THE ARCHER - LOST

PROLOGUE

HAYDEN

I was born early.

My mom went into labor about six weeks too soon. She was only a month shy of her nineteenth birthday when I was born. She was a teenager and dealing with the fact that her newborn had to spend at least a month in the NICU. She was a kid and she had a kid. From what she's told me, she went into labor while standing in the checkout line at the grocery store. God, she can just go on and on about how everyone stopped in to help her, and how afraid and stressed she was, but how knowing that my father would come back to got her through it.

The truth?

The truth is my mom's water broke in the middle of her and her new boyfriend robbing a gas station. The poor guy they pulled a gun on had to literally pull me out of my mother on the floor of a gas station in Toledo. She almost died. I almost died. Then I spent the next month in the NICU. Her boyfriend dipped when I was born. I'm not even sure of what his name was. Mom doesn't know I know this. She probably still thinks I'm living in a delusion like she is. I only know all this because Mom made the mistake of bringing her only friend, Grace, around one time. She got drunk and spilled the truth about my birth to me when I was 10. Then Mom and Grace got into an argument, and Grace has not been invited back since.

My mom thinks I'm stupid. I'm pretty sure she thinks I haven't grown mentally since the age of six. Which is fair, considering every school I've ever gone to has treated me like I'm stupid because I don't pick up on things as quickly as other kids. I'm not an idiot, I've done my research. Whatever is wrong with me, it's probably my mom's fault. She's the reason I'm so screwed up. It's her fault for never treating me like a person, yet still refusing to be my mother. What a stupid thing.

For a while, it was just the two of us. Just two gals, taking the country by a storm. We moved around a lot, often staying in shitty motels or on the couch of some guy my mom was sleeping with. I remember being stuck in the car for hours on end, her talking my ear off about the newest guy in her life, and how he would step up and be "the daddy you never had, darlin'". We would sing great songs in horrible tones and watch movies and bitch about how the girl was always such an idiot. In a lot of ways, I think I'm the only real friend that woman has ever had.

She's a good person, I'll give her that. I know she loves me, in her own weird way. She didn't have me and then plotted to ruin my life. She's capable of love, and that woman loves me. But...that doesn't make her a good mother.

"Gotcha these."

He throws a bag of chips into my lap. I pick them up. They're Doritos. I hate Doritos. But of course, he doesn't know that.

"Where'd you get 'em?" I ask. "Steal 'em from an unsuspecting flight attendant?"

"Don't you wish I did." He rolls his eyes, taking the seat next to mine.

I make a face. In the isle across from us, I notice a boy. He looks around my age, maybe a little older. He's got short brown hair and a school uniform that makes me think he's a rich kid. He stares at me like he's never seen a girl before. I roll my eyes and lean back into my seat.

The guy was nice enough to let me have the window seat. That's about all I know about this guy. Well, that and I'm pretty sure he's a murderer. But I don't wanna think about that. I don't wanna think about that, and I don't wanna think about him. So I turn to look out the window.

We're above water. We left Sydney about an hour ago. It was the first time I've left the country and I didn't even get to do some damn sightseeing. But of course, he isn't worried about that. He's made that perfectly clear. Whatever. If he doesn't wanna be around me, that's perfectly fine with me. I'll just take off the second we land at LAX. I'm sure I can find someone's couch to sleep on for the next few weeks. Maybe Flynn doesn't hate me anymore, maybe his mom doesn't.