Darling - K. Ancrum Page 0,19

clear that something was wrong. At the front of the crowd, the station staff and several officers stood by the Wilson Station doors, shouting at passengers that they couldn’t go onto the platform.

At the sight of the officers, Peter went ashen. “I’m finding a new way out. Take care of Wendy.” He turned back against the press of the crowd.

“What?!” Tinkerbelle complained. “You said I wouldn’t have to watch her!” But Peter was too far away to hear.

Tinkerbelle looked back at Wendy, then tightened her lips in resolve. “Fuck this.” She scampered off after Peter.

Jesus Christ. Wendy continued making her way to the exit, but only because she had to. The people behind her wouldn’t let her stop and regroup. They rushed her to the front of the lobby and pressed her forcefully out the door and into the street and a world of lights and noise.

There had to be at least thirty cop cars parked around the Wilson and Broadway intersection, and maybe a hundred police officers in the area. Everyone who had been on the train was shouting about being kicked off and asking about the shuttles they’d been promised. The train staff had bullhorns and were yelling at the riders about what street the shuttles would be picking up passengers. The actual police had the sirens on all their cars going full force. Their lights threw the street into a strobe of blue and red. There were officers at every intersection redirecting traffic and officers randomly demanding that people show identification.

Wendy pulled out her phone and immediately looked for a ride share, but the price for the area had spiked to nearly $60, and she only had $35 allowance left in her bank account. Her phone battery was also way lower than she felt comfortable with. She had fallen asleep without plugging it in to charge, and now it was at 16 percent. She turned back to the train station.

“I need to get back on the train platform. I don’t care if I have to wait there for an hour. I just need to get back home,” Wendy said to one of the train workers nearby.

He shook his head. “No one is getting on the train at this station. What shuttle do you need to be on?”

Overwhelmed, Wendy couldn’t remember the name of the stop near her house.

“What neighborhood are you going to?” the train worker asked loudly, clearly losing patience.

Wendy wracked her brain but kept coming up empty, panic making memory difficult. The train worker grabbed her shoulder firmly, steered her back into the flow of the crowd, and returned to his job of denying people access into the station.

Wendy followed the crowd for half a block, then ducked into an alley and crouched down to catch her breath. Her phone’s alarm broke her panic attack, reminding her it was time to text Eleanor.

Wendy: don’t be mad at me but things are going BAD.

Eleanor: what are you lost or something

Wendy: lmao I wish!! I’m by the Wilson train stop and there’s like fifty million cops everywhere and Peter and Tinkerbelle are like N O W H E R E to be found and I’m freaking out

Eleanor: Tinkerbelle???

Wendy: Peter’s friend, the blond who you don’t think is hot

Eleanor: that’s a bad name. Do her parents even love her

Wendy: she has no parents!! Found that out too! But only after I said something weird about my family and why we came here. lmao kill me

Eleanor: ok coolcoolcoolcool alright you’re by yourself. Well. You do have options.

Wendy: WHAT ARE THEY

Eleanor: you could just get back on the train and go home.

Wendy: train door’s blocked by cops next option

Eleanor: you could call an Uber. Or hell, I’ll call you an Uber.

Wendy: the cops are blocking off the whole street and are questioning ppl who try to leave next option

Eleanor: you’re not gonna like this BUT you could walk up to an officer and be like … pls take me home

Wendy: would they even do that?

Eleanor: probably not, but most city people don’t just t a l k to cops. If you do that, then you’re clearly not from around here, not scared of whatever’s happening and not likely to be a suspect lmao. Just babble about being from the suburbs and being lost.

Wendy: I don’t want to talk to cops Eleanor! I’m too Black to just saunter up like “hello officers”

Eleanor: lmao STOP. I know I know. I’m just focused on my best friend making it home safe and sound