Addie was lying on a bed of cool, wet grass along the bank of a sinkhole surrounded by summer lush pines, cypress, oaks and maple trees. Her head and shoulders were slightly elevated in his lap. She felt his hands wiping off the dirt and gently pulling her hair out of her face. The air was thick with dew as the early morning sun peaked between each tree trunk; sparkling rays shining across her moist naked belly.
Addie had originally fallen asleep in the back of a pick-up truck. Sometime, while the moon still reflected off the surface of the water in the sinkhole, she stumbled out of the pick-up and walked toward the bank. She sat down next to the water with her legs against her chest; resting her chin on top of her right knee. The water was dark and quiet while the night creatures tiptoed watching her curiously. The air was anchored by an orchestra of crickets and other insects serenading the leaves and swooning their potential mates.
She lifted her chin and lowered her right leg toward the water. She placed her toes just above the surface anticipating the moonlight dancing over every ripple. Quickly, she dipped her big toe in and out watching the ringlets of water grow spiral outward until encircling the sinkhole. The sinkhole was only seventeen feet in diameter but over ninety feet deep. She looked down into the water hoping to see a summoning. But the water was black and anything even only inches below the surface could not be seen. She saw the moonlight cast a hazy halo and shadow where her face might be reflected in the water.
She waved her long hair side to side a few inches above the surface, watching the light. She imagined falling in, going straight down without the want or need to go back up. She could breathe as if her body suddenly mutated itself; acquiring gills that worked with lungs. Her eyes were replaced by the eyes of a deep sea creature enabling her to see through the darkness; inspecting every tiny single-celled organism floating and squirming inside each molecule of water. As she sank father down the water grew colder numbing her fingertips and toes.
Her body slowed and began to hover in the murky depths as she saw caverns all around her. She turned herself in circles twisting her body trying to count each cave. Every cave looked alike; every opening exactly the same size. She started with one and began to count but found herself in a continuum recounting the same caves over and over not knowing where she had begun. She franticly stopped and realized the sinkhole was expanding around her; the bank evading the splash of water rings. She thought she must return to the surface but with every effort to swim upward she was cast farther down.
Suddenly something grabbed Addie’s hair. Before she could rationalize what had a hold of her she found herself being dragged up quickly and then a mad rush of warm air hit her face and invaded her lungs as she coughed fighting to breathe. She began taking deep breaths once the air had replaced what the water had stolen. As the water began to clear out of Addie’s ears she could hear the crickets again. A large arm came across her breasts holding her body upright on the ground a few feet away from the water. She felt him behind but he didn’t say a word.
She was exhausted and could barely hold her eyes open. She sneezed a few times as her body was lifted and carried then placed on the tailgate of the truck. She closed her eyes and was drifting into sleep. The orchestra of insects began to sound muffled like cotton had been stuffed inside her ears. She heard a voice but it was low and mumbling. Another voice, and another chimed in and she thought she may be dreaming. Her shoulders hurt and her arms were aching. The pain kept her somewhere between sleep and awake until she was pulled into a seated position on the tailgate.
“What’s happening?” “Where am I?”
Addie heard no response but instead felt the caress of fingers on her cheek. The fingers found there way towards her mouth and carefully pried apart her teeth slipping something small, soft and spongy on her tongue.
“Swallow this, baby. It’ll make ya feel better.”
Addie did as she was told and swallowed. Something sweet and bubbly came up through the straw that was placed between her lips. It tasted fruity and helped cleanse her pallet of the rancid taste of whatever she had swallowed. Maybe it will help. Maybe this is all a bad dream. Maybe I will wake up in my bed.
But Addie didn’t think she would ever see her bed or her home again. She had run away and was charmed by a man with a truck destined to take her anywhere she wanted to go; away from Woodville, away from Florida, away from the heat and away from her life. She never intended on hitchhiking but after the head gasket had blown on her 1987 Reliant she thought her only chance to get away this time would be to hitch from town to town with the truckers. They all had sleeping arrangements in their cabs and Addie thought it would be safer than sleeping on a campground. She couldn’t afford a motel room and thought that maybe a few blow jobs could earn her a few rides.
But it was Frank and his baby blue 1974 old pick-up that stopped for Addie rather than a busy and tired trucker trying to finish his route. She was strolling up County Road 261 when Frank pulled over in front of her. There wasn’t much of a shoulder so she was practically walking in the road and he had just swerved in time to miss her. When he slowed and looked in the rearview mirror he noticed she hadn’t even flinched. That’s when he decided to stop.

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Sinking