Flee

Chapter 1: Broken Home

I pace around my bedroom back and forth, hyperventilating. Some people fiddle with their buttons when they are scared and others wipe their hands on their pants. I pace. It doesn't help me at all and I wish I wouldn't do it. If anything it makes my anxiety worse. My heart races faster and faster. I try to stop myself from pacing, but I just keep going round and round in a circle unable to stop. I jump at any small noise from outside, worried that the noise was created by my stepdad, Tim. 

Tim has been my only guardian for two years. My mother left when I was fifteen and my dad was killed in a car accident when I was four. The worst part about all this is that I don't know where my mom went. I don't blame her for leaving. If I was married to Tim I'd leave, too. I just don't understand why she left me behind. If I knew where she was maybe I could find her and she could save me. She could save me from the pain I have felt these last two years and maybe just maybe my sister, my mom, and I could be a real family again. 

When my thoughts trailed away from Tim it calmed me, but that all changed. I gaze out the window and see Tim stumbling out of his car to the front door.    

My breaths begin to get heavier and the whole world feels like it's spinning. I stop pacing and head towards my bed because I feel like I am about to collapse. I collapse before I make it to my bed and I hit the floor with a loud thump. The wind is knocked out of me and breathing gets even harder. I lie on the floor. Tim's loud footsteps echo throughout the house. Tim slams open the door and sees me in my crippled state seated on the floor.  

"Pathetic. You're pathetic." He says with a scowl on his face.

I open my mouth to speak, but no words come out. 

"What? Cat got your tongue? Or did you finally look in the mirror?" He says. 

I shake my head again. Trying really hard to not let him get to me.

"You spoiled brat. All you want is people's pity. You don't appreciate all that I have done for you. Without me you wouldn't have a house. You wouldn't even be here. That would be better honestly, but what can I do about it now?" He shouts at me. 

"Don't say that," I whisper. "You aren't my dad! Even if you were my biological dad you still wouldn't be my dad. Dads don't treat their children like you treat me."  I say as tears start to form in my eyes. 

"You ungrateful girl!" He shouts. 

He throws my lamp off of my dresser and the glass shatters throughout my room and pierces my skin. I flinch and he starts throwing everything breakable at me. Once he has thrown everything in my room at me he leaves without another glance my way. 

Once he is gone I begin to pick all of the pieces of glass out of my skin. Once I finished I begin to cry. I start off by crying about Tim and then before I know it I am crying about everything. I cry about my mom, my sister, my life. Nothing seems to be okay anymore. 

It feels like hours have passed when I finally pull myself together. I slowly stand up from my spot on the floor and cautiously walk to the bathroom.  I stare at my reflection in the mirror. I am a mess. There are tiny scratches along my arms and face. My skin is all splotched from crying, my eyes are puffy and overall I just look awful. I splash my face with cold water and go back to my room. 

I need to get out of here. As quickly as I can I dump out all of my belongings out of my backpack. I add all of the necessities. I sling my bag over my shoulder and think of a plan to get out of here as discreetly as possible.  I go through all of the possible way I could escape in my head and only think of one good one.

That is to go out the window. There is a tree right outside my window so I could use that to get down safely. I just don't know if I can get down there without being seen, but honestly what do I have to lose? 

I open my window and climb down the tree. Once my feet hit the ground I begin to run. I run past dozens of houses before I make it to the shopping center right outside my neighborhood. I keep walking until I have no clue where I am. I see a bus stop and sit down on the bench. 

I observe my surroundings. Everyone around me looks so happy. I envy them for that. I see an old couple sitting having dinner at a small diner and a young couple strolling down the street with their hands linked together. I have never been happy like they are. I want to know what it feels like.  

"Do you mind if I sit down," I hear voice say. I jump and I turn to look for the source of the voice and I see a boy who looks like he is my age right besides me.

 "N-no, I don't mind." I stutter without making eye-contact with him. 

He sits down at the other end of the bench. 

"I'm Jace." The boy says completely out of the blue. 

"Oh." I say. 

"Oh?" Jace says with one eyebrow raises. "Is my name not cool or something? Honestly I think it's pretty cool. I wish I could tell you it means something deep or inspiring, but in reality my parents didn't know what to name me so they just named Jace because my  brothers name is Jason and Jace is a nickname for Jason." 

"Okay." I say still not looking at him. 

"What's your name?" He asks me. 

This boy does not shut up. "Arden." I say quietly.

"I like that. It's exotic." 

I glance at him briefly and then look away. He pulls out his phone and then speaks again. 

"Your name means high." He says.  

"Now I get why they named me that." I say under my breath.

"Why?" Jace asks me. 

"They were probably high when they named me."

"It's that bad, huh? Your relationship with your parents." he asks. 

"I don't really have a relationship with my parents, so yes it is that bad." I spit back at him. 

"How do you not have a relationship with your parents? They're your parents. You kind of have to have a relationship with them whether you like it or not."

"Well, my dad is dead and my mom left me when I was fifteen. Death kind of makes it hard to communicate as well as being left behind." I say. 

"I'm sorry." He says. He looks like he means it. 

"Yeah. Me too." I say. 

"Where are you planning to go anyway?" Jace asks.

"Far." I say. 

"Good. Me too." He says. 

We both sit in silence until we see the headlights of a bus peak over the hill.