Mars Needs Women

Chapter 4 - Good Riddance

Riya didn't answer any of my messages, and that worried me, laying sour in my gut. I kept the messages vague, like a friend checking in, just in case her abusive new husband intercepted them. I rubbed my face as my foot fidgeted. Walt had given me a supportive hug and two meal-bars when he dropped me off at the train station. The hug, my heart absorbed, but the meal-bars waited uneaten in my pocket.

Even though the lev-train zoomed along at hyper-speed, it seemed much too slow. Emotions swirled like dust storms — anger that anyone would hurt Riya, dread that something terrible had happened, and guilt that me telling her to get out might have caused it. 

There were bad men out there, like Riya's husband, but plenty of good men, too, like Walt. Eventually, they always showed their true nature, but Riya never had a chance to tell before her arranged wedding. Anger simmered inside me — if the matchmaking was legit, they never should have picked a scumbag abuser.

When the doors hissed open, on-time at the Ares Central terminal, I crept out real cautious-like, and made my way to the waiting lobby. Standing in the arched doorway, I let the other passengers weave around me. My heart thumped overtime as I scanned the area. Where was she? People mulled around the built-in benches that lined the round hall, or between the scattered seating clusters, making it hard to find anyone specific. Open vent windows in the domed roof created air-flow through open doors on this warm Martian afternoon.

There she was, sitting on a corner bench and partly hidden by a potted plant, arms wrapped around herself. A small bag, the same one she brought from Earth, sat beside her. My heart calmed, but only a little bit.

"Riya," I said, coming up to her.

A smile popped up on her bruised face as she jumped into my arms, hugging the breath out of me. "Thank you for coming for me," she whispered.

"Of course," I replied. "Us Martian gals gotta stick up for one another. But no time for chattin' now. Let's get outta Dodge."

"Huh?" Riya said, wrinkling her forehead.

"Meanin' we leave real quick-like."

At a shiny kiosk, I bought two tickets back to Olympus, and we both pressed our thumbs against a biometric scanner to accept. Departure was in fifteen minutes on the same train I rode coming in. As we sat on a platform bench, watching them load cargo, I shared a meal-bar with Riya. It still amazed me how nutrition could be made so tasteless, but Riya was hungry and she didn't complain.

"What happened?" I finally asked.

"I felt so alone," Riya replied, turning her head down. "It was a short wedding with just his family, and afterward, he got drunk. When he took me to his home, he wanted me to... you know. But I hadn't done that before, and I didn't want to yet. Well, he became angry and hit me over and over." A tear traced her cheek. "I should have... I don't know..."

"Riya, look at me." I said as she lifted wet eyes. "None of this is your fault. Only his. They matched you with a low-life bottom-feeder, and he ain't worthy of bein' your husband. Someday, you'll find a good man."

"You think so?"

Putting a supportive arm around her, I answered with a smile, "I know so."

"You are kind, Mavis. I won't be too much trouble?"

"Naw," I replied with a wave. "Walt and me don't mind."

Riya lifted her eyebrows and stared with those doe-like brown eyes. "Walt? Did you get a husband?"

"Yes... No... Kinda?" I hawed. "I mean, he's just a business partner to a land claim. We pretended to be hitched to get a better deal."

Riya wrinkled her forehead, looking all confused — not that I blamed her.