My Rehab

ONE

"KEEP RUNNING!"

I glanced back to see three prison guards on my and Alyssa's trail. I need to make the distance between us bigger or I won't have time to climb over the fence.

"Alyssa, grab my hand." She looks at me confused, but listens to me anyway. Let's see if my middle school track days will finally pay off. Tugging on Alyssa's hand, I throw her in front of me and race to the fence.

Once I feel the cool metal underneath my palms, I vigorously climb my way to the top. Careful not to fall back, I toss one leg after the other and jump onto the moist grass. The adrenaline in my blood made me immune to the weather until now. It's late August, so it's muggy and wet out. Fall. My favorite season.

"Emma, c'mon. We need to get to the other side of the forest." She stopped to catch her breath. "Tyler is waiting for us."

"Tyler? What the fuck? You called him?" Oh, I was furious. How dare she call him after what he put us through.

"We can talk about this later. We need to leave-" She stopped at the sound of a helicopter flying over us, and the three guards yelling at us. Fuck. "Now!"

I threw myself into a full-on sprint and dashed through the forest ahead of us. I could hear the rumble of the prison cars, but kept my mind on the task ahead: running to Tyler.

Oh, the irony.

Glancing back, I didn't catch sight of Alyssa. Please. God, no. She couldn't have gotten caught.

"Alyssa!" I yell while dashing trees and jumping over fallen branches. I didn't hear a response. "Alyssa!" I tried again. Please answer me. I repeated as a mantra, over and over again. Please.

"Emma!" I heard a faint voice. Avoiding another tree, I quickly look to my left and catch a flicker of orange running at the same pace as I am. Oh, thank God.

The helicopter has changed direction, and I don't hear the rumble of the car anymore. We're almost at the end. Never did I see myself behind bars in an orange jumpsuit, let alone escaping my sentence. And it's all Tyler's fault. If he wouldn't have left us. How could I have been so stupid?

As I reach the end of the forest, I see the dark blue tint of Tyler's truck. That damn truck. I quicken my pace, and find myself outside the forest. I'm out. I actually escaped.

"Oh. My. God." I mutter as I place my hands on my knees to catch my breath. "I just escaped California's State Prison." This is insane. I hear a shuffle of feet, and look up to see Alyssa stumbling out of the forest.

I make my way over to her and start laughing as I drape my arm over her shoulders. We fucking did it! My smile fades as Tyler makes his way over to us with open arms. I'm scared, excited, and furious. How can he act like nothing happened?

"Ladies." He greets with a smile plastered in his lips. "Babe. I missed you so much." Grabbing my head between his hands, he forces his lips on mine. Having to fight the urge of kicking his face in, I reluctantly kiss him back. I once loved this boy, but now, now I don't know what to think.

I slowly pull away from his grasp, and he looks at me confused. "We need to get out of here." I whisper, and right on cue, I hear sirens in the distance. Shit.

We hurriedly jump into the truck, and Tyler speeds off in the direction of our home city, San Jose.

"BABE. WAKE UP." I open my eyes to see we're parked outside a gas station. What time is it?

"Why'd we stop?" I sit up in my seat, and rub my face to wipe the sleep off.

"I brought you and Lyss some clothes to change into. Here." He pulls out a bag from behind my seat and places it in my lap. "Alyssa is changing in the bathroom, but it's a single." I look at my surroundings and find that we're parked around the side of the station, no one could possibly see us.

"I'll change in here." I mutter and pull the orange top over my head. Tyler's eyes meet mine for a second, then he brings them down onto my chest. "Tyler." I scold in a whisper. He licks his bottom lip, and brings his eyes back up to time. Sighing, I pull out the overly tight blue corset-shirt that's in the bag. The fuck is this?

I glare at Tyler, and he just shrugs. "It's all I could find." I shake the unwelcome thought of where he could've gotten this, and pull it on. To my surprise, it's not too tight. "You've lost a lot of weight." He remarks just above a whisper.

"Prison does that to a person." I spat and started putting the blue jeans on. He can't possibly think he has nothing to do with me being arrested. If I wouldn't have entered that building, we wouldn't be here.

I don't look back at him, but I know he's mad. His anger is palpable. He has no right to be mad! I was the one caught. He left me. But of course I can't say anything. I can't risk anything with Tyler. I pull out the last piece of clothing, a thin semi-long sweater. Looks like he does have some sense in that thick skull of his.

"I need to pee." I get out before he's able to say anything. I can't believe him. As I'm reaching the door, Alyssa stumbles out; her nose is red and I instantly know why she took to long. "Are you fucking kidding me?" I yell, but not at her, at Tyler. "We just got out of jail and you give her fucking cocaine?" Tyler gives me a mean expression and I know he wants me to shut up, but I can't. I refuse to be arrested again. "Why the fuck are you carrying that shit on you? Do you want all of us to go back to jail? You're fucking ridiculous! I can't believe you continue to put us in danger." Tyler's eyes lock hard on mine, but I don't care. "I can't do this anymore!" I yell in frustration.

I help Alyssa into the truck and head back to the bathroom; I slam the door behind me. While washing my hands, I can't help, but stare at my reflection. My skin is pale, I have dark, heavy bags under my eyes, and I really have lost a lot of weight. I look like complete shit. Why am I doing this to myself?

As I continue to stare at my reflection, I start to think about what I've done with my life. Most 17 year old girls are in their senior year of high school with their boyfriends and friends. They're shopping for prom dresses. They don't have anything to worry about because they're ready to graduate and move on with their lives. But me, I have no real friends. I don't have anyone I can tell everything to and go shopping with. I can't graduate because I dropped out my sophomore year. My life started off fucked up, and there's no way that can change. I can't just start over. It's too late for me.

Making my way back to the truck, I keep a great distance between me and Tyler. What is he playing at? Alyssa and I got caught and arrested because of him. I was sucked into this lifestyle because of him. I fucked up my life because of him. But as much as I wish to blame everything on Tyler, it's my fault too. I let myself get involved with the drugs, stealing, vandalism, and all the other bullshit. I put myself in this position and I need to accept that. It'll take time, but I need to end all of this. One way or another...