~Chapter 1~

I headed out the door, not knowing what was in my future. I had told myself would never look back, that I would keep moving forward. I wouldn’t let anything stand in front of me to get in the way of my dreams. Except for Jake, who was literally standing in front of me, causing me to run into him.
"Why are you standing there?" I asked him. He was standing in the middle of the pathway.
"Why are you running away, Roxy?" he said with a smirk on his face.
Jake was my best friend, actually he is my only friend.
Jake and I were total opposites, I mean in looks. He was your average emo. Short, straight black hair, black clothes, the works. While I had blonde hair, usually wore colorful clothes. Hell, sometimes I look like a rainbow threw up on me.
Jake's dark blue eyes peered down at my, he was at least a foot taller than me.
"You never answered my question," I whispered. It was the middle of the night.
"Talking to you. That's what I'm doing," he said jokingly. I scowled at him. "Now you answer my question. Why are you running away?"
"To get away from life! Is that ok? I can't take it anymore; I have to get out of here!" I yelled. Looking around I made sure no one stirred from their sleep to see who was yelling, but no one did.
It was true I did have a hard life. A mother that pretends you are not there. A father who left before you were born. A sister, that I'm pretty sure, is a whore.
People pretty much left me alone for the most part, except for Jake. He was the only one that would talk to me, ever.
"Now can you move?" I asked him, trying to push his to the side. "I want to leave now!"
He didn’t move at first. He just stood there, watching me.
"So you're going to leave? Leave your family? Leave me?" he asked, putting emphasis on 'me'.
I didn’t know what to say. I knew that my family wouldn't care, they never did. Jake, though, on the other hand would care. I knew it would be wrong to leave him, but I had to leave.
It took me a moment to answer, there were so many questions running threw my head.
What if my family did notice? Would they do anything? What would Jake do if I left him? Could I take him with me? If he did, how would he tell his family? What if he didn't? What if they noticed he was gone? What should I do?
I decided to ask him to come with me but when I did he just stared blankly at me.
I knew it! I knew he was going to do this!
He looked at me for a moment and then opened his mouth, as if he was going to say something, but nothing came out. So he tried it again, but this time he did say something.
"I wish I could go with you, but what about my family? What would I say? How could I tell them?" he apparently had the same questions going threw his head as I did only moments ago.
I thought about what he had said for awhile.
"What if you didn’t tell them? What if we just, left? What if we just, disappeared from the world?"
He nodded as he tried to take this all in.
"I guess, but what about food and clothes and everything else?" he asked me.
I pulled out a wad of cash that I had stolen from my mother before I left.
He just stared at me wide eyed, as if to say 'where the hell did you get that?'
Without him asking, I told him where I got it from. He just stared at me wide eyed.
"You look like you've never seen cash in your life," I laughed.
"I have, but not this much cash, Roxy!" he tried to reach for the money, but I pulled away before he could grab it.
"$500! I think that should support us." I said, "But we really should leave if we want to get out of here, and like now." I looked towards the sky, which was getting a little brighter as we spoke.

He looked up towards the sky too and whispered something that sounded like an, "oh."

