East Of Eden

Chapter 3

I spend about two hours at a coffee shop on my laptop. I have finally come up with a perfect plan. I have no idea if it will actually work, but I'm going to go with it. I close my laptop shut and get into my truck. I feel my phone vibrate and pull it out from my pocket. I have a text from Julie.

"Hey are you okay? Where are you?"

I ignore it. I need to disconnect my self from them and my life because if I go back, even for a second, I will put my plan in pause and probably never actually do it. I love my friends probably more than anything in the world. It's not like I'm dying, I'm just going to be gone for a whole school year or less.

I drive my way to a radio shack. This is so necessary for me to get a new phone. My parents can easily track me down with it. I don't need to be driving 200 miles north and see a police officer pull me over. I need to be smart about this, not only do I need to not use any credit cards and try to use as little I.D as I can get, but I have to change my license plates, and get a new phone. I took and extracted every little detail and anything that could go wrong. I felt like a criminal trying to get away with murder.

One detail off and everything could plummet. I walk into the little shopping center store and the door chime dings on cue.

"Welcome to Radio Shack, can I help you with something?" A blonde petite familiar girl at the cash register says to me. "Holly?" She asks. I turn to face her. "Yeah. Hey Jamie." I smile. "Oh my God, I can't believe it's you." She smiles and comes around the counter to hug me. Jamie is my brother, Eric's ex-girlfriend of two years. They broke up around a year and half ago. This is the first time I've seen her after they broke up. "How are you?" She asks me. "I'm fine, and you?" I reply. "I'm doing good, but um.. How's your brother?" She has the courage to ask. "He's doing really good, he's in the Air Force and.......he has daughter." I break the news to her. My brother's baby mama, Ruby just had my niece, Casandra about 8 months ago. Eric was so enraged and hurt when Jamie broke up with him for another guy, so he slept with another women to spite her and got her pregnant.

"Oh. Wait what?" She's shocked. "It's not really my place to tell you, so if you want to know, Eric gets back to Washington tomorrow. That's when he gets his phone back so you can call him or text him, then." I explain. "Holly, please tell me." She begs. "Ummm..." I don't know if I should tell her. Fuck it. "After you left him, he was so angry and sad, he didn't even want to go out with his friends or leave his room for a good month. Then when he found out you broke up with him to go with that douchebag Danny, he was really angry, so he... You know with some girl named, Ruby. She got pregnant and he enlisted for the Navy, then he didn't get in, so he went for the Air Force he got in within two months. By then, she was 6 months. He's only seen his daughter once when she was two months. I haven't seen Eric in 6 months." I finish. She looks at me with surprise. "Oh." Is all she says. "I broke up with Danny two months after we got together because I found out that I made a mistake and when I asked Eric to take me back, he said he had moved on." She says as she looks at the floor. "He never told me that." I tell her. It's true this is news to me. I have no idea why he didn't take her back. She was the one who broke up with Danny for him. Eric was so in love with her, I'm surprised he didn't take her back in a heart beat. Let alone not take her back at all.

"Well what do you need? I'm sorry." She laughs. It's the most fake laugh ever. "It's okay. I need a pre paid phone." I tell her. "Okay?" She smiles. "Follow me." She leads me into the left corner of the store. "We have these cheap flips phones, but we have iPhones now that are pre paid." She says. "How much are the iPhones?" I ask. "Well, the cheapest one is $199, but it's 16 gigabytes and actually there is a promo going on for a month and if you buy one then you get a $20 gift card to anything in the store and you get 100 free minutes of calling and free texting." She says with a smile. "That's great, then I'll take it. Also I'd like to sell this phone." I pull out my other iPhone. "Um, you're switching to another iPhone that is prepaid? Why?" She asks. "My mom turned off my service. I got caught smoking weed with my friends and said she wasn't going to turn it back on, so I want to pay for my own phone for now, but I don't want her to know." I lie completely. "Oh my God, Holly! Don't get into bad habits." she gives me advice. She is so sweet and caring. I miss her so much. Me and her were really close when my brother and her were together.

"Yeah, it was a one time thing though." I laugh. She laughs with me and says, "Okay let me go in the back and get it, and while I set up everything pick out the things you want to get for that $20 gift card." She smiles and winks and she pulls open the door that states 'Employee's Only'. I look around and just grab a plain purple iPhone 5 case and some Sony headphones. She returns from the back and goes to the counter. After everything is set up, the paid phone, music and photos transfer, sold phone, bought headphones and case, service linked, I leave with a hug goodbye and a little tear falls down my cheek. I wipe it away before I un hook from her and look at her and say, "Jamie, if anyone asks and I mean it please, I wasn't here." She looks at me with confusion and opens her mouth to say something but then closes it again and just nods her head. I leave and get into my truck and drive out of the shopping center.

I sold my phone and it got me $150. Not a lot, but it's still something. It will buy my gas for the road trip down to Chicago. Chicago is seven hours away, from my town. I drive down to Ford to change my license plate. It takes around an hour to change them. I made the man who does the paperwork to throw the paperwork away so there is no reports on my change of license code so when they come looking for me they won't be any record of when, where, or what. It didn't take much convincing. Just a lower of my shirt to show off a little cleavage and a pouty face did the trick. I even shredded the paperwork my self.

I sit in my truck with my music from my new phone playing through my car speakers at a red light. I'm about to get on an highway and make my way to Chicago. I'm actually doing my this. I'm so scared and nervous, but if my plan goes to according then I will have nothing to worry about. I will make it to Chicago without a peep. I tell myself. I will, they can't track me down my phone, or car, I haven't left any tracks left behind. All it is now is going through with my plan and seeing if it actually works.

Its been an hour on the road with half a bag of chips gone and an empty soda can. The road is beautiful. Its still around 11 a.m so its the morning sky is still up. The side of the road is desert and there is not a car in sight. I'm seriously in an awe. My smile keeps lighting up when I think about how excited I am. I'm excited for all the adventures waiting for me. I'm not doing anything illegal or stupid. I'm making a change in my life. I'm escaping all the bad things in my life. I'm old enough by law to do this. I have the money, the maturity, and the motivation.