Picture is of Skye
ENJOY!
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"So, um, my turn." He said, scratching the back of his neck. We had decided to play twenty questions after the first half an hour of the bus ride.
"Go ahead." I said, smiling slightly. Cole seemed like a really cool guy and I had already found out quite a bit about him. He was almost seventeen and he had a younger brother and an older sister. His mother had passed away when he was a kid and his father was a drunk so he and his little brother stayed with his sister and her fiancé.
"Why are you on this bus?"
"I- um... well it's a long and complicated story." i said, not wanting to divulge into the details.
"I have a lot of time." He gazed at me with hose soft brown eyes of his, making me melt a little inside.
"It's also personal." I said, turning away and looking out of the window.
"You've run away, haven't you? Abusive parents? Bullies? Or did mommy and daddy just not get you the car you wanted for your birthday?" he said scornfully.
I turned around sharply at the bitter tone in his voice. He had a weird look on his face.
"Um no actually, my parents are dead." I said bluntly before turning back to the window.
"Oh, uh, I'm sorry?" he said, but it sounded more like a question.
"It's ok." I said, not turning away from the window. "I don't remember them much."
He was silent for a moment.
"So you have run away." He said.
I sighed. "Yeah."
"Why?" his voice as barely a whisper.
"I was in my seventh foster home in the past three years." I said, finally deciding to trust him. Please don't make me regret this, I silently sent up a prayer. . "I got into a fight at school. Again. And my foster parents said they couldn't keep me. They called the social services lady and she was going to put me in another foster home again. That was when I decided I had had enough. I left. I'm planning to go to LA. Maybe start a career in music."
"Oh." He said, his voice barely a whisper. "That would explain your bashed up face." He smiled slightly.
"What about you?" I asked. "Why are you on this bus?"
"I ran away too."
"Oh." I said, turning to look at him. His face was scrunched up in pain. Not wanting to push it, I didn't say anything, but just continued to look out of the window.
Some time passed and I slowly began to drift off.
"Hey, Skylar?" Cole said.
"Yeah?" I murmured, half asleep.
"Do you want to come with me?"
"Do I - what?" I opened my eyes.
"Do you want to come with me?" he repeated, his voice growing stronger.
I was silent, my mouth opened slightly.
"Come with me." he looked at me with soft brown eyes, pleading silently.
"I-I can't" I stuttered, looking away.
"Why?"
"Because..." It was then I realized I had no reason. I was free. Free to make my own choices and become the person I wanted to be. But then the thought struck me. Maybe the person I was planning to be - the person I was all these years - wasn't the person I wanted to be. I needed change. I needed to be myself.