~Chapter 2~

Jake ran with me to the nearest gas station, which was only a couple miles down the road.
I was fine, but he seemed to be out of breath. "Now- now what?" he struggled to say.
I didn't quite know what was next; all I knew was that I was going to go with whatever life threw at me.
"I guess we need a car." I said. I was kind of saying it, kind of suggesting it.
I could go on for hours just walking, but this small run apparently already wore him out.
"Y-yeah," he was still trying to catch his breath.
"The only thing is; where do we get one? Oh I know!" I exclaimed.
A friend of the family, Derik, worked at a car dealership. I bet he would help us, and I was only a couple blocks away.
I explained this to Jake and he agreed.
We walked in silence, but suddenly Jake stopped out of nowhere.
"What is it?" I asked, a little confused. "Why did you stop?"
He didn't answer me at first; his expression told me he was thinking. He shook his head then, as if he was blowing it off. I wouldn’t let him do that. I wanted to know what was bothering him.
Steeping in front of him might have not been the best idea at the moment, but it was a spur of the moment action. HE ran into me, almost knocking me backwards, Jake caught my arm just in time though. Well that’s what I thought. Instead we both feel onto the hard sidewalk. He fell on top of me. I was laughing and so was he.
Jake rose to his feet and helped me back up.
"What was that for?" he asked while helping me to my feet.
After brushing myself off I replied to him, "You wouldn't tell me what was wrong!"
"Then why did you step out in my way? Are you crazy? You could of hit you head and then I'd have to take you to a hospital! You could have seriously been injured!"
I pushed away from him. "I'm fine!"
"I know, but you could have been hurt! It's not the smartest move you've made!"
I knew when I did it something might of happened. I didn't understand what his problem was. Then it hit me, he cares. He cares about me. I never really noticed it before. He liked me. I've had feelings for him in the past, but mostly only in a friend sort of way.
The next few hours were quiet ones, sort of awkward in a way.
We got the car quickly. Derik was a big help, which I knew he would be.
I drove down the highway towards who knows where. I was just driving. I knew I couldn't go out of the state but I could get out of the town and as far away as possible.
I couldn't take the silence anymore and looked towards Jake. I didn’t quite know what I was going to say to him. I couldn't say anything though, for when I looked over at him he was asleep, I decided it would be best to get to a hotel and sleep for a while.
The hotel wasn't a big one but it wasn't the smallest either.
"Jake, wake up!" I said pushing on his arm trying to get him to wake, but he didn’t stir. I tried it again but he didn't budge again. I decided to get a room without him and then come back for him. I open the door and he suddenly shot up.
"Oh, so now you wake up! I see how it is!" I glared at him, but he just mouthed 'What?'
"Come on, let's get a room. Apparently you need your sleep," I continued. He followed me into the hotel.
The lady at the front desk was nice and handed me a key with no questions. We got room 4.
When we got to the door, I unlocked it. There was a small problem with the room though. There was only one bed. I sighed and looked behind me where Jake was standing, but he just shrugged his shoulders.
"Come on, you look tired." he said. I would be lying if I told you that I wasn't tired.
I inspected the room as I walked over to the bed. It seemed to be fine, but there really wasn't anything I could do if I would have been bad.
When I reached the bed, Jake was already in it and pulling the covers back for me to join him. It wasn't as weird as I though, I mean sleeping in the same bed as him, but it was something new to me. I climbed into the bed, shut off the lights, and pulled the covers back over me.

~Chapter 3~

I was sitting on the bed, Jake was still asleep. I couldn't sleep for some reason. I just had too many things going through my head.
I could hear the pitter-patter of the rain outside. It was calming in a way, I suppose. I could hear Jake’s steady breathing. Jake. I really did have feelings for him but I could never admit it.
I looked down at my ragged looking clothing. If you had one look at me, you might think I was through a small war. I got up and walked over to the bags of clothing we had gotten earlier today, and pulled out some pants and a simple gray t-shirt.
I started to undress, but stopped when I heard a rustle from the bed. When I looked over towards it I found Jake still asleep, he must have just moved a bit.
I continued to undress, until I was only in my underwear and bra.
Taking the clothes I turned around to walk towards the bathroom. I found Jake standing there in front of me, and my face started burning red with embarrassment. I tried to hide myself with the clothes as best as I can.
"Oh!" he exclaimed, he stared at me wide eyed. "I just needed to use the bathroom; I didn’t know you were up! I swear! I'm so, so sorry!" he turned around quickly and suddenly it wasn't my face but his that was filled with embarrassment.
I took the clothes and ran into the bathroom. I changed quickly, but I just couldn't go out there. I realized I had to face the fact that I did like him, and no matter what happened I would be with him for however long we spend on our own.
I opened the door, only to find him sitting on the floor with his back against the far wall. He had his face in his hands and was resting them against his knees.
I walked over to him slowly and stood before him.
"It's ok," I started, "you didn't know."
He removed his hands from his face and looked up at me. I helped him up and out of nowhere pulled him into a hug.
"Thank you, for everything. You were the only one who would accept me. If it wasn't for you I wouldn't have any one." I said, burying my head into his chest. Before I could say anything else, he was kissing me. I would be lying again if I said I hated it and wanted him to stop.
He picked me up and sat on the bed. Sitting me on his lap. He placed his hands around my waist as I wrapped my arms around his neck.
He picked me up again, but this time laid me on the bed. He climbed over me, never disrupting our kissing.
Suddenly he broke the kiss, rolled of the bed, and ran to the other side of the room. He crawled up into a ball again, like he had before, and I sat up, looking at him with a confused expression on my face.
"What happened? Why did you stop?" I asked, realizing I sounded a little silly saying it.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Roxy. I should have never done that." he said, but I was so quiet I had to strain to hear him.
I got up and walked over to him. Sliding my back down the wall I sat on the floor next to him. He didn't move.
"Why are you sorry? You didn't do anything," I said.
He looked up at me through his hair.
"But I could of! I'm so sorry!" he said looking up and resting his head against the wall.
I didn't know what to say next, so I rested my head against his shoulder. He didn't do anything though.

