I Found You, Something Told Me To Stay - (Jason/Zacky) Version Two.

Epilogue.

Okay. Here it is. The epilogue. I still can't believe I actually finished this!

When I decided I wanted to write the second version of this story, it was based on the fact that I enjoyed writing the first version so, so much. It was literally my greatest achievement on this website, and now this one is my greatest achievement. So much stuff has happened in my life since I started writing this one - stuff that caused me to really put a hold on my writing for a long time. I've experienced so many different emotions and I've had so many doubts, but I cannot tell you how happy and proud I am that I stuck through it, and that I've finished it.

Nowwww onto the sequel! The sequel is going to be completely different to the first version. For that reason, I'm deleting the first version - that doesn't mean I won't finish it in the future and re-upload it, but that isn't happening any time soon, that I can guarantee. So for now, I'm going to delete the first version (and steal its cover), and focus on the second version. I hope you like it!

Thank you so, so much for all the support I've had in writing this. I couldn't have done it without all the lovely comments and the votes. I really do appreciate it!

Without further ado - please vote, comment and let me know what you think!

Enjoy!<3

**

2 months later - March 1st, 2012.

Dad, I am sorry. I am so very, very sorry. Please try to find it in your heart to forgive me. If you can't, I understand. Please do not ask questions, or look for me, or worry - if I need to be found, I will tell you where I am. Again, I am sorry. I love you.

***

So I was a coward. This much was true. I was the biggest coward going.

You are, by far, the most toxic...poisonous...harmful person...I have ever met in my entire life. The words had stuck in my mind, and they were still in his voice. I clenched my jaw, pinched my skin - hard.

My cowardly self had written four letters, and four letters only, and I had stuck to that. One slipped under Charlotte's pillow, one tucked inside Linds' guitar case, one posted through the slits in Marie's locker at work.

I sealed the fourth in an envelope. I wrote "Dad" in big letters on the front, and I left it on the kitchen island. My eyes darted to the clock on the cooker; 02:15 a.m. I was good for time.

My feet tiptoed as though I was a stranger in my own home; perhaps I was. Was this even my home anymore? I was leaving. Of course it wasn't.

The sight of my bags slumped by the front door was bittersweet. I was glad to be leaving - more than glad. Nine months before, I had been glad to arrive. I hadn't expected to ever want to leave.

With my dad snoring softly upstairs, I pulled my jacket on before my emotions could really grab hold of me. I didn't need any more tears. Two months' worth was enough, and I was tired of waiting, and of crying, and of feeling trapped. I was tired of Huntington Beach.

It was tense and heavy as I hoisted my bags - that contained everything I needed, albeit that wasn't much - onto my shoulders, yanked my shoes on and gave the entryway of my father's home my last once-over. It had been fun, hadn't it? I wasn't sure.

I edged the door open, and the night was humid and sticky. Ash had parked across the street like she'd promised, hidden by the overshadowing tree on the green across the road. The only thing giving her away was the light that was on in her car. She looked up - from the screen of her phone, I presumed - and waved at me. I waved back. She was just as desperate to go as I was.

I made sure to lock up the house, and I slid the key underneath the plant pot by the door, and I forced my gaze away before I could become choked up. My heart was in too much pain; I couldn't even pinpoint what was hurting me the most.

The street echoed the light patter of my feet as I darted across the road and pulled Ash's car door open. She slid her phone into her pocket, smiled warmly at me and turned the key in the ignition.

"Ready?" She asked me, and I nodded, because I was. I was more than ready.

"What are you doing about your car?" I pulled my seatbelt on, tucked my knees into my chest.

"Leaving it at the bus station. My aunt's going to pick it up and drive it back to her place."

"Does your aunt know where we're going?"

"No, Midge," She turned her head, smiled warmly at me. "Nobody does. That's the point, right?"

I nodded. "That's the point."

It fell silent, and we both welcomed our thoughts, ignored the streets of Huntington Beach flying past us outside of the window. That was the point, I repeated to myself over and over, all of this needed to be a distant memory. They couldn't exist for me, and I couldn't exist for them. Not anymore.

I closed my eyes as Ash drove, and the hum of the car's engine was making me feel the most tranquil I had felt in two months. I couldn't wait to be out of here. Finally, we were gone. We headed there with determination, plans set deep in our minds, desperation keeping us going; headed to the bus station.

And then to the airport