Escape Route | ✓

1

Carrie Sanders stumbled along the pavement, expertly weaving in and out of the oncoming mass of people. She was used to the crowded streets- she had, after all, lived in Chicago for her entire life.

She somehow made it back to her apartment, and pushed open the door, wandering into the kitchen. Taking a deep breath, she looked down at the cell phone in her hands. It was entirely the reason she had been in such a daze walking home from work that afternoon.

Carrie steeled herself, and unlocked it, typing in the familiar number. She pressed it to her ear and waited as it rung.

'Hello?' a gruff and rather annoyed voice filtered into her ear.

Sighing with relief that he had actually bothered to answer her, she quickly said in one breath, 'I've thought about your proposal.'

'And?' her father had never been particularly patient and that was perhaps the reason for their rather rocky relationship.

'And I'm moving to Texas,' she rushed out before she could change her mind for the umpteenth time. She was ridiculously indecisive, and she didn't need to re-think her decision yet another time.

'Excellent. I'll have the keys delivered to you tonight, along with any necessary information. Now, excuse me but I'm having an awfully busy day, and I have to get back to work,' he hung up without a further word, not that she had expected anything less.

Moving to Texas seemed like the right idea, Chicago was too full of memories so painful Carrie could hardly bear them. It would bring a fresh start and a chance to escape her past.

She had not been rather surprised to find out that her brother had not wanted to take the opportunity of moving to a farm in a small village thirty kilometres away from Dallas, because he was too attached to his business, which was doing pretty well.

The farm had belonged to her uncle, who died over a month ago, and it had been left in her father's possession. He, like his son, was a dedicated businessman and had not wanted to move to a remote area in a completely different state. After some debate, he decided that he would send his daughter out there instead to look after the farm. Although they didn't get on very well, he was aware she had had a tough year, and an escape might be a good thing for her.

Carrie glanced around her apartment and sighed. She didn't have a huge amount of things that she wanted to take away with her to Texas, but there was still a lot to do.

She had begun packing, for she planned to leave as soon as possible, when her cell phone rang. Not bothering to check the caller ID, she pressed it to her ear. 'Hello?'

'You're not actually going are you?' her brother didn't even bother with a greeting, he never did.

'To Texas?' Carrie clarified. 'Yeah, I am actually.'

'Dad just told me,' his voice was slightly flat. 'What am I going to do without you?'

'Sebastian...' Carrie sighed, pausing her packing and running a hand through her hair. 'You'll be fine, seriously, I'm sure you can manage without me.'

'I'll miss you,' Sebastian mumbled quietly. He was never one for publicly displaying his emotions but he never bothered to hide how much he loved his younger sister. She was his best friend, although he'd never tell her that- she avoided the topic of best friends after what happened with her last one.

'I'll miss you too, Seb,' she replied honestly. 'But this is important for me and I want to be able to start over after everything that has happened.'

'I understand,' he agreed. He, after all, knew better than anybody how tough the past year had been for her. 'When are you planning on leaving?'

'Probably tomorrow,' his sister told him, hoping he wouldn't freak out too much. No suck luck, unfortunately.