Marina Aleksandrova drove her car away from the town.
She had withdrawn all her money and closed her bank account. She left her security deposit for her apartment, and now she was free as a bird. However, she thought about David and Joe and she felt sick at heart in the utter hopelessness of the case.
«I won’t give up,» she whispered to herself. «I don’t know, Fate, why do you send me these ordeals. Are you trying to test my limits? Great! God help me, I won’t give up…»
* * * * *
Marina stopped at the rest area, filled her car up and went to Wendy’s for lunch.
She wanted to order a salad, fries and orange juice as usual, but something had changed within her, so she chose a combo with chicken nuggets instead.
She sat at a free table, opened the box, and, taking out a piece, looked it all over, then slowly bit about half of the nugget.
Yes, it was what she wanted. The crunchy sound and spicy taste cheered her up, arousing in her wounded soul some foggy dreams and light hope. She took a sip of her soda and enjoyed, feeling sweet bubbles tickling her tongue and throat.
She closed her eyes, and when she looked again, a man was sitting across from her at the table and smiling. His eyes roved over her dreamy face.
«Definitely, it’s good weather today,» he started. Marina stared wildly at him, and suddenly she hysterically guffawed.
People in the hall looked at her. She saw the smile of the man fail, and, the embarrassed Marina quickly left the restaurant and got into her car.
Here she cried thinking, «I need to control myself better. I’m crazy. Why did I react like that? Yes, it was exactly the same phrase from my favorite Russian story, The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. But as I remember, the flirted heroine did not laugh boisterously.»
After calming down, she slowly drove away.
* * * * *
She was driving and driving, and smiled, seeing the landscape become different. Covered by forests, some hills appeared on the plains, and the first mountains came into view on the horizon.
The soft crepuscule overtook the daylight and Marina thought about staying the night.
To her unpleasant surprise the first motel had no room. «No vacancy’ she saw on the next one, and suddenly she guessed it was because tomorrow would be Independence Day and people had gathered for the celebration.