A Seven-Seat Suv Couldn’t Fit Five People. So I Stopped Being Their Tool Chapter 05

A Seven-Seat Suv Couldn’t Fit Five People. So I Stopped Being Their Tool Chapter 05

The alarm went off at 6:30 AM. The inn was silent.

I turned it off. Checked my luggage one more time.

Two suitcases. One backpack.

Not much of it was mine. Most of the space held things I’d packed for them.

I took out Mila’s eye drops, Dorian’s power bank, Julian’s motion sickness pills.

I Laid them neatly on the living room table.

Dante’s jacket hung on the armrest. His spare car key in the pocket.

I pulled the key out. Placed it beside the jacket.

Then wheeled my suitcase out the door.

The innkeeper was watering flowers in the yard. Surprised to see me.

“Leaving so early? Your friends aren’t up yet.”

“Yeah. I’m heading out first.”

“Want me to wake them?”

“No need.”

Taxi to the train station. 7:20.

Fifty minutes before departure.

I sat in the waiting hall. My phone stayed quiet.

7:40. Mila messaged.

Not in the group. Privately.

[Elara, where’s the hair dryer?]

I replied two words.

[In the bathroom.]

[Then come help me blow-dry it. I can’t reach the back.]

I didn’t reply.

8:00. Dante called.

“Where are you? Mila says you’re not in your room.”

“I left.”

“What do you mean, left? Getting breakfast?”

“No. I left.”

Two seconds of silence.

“Elara. What are you saying?”

His voice changed. Not panic. Confusion.

Like he’d heard something outside his understanding.

“I sent the itinerary to the group. Follow it.”

“Where are you?”

“8:10 train. Traveling alone.”

He went completely silent.

Dorian’s voice in the background. Distant. Grumpy.

“Who’s calling this early…”

Then Mila. “Dante, where’s Elara? My stuff’s still in her suitcase.”

“She went to another city.”

Dante said that not to me. To the room.

Five seconds of silence.

Dorian first. “By herself? She’s lost it.”

“Don’t know.”

The call wasn’t hung up. Dante held the phone. His voice drifted.

Mila: “Is she mad? Is it about the photos yesterday?”

Dorian, cutting in: “That’s Elara. Always goes cold. Ignore her. She’ll come back.”

Julian didn’t speak.

But I knew he was there.

He always was.

Just never in moments like this.

Dante put the phone back to his ear.

“Elara. Are you throwing a fit?”

“No.”

“Then explain. We agreed five people.”

“Four of you is enough.”

He exhaled. Tone shifting to impatience.

“We’re going to the waterfall park at noon. Your itinerary says—’

“Itinerary’s in the group. Read it yourself.”

“Why would I-we need you here to-”

He stopped.

Probably realizing what he almost said.

We need you here because it’s convenient.

The gate announcement started.

I stood. Pulled my suitcase up.

“Dante. Have fun.”

“Elara.”

“My ticket’s scanned.”

I hung up. Turned off my phone.

Walking through the gate, the phone buzzed one last time.

The five-person group.

Dorian: [Enough. Don’t spoil her. Let her go wherever. We go on as planned.]

Mila, a wounded emoji. [Does Elara hate me…]

Dante didn’t reply in the group.

But I knew what he’d do next.

Comfort Mila.

Then the four of them would follow the itinerary. Without me.

The only inconvenience from my absence.

Probably just no one to blow-dry Mila’s hair.

The train moved.

Outside, the city receded frame by frame.

I leaned back. Closed my eyes.

Quiet.

For the first time in three days. Truly quiet.

I wasn’t anyone’s tool anymore.