Stronger Than Ever (A Sawyer Fredericks Fanfiction)

Chapter 3

Alice's POV:

After that incident involving my dad nearly killing us, I vowed to never go outside again. Sawyer hired a security guard, and Dad was sentenced for life, but still. I was terrified. I didn't feel safe here anymore.

I was barely eating at all, because I was so afraid that he would find a way to break out of prison and hunt me down. I could see it: he'd have a gun in one hand, a knife in the other. He'd debate on which one he'd kill me with and which one he'd kill Sawyer with. I would try to call 911, but he'd smack the phone out of my hand and shoot me. I'd fall on the ground with a thud and Sawyer, after being shot, would fall down next to me, and we'd hold hands and cry as we die together...

That was the plot of my most recurrent nightmare. Every night I would wake up crying, and Sawyer would cuddle me and sing to me until I fell back asleep. Then the cycle would repeat and repeat.

But here I was, hanging out in the barn with Sawyer. My head was on his shoulder and he was playing with my hair. We were both dressed in sweats and tank tops, and if my hair hadn't been bleached blonde, we might have been mistaken as twins.

"Hey, Sawyer?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you ever think about leaving?"

I looked up at him and we locked eyes. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean, getting out of town," I sat up straight. "Just leaving Fultonville and starting over. Trying something new."

Sawyer looked at the ground. I knew this was hard for him, leaving the comforting farm. Leaving behind the cozy farmland he had grown up on. Settling into an uncomfortable environment.

"Where would we even go?" he asked me. "Where would we live?"

"Hmm," I thought for a minute. "Well, definitely outside of New York. I feel unsafe here."

"I know you do," he took my hand.

"We should live in the city."

"Really?" he winced. "I mean, it's nice, but-"

"I know, you love the farm," I cut him off. "I do, too. It's nice here. But, we have to step out of our comfort zones. Take a risk once in a while."

"Well," he paused for a minute. "I guess we could live in the city for a while."

I smiled and clapped giddily. "Ok, now what city?"

"What did you have in mind?"

"Well, I was kind of thinking we could go back to Los Angeles."

"Really?" he cocked his head. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure," I giggled. I knew what he was thinking - was I going to hook up with another random guy? (Even though we technically didn't hook up)

"Why?"

"I kind of miss it there."

It was true. As much as I loved the farmland, I was a city girl at heart. That kind of lifestyle was definitely for me.

"Hmm," he thought for a moment, considering any pros and cons. Then he stood up and helped me up. "We'd better go tell Mom and Dad about our plan."

To our surprise, everyone was on board. We booked plane tickets for LA and began packing. We were to fly out in two months, meaning Windrake Farm was going to be left behind for now. We still didn't know what we'd do with the animals, though. But we had plenty of time to figure that out.