As Long As I Remember

No Way Through but Through

Big, burly men immediately jump out of police cars.

O.MY.GOD. This is not happening right now.

While I'm thinking about what to say when the police reach us, Matt drags me into the crowded Starbucks.

"Matt! What the heck are you doing? We didn't do anything wrong; we shouldn't be running! We can just tell the police that we didn't run away from Hawk but that we were kicked out! It's the truth!"

Matt just snorted at me. "Yeah, Christina, they don't want the truth, they want money. I would bet you every bit of cash I have left that those are private investigators, hired by Mrs. Grawling. And I'm sure she conveniently left out the part of the story where we were kicked out of Hawk by her!"

I don't really know what to say to that, so I stay silent. When Matt sees I don't answer him, he pauses.

"Look, Chris, I'm sorry. I wish we could go and tell those cops the truth but they would arrest us anyway. We would wind up in Juvie." His handsome features are marred by a dark frown. "Believe me, I know from personal experience."

"Wait, what are you talking about?"

We hear shouts coming from behind us in the crowd.

"Listen, Christina, I'll tell you later. Right now follow me."

He grabs my hand and drags me into the Wendy's where we ate before. He hops the counter, pulls me over with him, and ignoring the shouts of employees, runs all the way through the restaurant and out the back exit. We sprint towards the woods. The shouts of the police and Mike follow us through the dark forest, so we keep on running.

Eventually, the shouts and footsteps stop, and all you can hear is me and Matt's labored breathing.

"Think we lost them?" I whisper.

"Yeah, I think so."  He takes a flashlight out of the small knapsack that contains our few belongings and shines the light around in the trees. "Okay, well the coast is clear!"

But then he takes another look around the area. "Um, yeah I have no idea where we are, though."

OH. That's a problem.

Matt's getting frustrated. He is pacing back and forth, running his hands through his curly brown hair, and is clearly deep in thought.

"So what do we do now?"

He sighs. "We have two options. We either stay here for the night or keep moving until we find someone that can tell us where we are."

All this is so unbelievable! The whole point off all this is to find out what really killed Maria, but we're stuck in the middle of the woods with no where to go.

"Matt, we need to get to New York and start looking for clues about Maria and my past. Remember, that's the whole point."

"I know that, Chrissy. I'm trying. It's not my fault that that stupid Mike kid is freakin' stalking us! With the police! Not to mention he knows our whole plan, Chris. Remember, he was in the room when you told all the orphans? So we really have no escape plan. There's no way around this one."

That got my gears turning. There's no way around this one.

"You know what, Matt? You're right."

"About what?"

"There's no way around this. Mike is gonna be able to follow us everywhere. So maybe there's no way through but through."

I stand on my tip-toes and whisper my plan into his ear. He nods excitedly.

"This might just work, Christina!"

I grin wickedly, "I know, right! Alright, step one: getting back to that Starbucks without being spotted. Once we're in, it's just a matter of blending."

We both start towards the same direction we came from, and eventually wind up back in the parking lot. Police sirens are still wailing, but no one seems to be in the back of the building. We sneak in through another back door, and wind up in the employee's only room at Starbucks. We here footsteps coming our way, and Matt begins to run.

"Nope, no running. Act like we belong here."

The employee rounds the corner and spots us.

"Um, this is employee's only area of the restaurant."

"Oh, we know! We are employees! We were just on our way to our shift when the whole police commotion happened. The police actually searched us and took our bags, which had our uniforms. Do you think we could borrow some?"

Please believe me. Please believe me. Please believe me.

"Sure! There are some in that closet!"

"Thanks!"

Step 1, get in, success.

Me and Matt casually walk to the closet and throw on the uniforms over our cloths. I saw a pair of old bifocals in the corner, so I put them on. Matt found a hat, and then we were good to go.  We head over to the work station farthest from the counter, and act like we are working.

Step 2, blend in, success.

The Starbucks closed only a couple minutes later, and me and Matt left along with the other employees. We narrowly missed the police, and would've been stopped if we were alone. Once we made it safely out of the parking lot and crossed the street, I smiled at Matt. "See, I told you the only way through was through. We needed to blend in with the crowd to get past them Now all we need to do is lay low until they give up the hunt."

He looks at me in awe. "My girlfriend is incredible."

I just laugh. That's when I notice how cold it is; I can see my breath in the cold, night sky. Matt notices too and puts his arm around my shoulders. He plants a delicate kiss on the top of my head.

"We need to get rest."

"I know. Where do we go?"

"Well, there was this one place Maria talked about in her diary. It was some house that had some sort of secret entrance, and it was in Freehold. It can't be too far from here!"

Matt takes a look at Maria's entry that describes the house's location. His face goes white.

"No way."

"What's wrong Matt?"

"Maria hid out at my house."

A/N: sorry this chapter is alittle all over the place and dragged out, but seriously, wow a lot is going on in this chapter! Chrissy and Matt manage to escape Mike and the police by disguising themselves as Starbucks employees! genius plan, Christina! so when they need a place to stay, chris remembers this one house in freehold Maria mentioned in her journal. And when Matt takes a look at it, its his house! what?!????? how?!??? and remember how in the beginning of this chapter matt says he knows from personal experience about the police and Juvie? What was that all about? answers are soon to come :))) anyways thanks for reading everyone! as of now i have 373 reads :o that is absolutely incredible!

Thank you all sooo much! every read makes me smile!!! -marierosa13 **John 3:30**