The Story of Us

Leaving

At that moment it didn't matter what had pushed us to that point, only one thing was clear in our minds. We were running away and we had to leave that night. So that's what we did. We took our fully packed suitcases. We took our phones with location turned off. We took all our money we had been saving. We left notes to the only people who might care. We took the big van. We left everything else behind. And we drove.
•••
Although no one spoke, being together made it easier. The radio played softly and we were all glad that there was music to fill the silence. 50 miles in and Celine was asleep, laying across the farthest back row of seats. Winter was scribbling away in her notebook. Faye was looking at something on her phone. I was driving. It was close to midnight, and the highway was nearly empty. We had two and a half hours left until we got to the only place any of us could think to go.
•••
Around 2:30am we arrived at the cottage from a happier time in Celine's dark past. Faye, who had been driving for the last hour and forty-five minutes, shook me awake. I looked around to see that Celine and Winter were still asleep. We got out of the van without waking the others and let ourselves inside with the key Celine had got for us. There were two floors and we split up to search for bedrooms. Faye went downstairs and I searched the main floor. The cottage was built on a hill.

We found two bedrooms upstairs and two downstairs. Faye and I decided to give Winter and Celine the upstairs bedrooms and we took the two downstairs. We brought all the suitcases inside and set them in each persons' room before waking the other girls.

"Kaelyn? Where are we?" Celine asked me as her eyelids fluttered open.

"We're at the cottage, come on," I said.

Faye and I led a sleepy Celine and Winter to their rooms. Both fell asleep as soon as they hit their beds'.

"Goodnight," Faye said to me before entering her room.

I crawled into my own bed and drifted off to sleep.