“Do not go home tonight!” The message was clear enough but who sent this? Why?

Becca jerked to a stop on the muddy shoulder of the road. Fumbling to light her cigarette in the dwindling daylight, she sat there trying to decipher the ominous message.

Home was close, only five miles away. Paul would be angry if dinner wasn’t on the table. Yet, she sat there unable to move. Her long fingers trembled as she rummaged through her black bag. Finding her phone her eyes focused on the words lit up on the screen. “ Do not go home tonight.”

Earlier this morning as she wrestled her thick dark curls into a ponytail her eyes had caught the quick ping of a new message. No time right now to see who it was from. Becca angrily wiped the smudges from under her blue eyes and reapplied a fresh layer of mascara and liner. Why did Paul always say such hurtful things to her just as she was trying to get out of the house? Hurriedly, she struggled to get her green coat on over her dingy white waitress uniform as she jumped into her car.

Her five minute, mid morning cigarette break was the first time she had had time to read the message; “Do not go home tonight”. Nothing else. No time stamp, name or a phone number. Nothing. This cryptic dark message plagued her. Coffee spilled as she poured it, a glass tumbler of soda slipped through her shaking hands crashing loudly to the floor, everything she touched seemed to result in chaos. Who had sent this to her. Leafing through her mind, Becca tried to recall anybody she might have let slip even the tiniest bit of information to. No one knew, not even Susan, her closest friend. The afternoon crept into evening ending her work shift.

Sitting in the car she knew she had to make a decision. Suddenly, she realized with complete clarity who the ominous message was from. She started the engine, pulled back onto the road, slowed and then without further thought, Becca turned the car around heading away from home, away from her life. It was time.