~Chapter 4~

I never really thought that this would happen. That Jake and I would end up together, especially in this situation. Together in the world.
“So what shall we do today?” I asked Jake, who was brushing his teeth at the sink.
I shrugged his shoulders and spit into the sink. Quickly rinsing his mouth first, he said, “I don’t really know. I guess drive around a little find somewhere to eat first.”
I took this into consideration and decided that it would be a good idea. I was a little hungry after all.
After we were ready to go I grabbed the keys and headed out, Jake following behind me.
We drove around until we found a small diner, right off the highway.
We were seated quickly. It was like no one else was here.
Jake order some pancakes, while I just ordered some water and a muffin.
“So what now?” I asked as I nibbled on my muffin.
“I don’t know. Where are we?” he asked me, stuffing a piece of pancake into his mouth.
I pulled out a map that I had grabbed from the hotel. Opening it I looked for landmarks around us that would give is off. The highway was a good place to start. After a couple of minutes of narrowing it down I came to a conclusion of where we were.
“Cape May, New Jersey,” I told him.
He gave me a look like he had been here before. Apparently I was correct with my assumption.
“My parents used to bring me here when I was little,” he said taking the map from me. “Here,” he pointed to a small location that was highlighted green on the map. “There is a small campground that they took me to. I know this area well. I don’t know why I didn’t remember this diner. They used to take me here on the way up to the campground.”
I studied where he was pointing, but the campground wasn’t really going to help me.
“What if we just stay here? This seems far enough from anyone that we know.” He continued. It was true thus was far away from our old houses, but I didn’t know if we were safe.
I didn’t really want to go any further though and he knew this area well, as far as I knew though.
“Ok,” I agreed.
For some reason he gave me a shocked face. “Really? I thought you would want to go further!”
“Not really. I don’t know this part of New Jersey very well. Hell, I don’t really know any part of New Jersey well. I barely know the town we used to live in. talking about living, where are we going to stay?” I asked.
He thought about this for a minute, and then answered me.
“There is a small vacation house that my family owns. No one goes there anymore though. We should be good there,” he pointed to another location on the map. “And it’s located right inside of Cape May.”
I nodded.
I folded the map up and shoved it back into my purse. We quickly finished up our food, paid for it, and got back onto the road.
I handed the map to Jake, who was fixing his hair. I just shook my head and he laughed a little. He is worse than me with his hair. Jake took the map and opened it back up.
“You get to direct me on where we have to go. You get us lost I kill you,” I said jokingly.
“Ok, but I know where we are going, so I won’t get us lost,” he shot back.

~Chapter 5~

It was nearly dark when we arrived. It was a small place. Only a one floor house, but it would be great for us.
I turned to him, "And how do we get in?"
He walked over to the door, totally ignoring my question, after getting out of the car and felt above the doorway.
He pulled out a small spare key and showed it to me. I didn’t have an answer so I just stuck my tongue out and laughed a little. He did the same thing in return.
Without saying anything he opened the door. Jake had to give the door a little shove, for it was stuck. He disappeared into the house. I started towards the place, when he suddenly came back out. He ran over to me and picked me up. I gave a small yelp and laughed.
“Isn’t this what you are supposed to do when you get married?” I asked, laughing as I said it.
He started laughing a little too. “Ah, close enough.” He set me back down when we got into the house. “Two people, obviously in love, living together in their own home, close enough.”
He turned me around so I faced him. Leaning down he gave me a small kiss. I smiled at him. “I guess,” I said.
He grabbed my hand and showed me where all the rooms were. Lastly he showed me the bedroom. I couldn't help but stand there, probably looking like an idiot, in awe.
You would never guess from looking at the outside, that this room could be so big. A large king sized bed sat in the middle of the room, which was pushed towards the wall. Two large black dressers sat against the walls, one to my left and one to my right.
"You should lie down and get some sleep. I'll go get the stuff from the car, I'll be in then," said Jake.
I didn't argue, I just walked quickly over to the bed and plopped down onto it.
I could hear Jake move in and out of the house, carrying out clothes and other items in.
After Jake was done he climbed into the bed with me and wrapped his arm around me. I had my eyes closed to make it look like I was sleeping. I didn't budge when he did it. I liked when he did things like this, but I would never admit that to him. It made me feel wanted, like I was actually loved. It was a good feeling after all those years of being abandoned and betrayed.
He fell asleep before I did, but soon I did too.

