Maggie stopped at the corner, leaned against the side of a building and rested for a moment. One thing was for sure; by the time she got home, she would be minus phone and internet service - leaving her with no way to contact Austin.
"The library," she whispered. She caught a bus to a branch library not far from her house and went in. It was still early, and if he was not online, at least she could send him an email. As it turned out, there was a long line of people waiting to get on the six available computers. She took a number, found a book with lots of pictures, sat at a table, and waited.
*
It was nearly six thirty by the time she got on a computer. She logged into her email account, quickly glanced down the list and when she didn't find one from Austin, she started a new one.
I got fired for stealing. I didn't steal anything, I just know too much. I worked for a phone company and they cancelled my account. I no longer have a phone or access to the internet. I'm using a library computer and someone else is waiting to use it. See you tomorrow night.
Maggie
Austin hadn't seen an email from Sissy3211 for a long time, and certainly not one that was signed.
"Maggie," he whispered.
He had a thousand questions to ask her, but they could wait. Mostly, he wanted to assure her everything was going be fine. Nick's companies were always looking for good help, and he could line up a better paying job for her in a matter of minutes. Just in case she found a way to access her email, he sent that in a return message. He waited, but she didn't answer.
Austin went to the fridge, chose a dinner marked meatloaf and put it in the microwave. That old familiar loneliness was creeping in on him again. It was Friday night. All over America, people were celebrating the end of the workweek, and he didn't feel like working. He had hoped to spend most of the evening in the chat room with her, but that wasn't possible now.
An hour later, he set his half-eaten dinner in the sink and ran the disposal. An hour after that, he closed a book he was trying to read, set it aside, and turned on the television. He tried to watch a preseason football game, but that didn't hold his interest for long either. Austin got up, walked to his desk and checked his email. There was nothing from her, nor was there likely to be. He went back to the sofa and had no choice but to let the time slowly and painfully tick by.