Help Me by Clara Bayard

Chapter One
    Stepping off the plane felt like more of an important moment than the graduation ceremony itself. Here I was, starting my new, adult life. College degree complete, ready to enter the world as…something. But more importantly, it was my chance to contribute. Pay my sister back for everything she'd done for me. Make up for all the sacrifices she’d made to get me here.
    What I didn’t know – couldn’t know – is that I’d never be this way again. Never approach anything with the same open-hearted, naïve promise. My life was about to change more than I could have imagined, and I’d never be the same girl. She was about to be transformed by lust and violence, pain and desire.
    But with no clue about what my immediate future held, I was proud of myself and excited. I smoothed down my hair, stepped around a family struggling to wrangle all of its members on the jetway, and entered the airport. I followed the signs to baggage claim, waited anxiously with everyone else, and then finally located my single suitcase, mature and capable, nervous and excited.
    I dialed Kat's number to let her know I had arrived, but it went right to voicemail. Maybe there wasn't great service outside the airport. I thought I remembered her mentioning that sometime. So after sending her a quick text so she could find me, and sat down on a low, uncomfortable bench to wait.
    It was interesting to watch the other passengers from mine and other planes go through the process of leaving. The businessmen who all seemed to have identical tiny bags, streaming past the rest of us to waiting cabs and cars. The giddy tourists who looked even more confused than me. There was the family I'd seen on the plane. They had so much stuff I couldn't believe it. Five people and dozens of bags. Must have cost a small fortune to bring all that junk. What a waste.
    My eyes slid past them, continuing to scan the crowd. There was a line of men in suits holding tablets with names on them. Must be the modern equivalent of those signs I remember seeing in movies. Always looked so glamorous, the idea of having a driver waiting for you.
    Then, as my gaze fell to another man in a suit slightly to the left of the drivers, a place inside me went cold.
    He was tall and muscular, arms bulging weirdly under the jacket of his suit. He had light brown hair cropped close to his head and a wide, flat face that was just off from attractive. The man wasn't doing anything particularly strange, but something about him creeped me out. I hugged myself and shivered, trying to peek at him without calling attention to myself. But, I was sure he saw me. And for some reason I felt like he'd been watching me first.
    That was stupid, of course. I wasn't cute enough or ugly enough to make strange men stare. Especially ones in nice suits. Unless I had something weird stuck to my hair, it must have been all in my mind.
    Still, I was uneasy. I tried Kat again and got her voicemail again. I checked the time on my phone and frowned. My plane had landed over a half hour ago, right on schedule. It didn't make sense that she wasn't here.
    “Dummy, she's probably waiting outside,” I muttered to myself. Her phone might have died. And since I didn't want to sit here any longer anyway, might as well go looking for her.
    I wrestled with my suitcase a little, dragging the half busted handle up so I could roll it. Both wheels squeaked and tried to move in opposite directions and I almost tripped over the bag.
    Fantastic.
    Once I got a job buying a new suitcase was high on my list of priorities. “Every adult needs proper luggage. Something you can trust to take you where you want to go,” my father used to say. The stained, faded bag I tugged more than rolled certainly didn't qualify.
    Outside, the air was cool, and I was overwhelmed by noise. Car doors and trunks slamming. People yelling. Tires squealing. A little boy crying.
    I looked up and down the line of cars sitting by the curbs, but didn't