All Over Again

| Chapter Fifty-Nine |

Oklahoma, 2019 (Past)

Ruth realized two things after she turned around at the excitement in Terry's voice.

1. Raffo didn't have a car.

2. She didn't recognize the car in front of her.

She didn't get the chance to tell her cousins that it wasn't Raffo's truck pulling in and she didn't know who the car belonged to. For the answer to the second question was easy after a dark-haired girl popped out of the passenger side of the car.

Emily's face brightened at the sight of Ruth and she gave her a wave, excitement for their new journey spilling out of her expression. Another woman who closely resembled Emily got out of the car as well and helped her unload her luggage from the trunk. Ruth would have waved back if she wasn't swimming in a foggy mind of confusion. Something bad tugged in the pit of her stomach as she glanced at the time on her phone and saw it was 7:35, with no missed calls and no text messages saying he was going to be late.

Raffo wouldn't be late; not when he knew what time her flight was.

Not when he promised her he'd be there. That was—fuck, that was why they didn't say goodbye the previous night. Their goodbye was supposed to be at the airport. So where the hell was he? Was he stuck in traffic?

Even Terry and Jana were silent.

"Hey!" Emily beamed, rolling her luggage over to where they all stood stiffly.

"Hey," Ruth gave her the best smile she could muster, though even that was hard as she tried desperately not to freak out.

Em frowned. "What's wrong—?"

"Emily!" the woman with flawless black hair and unblemished skin called out, interrupting Emily's question with her impatience. "You have to check your bags in while I park the car. You can socialize later."

She rolled her eyes at her mother's snapping and gave Ruth a sympathetic look, as if apologizing for not getting to ask her what was wrong. "Are you ready to go?"

"In a minute. I want to say goodbye to my family," Ruth said, her voice tight. "I'll meet you inside."

Emily nodded and rolled away with her two large suitcases. Ruth looked back out at the empty road after Emily's mom drove off, and she swore if Uncle Rickey didn't have his hand on her shoulder right then, she'd be swaying from how disoriented she truly was.

"I don't understand," Terry spoke up, her tone uncertain. "Have you heard from him?"

"N-not since this morning," Ruth stuttered, her chest tightening. She willed her fingers to stop shaking as she hastily opened her phone and pressed Raffo's name, hitting the call button almost immediately with the hope that he would pick up and he was just running behind.

There was no ring.

"The number you are calling is temporarily out of service."

Ruth's heart sunk to the pit of her stomach and panic swelled like a hot iron throughout her body. She quickly removed the phone from her ear and tried again, only that time, she got the endless beeping, like a phone was off the hook. When she pulled back her phone and tried to send a text, no longer was there the option for the phone's message to turn blue, nor did it send. It kept failing and coming up in error.

"H—his phone isn't working," Ruth said, frantically. She looked up at her wide-eyed family, frightened. "Nothing's going through! What if something's wrong? What if—what if his stepdad did something horrible to him? T-Terry I can't--"