stood in a pair of denim shorts and a boxy t-shirt.

Mitchell left me with nothing but my cell phone, he didn't even bother to give me my sunglasses or hat or even my beloved backpack with snacks. The asshole didn't even think that I had not a cent on me either.

I couldn't believe that he actually left me stranded with nothing all alone in the middle of nowhere, I knew he was an insolent six-foot four arrogant filled douchebag, but I never saw him to be cruel.

I glanced at my phone and seen that he was gone for a whole ten minutes, I thought maybe he was just messing with me but his temper really got the better of him and he left, without even thinking how I was going to reach Des Moines.

I opened my phone and dialled up the one person I knew I could always count on, although I knew it was a slim chance they'd pick up or even if they did, I doubt they could help me considering I was on an Iowa road that was surrounded by nothing but fields.

"Hey, you've reached Faith, I'm sorry I can't take your call at the mom-" I cut the call as I cursed under my breath when the call went straight to voicemail.

I ran a hand through my hair, and I could feel my anxiety starting to kick in, I was all alone and stranded with literally no one to call for help. Sometimes it really sucked not having many people in your life.

I scrolled through my contacts, I stopped at my dad's number and contemplated if calling him was a good idea. I knew if anyone could help me it was most likely him but there was too much at stake to call him, one thing being my pride and oath to never ask him for anything and secondly, I knew he'd ask about a thousand questions and freak out if he knew about my road trip with Mitchell, let alone being stranded alone.

No, involving my father would only make my current situation messier than it already was. I wish I could've called my mom, but that was highly out of the question and that would be of no help at all. Wang was too far away, and my grandparents were both patients of hypertension and over a thousand miles away; they couldn't help even if they wanted to.

I began pacing back and forth, the dust from the ground flying around my white sneakers as I walked, ignoring the cars driving by. The slight wind blew my hair backwards and even though it cooled me off, my skin still prickled all over. I was feeling very anxious and felt like I wasn't in control of the situation and I hated that.

"Deep breaths Mila." I chanted to myself.

I took in a couple deep breaths and walked a few feet away from where I stood and when I reached, I spotted a large boulder, I sat down on that boulder and massaged my temples, trying to ease the anxiety and tension I was currently feeling.

As I sat there and clamed myself down, my mind played back a memory of the first time I ever felt helpless and lost, I was seven years old and even though I was so young, that memory still haunted me. I always wondered if that was the first time, I ever experienced anxiety.

**

I looked down at the floor tiles in the supermarket as I walked around with my mom, she held my hand and as we walked, I counted each square tile. I think I was on tile number one hundred and seventy-eight when we stopped in a toiletries aisle.

My mom left my hand and walked over to the shampoo section, I looked up and saw her holding onto her purse with one hand as her long brown, wavy hair cascaded down to her waist as she stood on her tippy toes to reach a bottle on the top shelf.

My mother was short and petite, she used to wear high heels but even with that she still looked so small. My grandfather always told me that I'll be taller than her by the time I turned ten because even for seven years old, I was pretty tall.

Averting my gaze from my mom, I looked back down to the tiles on the floor and wondered if I could count in two's. Every morning my teacher at school tested us on our multiplication tables, we just completed with three and was moving on to four.

I glanced up to see my mom still shopping before I looked back down and started hopping, I skipped each tile and counted.

"Four, six, eight, ten, twelve..." I counted under my breath as I hopped each tile.

As I walked, I didn't realize it, but I was in another aisle, I looked up to see that I was in an aisle that stocked detergents and cleaning products. I scanned through the faces of the people present in the aisle but to my disappointment, I couldn't spot my mom.

"Mommy." I called as I took fast steps down the aisle, bumping pass a tall man in the process.

I walked back to the toiletries aisle, my eyes scanning the entire area in a panic, searching for my mother but she wasn't anywhere to be found.

I picked up my pace as I walked from aisle to aisle, but my mother was nowhere to be spotted, it was as if she just disappeared.

"Mommy!" I called more urgently as I stood by the fridges.

As I looked around, my heart was hammering in my chest, my breath was coming in pants, my palms were sweaty, and my eyes were starting to tear. I had no idea where my mother was and I searched the entire store, I doubted she would leave without me.

I recalled how she promised me that she will never leave me alone when I got back from the hospital after I nearly drowned at my aunt's house in Michigan. It had been only a few months since that incident and she kept her promise, until right at this moment when I was all alone and scared.

Tears were running down my cheeks as I looked at the many faces present in the store, everyone was busy shopping, pushing their carts as they stocked it with groceries.

"Mommy," I sobbed rubbing my eyes, "where are you?"

I felt a hand on my shoulder and a wave of relief washed over me thinking it was my mother. I immediately turned around to only be left disappointed, standing in front of me was an elderly woman with grey curly hair and green eyes.

"What's the matter, sweetie?" she softly asked.

I sniffed as I felt more tears roll down my cheeks. "I can't find my mommy."

"Oh dear," she said, "don't cry, I'm sure she is somewhere around here. Shall I help you look?"

I shook my head and choked on a sob before I answered, "I look everywhere but she's nowhere. I think she left me."