~Chapter 6~

It was still dark when I woke up.
I sat up and noticed that Jake was not in the bed. I got up and walked outside of the room and called out, "Jake ?" he didn’t answer so I did it again, but yet again there was no answer.
I found him on the couch.
"Hey, there you are! Why didn’t you answer me when I called?" I asked, walking around to the front of the couch. Something didn't seem right, I just had this feeling.
"Jake ! Oh my god!" I screamed.
It looked like a war had gone through the room. Blood was everywhere! Suddenly I felt like I was gripping something, so I looked down to see what it was. I was holding a knife. Both my hands and clothes were drenched in blood. I dropped the knife and looked back up at Jake who was as pale as a ghost. By now I was screaming my head off.
Jake had one big gash along his neck which was gushing blood. I screamed even louder and ran over to where Jake was. I didn't want to leave him. How could anyone do this? To him? To me? That’s when I remembered the blood all over me and the knife that was in my hand. It was me! I had done it!
Tears began to well up in my eyes, blurring my vision.
I sat up quickly in the bed. 'It was just a dream!' I kept telling myself.
I must have been crying, for when I went to wipe my face it was wet.
Looking over at Jake , who was now holding me, I assured myself that he was still alive.
“Do you want to tell me about it?” he asked me.
At the time I really didn’t want to tell him, I didn’t know what he would say, or do for a matter of fact. Though I learned it was always good to tell someone. So I decided to.
“It was horrible!” I sniffled.
“Tell me about it,” said Jake.
I explained the nightmare to him. Jake didn’t reply he just held me tighter and I let him.
“Do you want to tell me about it?” he asked me.
He sat with me, trying to comfort me, for the next couple of hours.
Suddenly he turned to me after a long time of silence, "You should probably get some sleep now."
I didn't really reply. I just nodded my head and closed my eyes.

~Chapter 7~

“So, now what shall we do?” he asked me, “We got away, but now what? What are we going to do with our lives?”
“I don’t know. I’m just going with life,” I answered.
He held me tight in his arms as we danced to music from the radio. I had pretty much blocked the music out. I stared into Jake’s dark blue eyes. And he stared into back into my blue ones. We danced in silence for awhile, taking in the moment. I realized that if we were caught and had to go back, we would never have another moment like this. I wanted to cherish every moment with him. I loved him and I could never lose him. When I decided he would come, there were two things I looked at. One was the fact that I could be with him for the rest of my life, but the other was that I could lose him forever if this went wrong. It was a chance I was willing to take though.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked me as we swayed with the music.
I stopped and looked back up at him. I had apparently looking at the ground. “Stuff,” I replied.
“Like?” asked Jake.
“About me, about you, about us, about what would happen if this plan went terribly wrong, and about how I could lose you forever if it did.” I looked deeply into his eyes. “I don’t think this was a good idea. I don’t want to lose you.”
HE didn’t say anything at first. He just smiled a little and hugged me. He held me tight and I hugged him back. Without letting go he said, “I think this was a wonderful idea. I couldn’t afford to lose you either. I don’t know what I would do without you. I don’t think I could live with myself. Look at it this way though; you get to be together without anyone else. Without anyone else bugging us or keeping us apart.”
“True,” I said. He bent down and kissed my forehead. I smiled at him. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” he said.
I grabbed his hand and walked off the porch and onto the grass. I carefully sat down, never letting go of his hand. Jake sat next to me and I laid my head upon his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around my waist. We sat there in complete silence, looking towards the sunset.
It was beautiful. The oranges and reds lit up the sky. It was almost like the sky was on fire.
I fell asleep after awhile.
I woke up to a knock at the door. Jake had must have carried me back inside.
"I'll get it," said Jake.
I nodded and fell back asleep. Suddenly Jake came running back into the room in a panic. I shot upright.
"Police!" he said.
I jumped out of bed and started packing my stuff up. There was another knock at the door but we ignored it.
"Take the back door and get out of here," he said after I was done packing.
I looked at him, "What about you?" I asked him.
He took a hold of my arm and pulled me close to him. "I'm sorry." He leaned down to kiss me.
"But-" I started but he cut me off.
"Go!" Jake yelled.
There was another knock at the door, but this one louder and with more force.
"Police, open up!" someone yelled.
"Go!" Jake yelled again and I did.
Running to the back door, I dragged my suitcase behind me. Tears started to run from my eyes. 'How could I be doing this? I have to go back, but I can't, I can’t be taken home.' I thought to myself.
I looked down at the cell phone that I had forgotten that I had. I had taken it from my mom before I left.
'Fuck!' Suddenly I thought about it, 'there's probably a gps in this!' I couldn't throw it out, but they could track me if I didn't. I thought about it for awhile and I suddenly realized I could get a pay-on-the-go phone.
I took the cell phone and chucked it into the water, I started running again.

