Hunted

Chapter 2: The System

Picture of Silver

*****

The system we had made was the same every time. I get a new license with a new identity on it. With a new name, they gave me new school records and even put my fingerprints under a new name in the system, just in case. They find me a new family in a different city, in a new state. I am handed an emergency bag with all the supplies I need in the event that I need to run. Once I get settled, I create a new life around others, and then something terrible happens. He finds me and the system starts over again. It never changes.

I looked over the packet Sarah had given me. The paperwork laid out my new life in the small town of Hopesprings, Arizona.

"So I will be staying at a spa?" I asked while trying to suppress a laugh.

"It's a quaint little town in the middle of nowhere, so no one will find you there," Sarah said, apparently not amused at the town's name.

"Won't it be a little conspicuous for me to just show up there? I thought we were sticking to big cities with more places to hide me, especially in the school system."

She looked toward me with her cold blue eyes. Her auburn hair framed her face giving a look of total control and seriousness, "We have been trying big cities and they don't seem to be working. So I suggested that we differ from the routine and make it harder for anyone to find you. Now, tell me. Who are you?"

I recited my new identity without flaw or hesitation in my voice, "I am Silver Jones. I am seventeen years old and I live in Hopesprings, Arizona. I just recently moved here with my uncle after my mother died in a car crash. My uncle's name in Benjamin and my cousin's name is Elizabeth. I am a perfectly normal teenage girl."

"Good, but let's try it without that last remark and make sure you remember your full backstory. You cannot forget any details," I knew Sarah was just being helpful, but I hated having to remember a new life that was just created out of thin air. No one would ever know the real me.

I recited my past another three times, not forgetting a single detail about anything they had told me to say. I was enrolled at the high school for my last year of school and then I was free. If no one found me, the marshals would give me a completely fresh start where I wanted this time. I could finally start over the way I wanted to.

"How old is Elizabeth?" I asked.

"She's fourteen. The same age you were when all this started," Sarah said.

"Isn't there any place else? I don't want to be what destroys this family's life," I begged.

"I know, but there aren't any other options," she said.

"Shouldn't-" I started.

"Before you ask, Benjamin Jones knows exactly what he is getting into, and he is prepared for whatever lies ahead. Ok?" She interjected, not giving me a chance to argue the point.

"Alright," I said defeated, not wanting to get into another argument with her after earlier, "When are they expecting me to be there?"

"We leave in ten minutes. Pack your things and get ready. You start another new life tomorrow, "Sarah commanded.

I grabbed my bag and some clothes out of the drawer of the motel. I had very few things, so I didn't try to grab any memorable objects; I guess that's the type of thinking that comes from needing to be ready to run.

Sarah walked towards the door and opened it. Before she walked out, she turned around and looked at me right in the eye, "I promise, this is the last one," she turned and left for the car.

"Just like every other time?" I questioned under my breathe. I opened the door and looked back at the small motel room. This small place was where I started over and left the old me behind.

I turned around and shut the door. Locking myself from everything I left behind.