"No, don't say that." she offered me her hand to take, "Let's go ask them in front to make an announcement and maybe your mommy will show up."

I hesitated for a moment, I knew I wasn't allowed to talk to strangers or let them take me anywhere but this woman seemed so kind and I was scared and helpless; I had no other choice.

I wiped away my tears and nodded before I took her hand.

Together we made our way to the front where a gentleman helped us. He worked as a security guard in the store, and much like the elder woman, he seemed kind too.

He asked me for my mother's name, and I told him. Shortly afterwards there was an announcement over the store intercom with a woman calling my mothers name, saying that her seven-year-old daughter was looking for her.

I waited and waited; the kind old woman waited with me, but my mother never showed up. I was beginning to panic; my heart was racing even faster than before, and the tears never stopped.

"Don't cry, dear." The old woman consoled me. "We will find your mom."

I shook my head as I wiped my nose with the back of my sweater sleeve. "Sh- she left me here. I know it. She told me she will punish me for tossing out my broccoli and lying to her I ate it the other night."

"I don't think she would purposely leave here all alone." The woman gently said.

I thought that too, but I saw no other explanation, I was always a little naughty at home. I always left my toys lying around and never packed them away after I was done playing, I hated broccoli and mostly only ate candy and then I got a sugar-rush and wouldn't sleep. I really bothered my mom sometimes and maybe she had enough and left me here.

"Little girl," the tall security guard said to me, "do you know your address?"

I learnt my address from the time I was in kindergarten, so I nodded.

"Alright, give me your address and we'll get a nice police officer to drop you home, alright?"

"Do you promise the officer won't send me to jail?" I asked between sobs.

The security grinned and shook his head. "I promise he won't."

**

As I sat there on the boulder in the hot summer sun, mindlessly gazing at the cars driving by, I could still feel the anxiety I felt that day at the store. I spent maybe an hour or two without my mother, crying and utterly terrified.

A kind female police officer drove me home that evening and when I reached our apartment, my mother was home and to my surprise she was calm and normal. She was however confused as to why I was with a police officer. I explained to her with the police officer about what happened, and she immediately broke into sobs and grabbed me into a hug. She profusely apologised and promised to never put me through that again.

However, from that age I learnt to never trust anyone because if my own mother could break a promise and hurt my feelings so much, who knew what else everyone else in this cruel world would do?

I swallowed down a lump in my throat and took in a deep breath. I was mad at Mitchell, but I was more mad at myself, I should've known better than to trust joining him on this trip. I didn't think clearly and just agreed for Faith's sake. If there was one thing my father ever taught me, was that to never trust anyone other than yourself because people were built to let others down.

I ran a hand through my hair for what felt like the umpteenth time, feeling utterly helpless and alone. I glanced at my phone screen again before I unlocked it. I went to an app that was used for hauling a taxi. I wasn't too sure if they picked up people from the middle of nowhere, but it was the only option I currently had.

As I began searching for a location, I heard a honk nearby. I looked up from my phone to see a vehicle approaching, I could hear the small stones crunching under the large pickup truck's tires as it slowed down and came to a halt a few feet from me.

I watched as the window rolled down and inside the truck sat a middle-aged man. He was wearing a cap, had a salt and pepper goatee and wore a plaid shirt.

"Afternoon miss." he greeted in a thick southerner accent.

"Are you alright?" he asked when I didn't respond.

I wasn't a very rude person, but I also wasn't very trusting, and my gut was almost always right and this time it was telling me to be quiet and not trust this man at all.

The man frowned and asked in a bored tone, "Are you mute or something?"

I was about to answer him and tell him I was alright, but I stopped when I watched how his eyes ravelled down from my face to my legs – where his gaze sat too long for comfort.

His eyes moved back upwards to meet my gaze. "Well?"

Initially I thought that being quiet was a good idea as generally when people were ignored, they took a hint and left but it seemed that this man was a little more on the persistent side. So, I had to tell him that I was fine, or I didn't even want to think what he was capable of doing.

I cleared my throat before I began to speak, "I'm fi..." I trailed off when another car approached me.

The white SUV slowed down and parked right behind the man in the pickup truck. As I watched the car switch off and the driver unbuckle his seatbelt and step out of the car, two very prominent emotions seeped through me, one being relief and the other was pure anger.

Mitchell, who just arrived in his beloved car stepped out and strode towards where I was seated on the rock. He stood next to me and glanced at me for a long moment before he looked at the man in the pickup truck.

"What's going on here?" Mitchell asked.

The man in the pickup truck seemed to be scrutinizing Mitchell before he spoke, "I happened to see this young lady all alone and stopped to see if she needed any help but it seems she's mute."

"If only." I heard Mitchell mumble under his breath.

I curled my fists at my sides, he was treading on a thin line and I was awfully close to snapping.

"She doesn't need any help," Mitchell answered the man, "Thank you for the trouble but she's with me."

The man looked at me for a moment for confirmation and I knew that the smart thing to do was agree with Mitchell, but I also had a huge ego and it refused to acknowledge being with him.

"Do you want to get to Des Moines with this man?" Mitchell asked me under his breath.