~Chapter 8~

I stood outside of the hotel for what felt like hours. I didn't exactly know what to do. Should I go back or should I go forward? I studied the hotel sign for awhile. I noticed the big, chunky letters that were in bright colors. It was light up, but the large 'e' must have burnt out. The sign now read 'hotl'. I laughed to myself before I decided to go inside. A light raindrop hit my head as I walked towards the door. I walked faster.
The inside wasn't very big but was fancy, or what was a tried fancy. A large red carpet covered the floor and a small chandelier hung from the ceiling. I walked towards the lady at the front counter. She wasn't very tall compared to the desk. She looked up at me and smiled. I smiled back in return.
"One," I said.
She looked back down at her computer without saying a word. I thought she didn’t hear me so I went to say it again. I caught myself though, for right as I was going to repeat myself she looked back up and asked me my name.
After a few minutes of questions and answers, she handed me the key and pointed to the left. Most likely the direction of my room.
I started in the direction that the lady at the front desk had pointed and stopped only when I came to the room. I quickly made sure that the door and the key read the same number before unlocking the door and taking a step in. I closed the door behind me and took a quick look around.
The room was sort of like the one that Jake and I had-. My thoughts were cut off but others.
Jake. I wonder where he is. What happened to him? Did they take him home? I don't know and I really didn't want to think about it.
Strolling over to the bed, I threw my stuff onto the floor and then threw myself face first onto the bed. Slowly I turned myself onto my back and sat up. I crawled up into ball and rested my forehead on my knees. I wondered about things. I noticed that since I had left home I've been questioning almost everything. Friends, family, life. I had no idea if I could do this by myself. Should I just go home or should I keep going? I can't stay in this hotel forever.
I walked into the small bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror, not even bothering to turn on the light. I looked like a mess. My hair was sticking out in every direction and my makeup was running halfway down my face.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Who could it be? I jumped at the sound of it, for I wasn't really expecting anyone.
"Who is it?" I called slowly walking towards the door.
"It's me!" they replied. The voice sounded familiar but I just couldn't put a face to it. "Just open up!" they continued. That's when I recognized it.
I ran towards the door, almost stumbling over my clothes that were dumped on the floor. I grabbed the door handle and turned it. I threw open the door and jumped towards the figure standing at my door. I grabbed onto him and hugged him. He fell back a few steps.
"Well you seem happy to see me!" he said.
I didn't let go. "I thought I lost you! I thought I'd never see you again! I missed you Jake! But how did you find me?"
"I'm here now though. I went to almost every hotel looking for you!" he stroked my hair, trying to comfort me. By now I had already started crying. It didn't matter for he was already soaking wet.
For the next couple hours Jake explained to me of why the cops were there and what they wanted. Apparently they were only there because of the neighbors. They thought that we were robbers or something to that extent. They didn't realize that it was Jake and I. Jake told me that everything is ok and that we were able to go back.
I looked up at Jake, "Never do that again please. I mean leave me like that. I was really worried."
He looked down at me and kissed me. "I won't I promise."

Impressum

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 07.05.2012

Alle Rechte vorbehalten

Widmung:
For my best friends Peyton and Abby. Love you guys <3