Face Down ✓ | Patrick Stump

Chapter Two

They say that what we want and what we are trying to escape are the very same thing.

This was true to an extent.

I wanted my mother back. I was not escaping her, but rather the thing she had become.

I wanted my father back. I did not escape him, more than cancer had forced him to escape us.

I wanted my life back. I was escaping my current life, one with no father and an abusive mother, but what I wanted was my old life, with my healthy father and mentally sane mother.

What we want can often be confused with what we need. What I thought I needed was a strong father figure in my life, someone to look after me, but that is what I had wanted. What I needed was for myself to be that father figure. I had to look over not only myself, but my two younger siblings.

We don't always get what we want. I wanted a car to take into Chicago. Unfortunately, that was not what I got.

I groaned in frustration as I banged my fist on the steering wheel. I was currently pulled over on the side of a dirt road. Not only was I completely lost, but we were out of gas. I only had so much money, and with gas prices rising by the day, we couldn't exactly afford a full tank of gas.

"Skye, where are we?" Ryan tugged on the back of my shirt as we walked down an abandoned path, leading away from the highway.

"We're going on a mini vacation! We're going to go to Chicago, someday we might live there! How does that sound?" I said, trying my best to sound enthusiastic.

"I wanna go home." Rose whined, stomping her feet. I sighed and continued to walk down the path. To be honest, I had no clue which way we were going. I had a feeling we were going towards Chicago, but I couldn't be too sure. We had no map, no GPS, and no smartphone to tell us where to go.

The sun kept sinking lower and lower in the sky as we made our way down the road. As the sun began to set, I began to lose hope. We were obviously going the wrong way. Surely, if we were going into the city, we would have at least passed some sort of gas station or convenience store or something, right?

The sun had finally set. Tears were beginning to form in my eyes. I was a failure. I tried to do what was best for my siblings and me, to escape my mother, but I just made it worse, as usual. Now, we had little money, no food, and we were lost. We were probably going to starve to death or die of thirst, if we weren't eaten by wild animals first.

I looked up and gasped. Through my clouded vision, I could see an illuminated sign.

Shell Gas Station and Convenience Store.

Open 24/7

My pace quickened and I tugged my siblings' arms behind me. I ran into the store, a bell ringing to signal that a customer had arrived.

"Excuse me, but where am I?" I questioned the single cashier in the store. He pulled out a map behind the counter, and pointed to it.

"You're here, just about 5 miles from Chicago. Is that we're you're trying to go?" I quickly nodded my head. "Just follow this road you're on now for about two miles, and you'll end up on an actual road. Follow it to the end, it's about another two miles. You're not supposed to, but if you walk through the woods at the end of the road, in a mile, you'll be in Chicago." He explained.

"Thank you thank you so much." I praised the man. I was about to leave when I realized I should probably buy supplies while I'm here. I used my money sparingly, buying only three bottles of water, three protein bars, and three apples. I could always buy more food in Chicago once I got some money. I managed to keep my total just above $15, which could have been less, but I also bought a map and a flashlight.