I glared at the side of Mitchell's idiotic head before I looked at the man and said in a nonchalant tone. "I know him, yes."

"Alrighty then." the man said before he shifted his truck into gear and drove off.

"Let's go." Mitchell said to me once the truck gone.

I sat in my spot and glared as murderously as I could at him, I couldn't believe that he had the nerve to casually speak to me as if he didn't just leave me stranded in the middle of the damn road.

"What?" Mitchell asked innocent as he pointed to the road behind, "Did you want to go with the hunk who just left?"

I could feel my anger increase by the second as each word left his pathetic mouth.

"Because I can easily catch up with him and call him back." He added.

I angrily stood up from where I was sitting and shoved him on the chest. "Ti cabrón!" I exclaimed.

He was caught off guard by my outburst because when I shoved him, he missed a step and jolted backwards.

He steadied himself before he threw his arms out to his side and exclaimed, "What the hell Mila?"

I couldn't believe this guy; he actually thought he was innocent.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "How can you stand there and act ignorant after the stupid stunt you just pulled? How could you leave me here all by myself?!"

He gestured to himself. "I came back – God knows why, but I'm here so quit the tantrum and get in the damn car."

I took a step closer to him and at the same time, he took a step backwards, we repeated this thrice before I stopped and looked up at him with as much hatred as I could muster.

"A tantrum? You think this is just a tantrum?" I accused him.

He sighed and put his hands in his hair before he looked at the road and then back at me. "Mila, I'm not in the mood for another fight."

"You left me here all alone Mitchell!" I yelled him. "I trusted you and agreed to come on this trip despite knowing what an ass you can be, but I never thought you'd stoop to this level."

"You're being dramatic." He coolly told me.

"I am being dramatics?" I couldn't believe this guy, "No Mitchell, dramatic was when you stopped the car and had a fit when I just searched your pockets for your phone."

He looked at me sharply and I think I touched a nerve because this time he took a step closer to me. "I was driving Mila, you were literally jumping around and in case you haven't realised but you aren't exactly a short person, you were blocking me view of the road and being annoyingly distracting."

I scoffed under my breath. "Oh yeah I know what you were most likely distracted by."

"Yeah, your big head." He retorted.

"No, you were distracted by your blue freaking balls!" I spat his way. "Like a hormone raged adolescent you got a little too excited by my hands around your 'happy' area."

I wasn't too sure what he felt by my words because his face was quite difficult to read, he looked a little taken aback but also with a mixture of confusion infused with a dab of anger.

"You think I was affected by that?" he asked in a tone which sounded as if I was delusional.

"I see no other explanation for you to lose your shit like that." I replied.

He chuckled humourlessly under his breath before he looked at me as if I were the crazy person instead of him. "Self-flattery isn't attractive Milo."

"You think I'm flattered by the fact that I got your little joystick up and running?" I snorted, "It is the complete opposite, I'm insulted and now have self-esteem issues by the fact that I got someone like you excited."

He was starting to get annoyed because he was once again pinching the bridge of his nose. He took in a breath and seemed to calm himself down.

"Stop being a drama queen and get in the car." he calmly told me.

"Drama queen?" I repeated. "I am not doing this for the fun, I could've gotten kidnapped by that man who offered me a ride and you think I'm being dramatic."

"I doubt he was going to kidnap you." he said, "And if he did, I guarantee that he would've chucked you out the truck as soon as you opened your mouth."

"Yeah well you didn't see how he looked at me before you arrived." I mumbled to myself as I recalled how his eyes travelled up and down my body.

I looked at the ground, not wanting to show Mitchell that I felt afraid and helpless without him and his stupid beloved car.

"Did," Mitchell began in a soft tone, "Did he do anything other than just look?"

I didn't answer him, I didn't need to add to his ego by making him think he was some knight in shining armour who rescued me from a middle-aged creep.

"Mila." he insisted in a firmer tone.

I was stubborn, I wasn't going to answer him just because he called my name in a harsher tone. I wasn't a child, no matter how much he recently treated me like one.

"Mila," he said as he placed both his hands on my shoulders, "Did he misbehave with you?"

I looked up at him and he looked serious, reading my face for any answers but I was almost perfect at the pokerface but I didn't want Mitchell to think I was seeking attention or anything of that sort, besides I didn't want to lie about something as serious as what Mitchell was insinuating.

"No." I said, "He didn't"

Mitchell let out an audible sigh of relief and I could see his shoulders unwind from the tense posture they were in a few minutes before.

He didn't let me go but just stood there for a long moment, looking at me.

"Mila," he began, "I wouldn't have left you and head to Des Moines without you. I'm not that big of an asshole or as you say, cabrón. As soon as the freeway permitted, I took a U-turn and came back."

I looked into his eyes and somewhere mixed in between the hues of blue and grey, I could see some sincerity. Maybe he wouldn't have left me by myself for long, but he still left me alone for a good solid twenty minutes and in those minutes I had anxiety and flashbacks of a time I always pushed at the back of my mind.

I didn't want to wear my heart on my sleeve and let him know how his stupid actions affected me. So, I shrugged his hands off and took a step backwards. I