A Trip and They're Gone

I kept walking forward, shivering. "Walking to Benn's house at 2 o'clock in the morning wasn't the best idea," I thought to myself. My barely covering shirt, and thin zip up doesn't really help to keep me warm either. There's no cars out but the moon is bright tonight and
I have a bit of light to help me get to my destination. I turn onto Benn's street and start to run, my breath coming out in white puffs. Finally I make it to his house, jogging over to the tree and start to climb up to his window. Quietly I tap, and wait.

"Hey Annie, what're you outside for? It's cold" Benn joked. I look at him and a tear falls down my face. I had been so strong all the way over to his house and I just couldn't keep the facade up in front of him.

"She hit me Benn. She actually hit me." tears ran down my face. Helga had finally hit me in her angry drunken haze and I was in shock. Benns face turn down.

"Get in here," he whispered quietly, "but be quiet, my folks are asleep. " I climbed through his window and he instantly hugged me. "I'm sorry Annabug." And I cried even harder, trying to stay quiet.

"I can't do it anymore Benn. I can't live with her being drunk everytime I get home." I sob into his shoulder, my heart broken. He rubs my back to sooth me until I calmed down enough to talk. I whip my eyes and see the black smudge. "I'm sorry, I got mascara on your shirt." He looks down and shugs.

"It's just a shirt Annie, it'll wash. Now do you want to tell me what happened?" he give me the look and I know I have to tell him. I look down to my shoes and mess around with my sleeves. But Benn grabs my wrists lightly and leads me to his window seal where we normally sit and talk. I take a few deep breaths to try and stay calm.

"Helga got drunk again and she was far to wasted so I tried to take the bottle from her. She got angry, threw the bottle against the wall, and yelled me for taking something without asking, calling me an ungrateful daughter, that will go nowhere in life." I took a deep breath, trying to keep my emotions at bay but I could feel that it slowly slipping. "I told her she was drunk and that whatever she said didn't matter. Then she slapped me across the face and walked to her room like nothing happened." Tears started to stream down my face again and I'm sure the concealer on my cheek had come off because Benn was staring right at the red mark that was still there. We sat sat in silence for what seemed like forever until Benn finally decided to say something.

"Let's go on a trip with no parents, no rules, just you and me. Let's go right now! Let's just get out of this town and away from Helga." Benn had a wild look in his eye and somehow that made him look attractive. I shook my head to clear these thoughts.

"Benn do you hear yourself? We have school and I'm sure your parents would ground you forever!" I raised my voice slightly. Benn's eye widened and he quietly shushed me, putting one finger over his lips. I sigh and walk over to his bed and lay down looking at the ceiling. The glow-in-the-dark stars were still there from his sixteenth birthday, a prank gone wrong because Benn had actually liked them and kept them there.

"Annie, we are almost 18, seniors in High School, and we have never done anything dangerous or gotten ourselves in any kind of trouble. I'll deal with my parents when we get back, it's not like they haven't dealt with me running off before. And beside that, this is our chance to do something wild, go on the adventure we'd always talk about!" I look at Benn like he's crazy.

"How would we afford it? You realize we have to plan stuff out like money, food, shelter, you know, things we need to survive." Benn grabbed his laptop and pulled up google then looked back at me.

"Where are we going?" He gives me a sly grin knowing exactly where I'll pick. I put on my thinking face just to drag it out and Benn laughs. I look up at the stars and smile.

"Anaheim, California," I look at him and laugh, "DisneyLand!" he gives me the are you kidding me? Look and I nod my head making him sigh.

"Fine, I'll around up some clothes and cash then we'll head over to your house so you can get whatever you need." Benn closes his laptop after a few minutes, gets everything he needs and throws it out the window. "Let's go." We rush over to my house and I run in and grab everything I'll need for this trip. And soon we're on the freeway headed to our destination. Benn reaches over and flicks the radio on but keeps it quiet.

"Benny, how long is this drive going to be?" I look at Benn as he is focused on the road. He glances at me with a smile, I had used his old nickname after all. Benn told me before he liked it when I called him Benny, he never really let anyone else call him that though.

"Well from what I read on the google, we'll be there in 13 hours and 45 minutes. So we'll make some pit stops every now and then, ya know, to fuel up, bathroom, or if we get tired of eating gas station food." Benn glances at me again with a smile before reaching over and turning the radio up a bit more. "Get some sleep Annie, I'll wake you up when it's your turn to drive." I laugh and lean my head against the window, slowly my eyes start to shut.