Rescue (Cameron Dallas)

Two

-1 YEAR LATER-

I have lived on these harsh streets of Selma, Alabama for a year now. Still no sign of my foster grandma or Cam or his foster parents. I seriously doubt he lives here anymore. From what I remember, he had foster grandparents that were on their last legs of life, so he probably has moved on to another state or at least city. The few people that care about me have moved on. Great. I guess I'll just care for myself then.

My night terrors have gotten worse these last six months. I have lost hope about Cameron over that time and my nightmares treat him like he's dead so they consist of Cam being killed in some malicious way every night. It's like I can't be free anywhere between my crappy life and my nightmares.

The money I brought with me a year ago only lasted about two weeks, and that is when I had to make some new friends. Their names were James, Beau, and La-a (pronounced Ladasha).

James and Beau are best friends that ran away from the group home not far away, but not the one I was in. La-a is Beau's longtime girlfriend who ran away from her abusive mother. They taught me how to mug people and how to sleep basically anywhere.

We all sleep in the woods across from Spanish Spring apartments among some creepy old guys whose lives amounted to nothing. I am scared that this is my fate.

My friends, however, like their life, but since I don't want to live out my life on the streets mugging people and stealing things, I have decided to end my suffering. If this is as good as it gets, which I think it is, I am done here.

I have purposely been fasting for the last two weeks, and I am currently running until I pass out. I am running past the graffiti wall and the colors begin to blur. I run faster. My legs stop and everything is black. I start to go into a euphoric dream-like state.

I spend an eternity in the darkness, when I hear someone say,"You're gonna be okay."

I then hear sirens that come closer and closer until they are muffled. Next, I hear lots of people talking for a while, and then it stops. I wait another eternity in the darkness with no entertainment of sound.

The next thing I hear is this speech.

"Hi. It's been a little while. I know you, and I'm so glad to see you again. I just wish it wasn't like this. But, you can't always get what you want. After you left, my life became parched of anything good. You were my life, and when I lost you, I became depressed. I know how you feel; you don't have anyone left in the world. To get over you, I turned to my foster grandparents, who are no longer with us. They helped me find friends and they helped only a little.

"I told my friends about you and your awesomeness. They didn't care and tried to set me up with other girls, but I couldn't do it. I couldn't date around after you. I didn't care if people thought if I was bat-shit crazy to not date other people. I didn't need to though because I had found the one.

"This past year has been hard for me though. My awesome fosters died, I lost hope about finding you, and my depression worsened. I started self harm and even tried to end my life. Some good things happened though, my new fosters are awesome and super sweet people.

"Like I said, I have been in your shoes on some level and what I saw was a suicide attempt, and I want you to know that you are worth it and you will amount to something awesome like you're awesome self. I will make sure of it. You didn't deserve the shit that happened to get you there. I remember you being so strong so I know it took a lot of shit to get you there. I really hope you hear this, Dani. I love you."