I stared out my window, watching the trees rush by, nervousness filling my stomach. Jake stares at me from across the seat and I feel my whole body shaking as I smile at him. He flinches as we enter a tunnel and I pull my dark hair into a bun, revealing my scarred face.
"What if he finds me, what if I can't escape" I think to myself.
I pull my headphones out of my bag and plug them into my phone, shuffling through my songs. I settle on Small Bump by Ed Sheeran and I pull my legs to my chest resting my head on top of them. I stare up at Jake and I can tell he knows how I feel. Tears make their way down my face, smudging the little make up I'm wearing. I pull my hood over my head and shut my eyes, hoping to forget about everything.
I shut out the world for a few short hours as the train races to London, where I can escape the torture. My dreams do anything but comfort me, they just make me remember what I've been desperately trying to forget.
I'm in a meadow, prancing through the flowers, Jake close behind me. Suddenly Jake gets separated from me and I see his eyes go wide as he screams my name, I fall through a dark whole, my long hair breezing behind me. My back makes contact with the ground, with a large thump. The whole world is spinning beneath me, pain surging through my body, as I stand up. I shut my eyes as I sing to myself, a soft voice calling my name. Wiping tears from my eyes, my mother stands before me, wearing a long white dress, looking beautiful, as she always used to before she died, leaving me with him. The man who made my life a living nightmare, the one who made me sleep with one eye open. She takes my hand, pulling me into a hug. Her ghostly figure disappears from my arms and a sharp pain runs through my back again. I whip my head finding him standing there, and evil grin crossing his scarred face. He lifts his arm and I am ripped back to reality.
"Vanessa, Vanessa" a soft voice whispers in my ear. A hand grabs my shoulder and I open my eyes.
I throw my head back, forgetting where I am. My eyes adjust to the bright light and the memories come flooding back, my head pounding. My eyes make their way to Jakes, who's smiling weakly at me.
I'm so thankful for him, for everything he's done, he doesn't try to understand he knows already, because the same thing happened to him. We're just two eighteen year olds, making our way out of our past, trying to find a new beginning. He doesn't even have to tell me, I already know, we're almost to our escape land.
I take his hand in mine squeezing it gently. His eyes light up, as if he remembered something and he reaches into his bag. He pulls out a small box, wrapped in a newspaper kind of wrapping paper. His arm extends the gift to me and I shake my head.
"I thought I told you not to buy anything, you paid for our tickets, and that's enough" I say as he forces the present into my hand.
"You knew I was going to buy you something, now open it" he says eagerly, his bright eyes sparkling with excitement. I laugh at him and slowly unwrap the perfectly wrapped paper.
I pull the box out and open it slowly, revealing an infinity ring. The back says 'Forever Free' I smile and throw myself at Jake. When he pulls me from him he smirks at me, "I knew you would love it, happy birthday Vanessa". I slide the ring easily on my finger the smile still across my face.
For a second I forget what I was going to say, as the train pulls to a stop outside a train station. I don't say anything, I just start bouncing up and down thinking to myself,
"This is my new start, this is where I can escape, you'll never have to go back there again". I pull on my sleeves, hiding the bruises then racing to the front with Jake, all our bags clunking behind us. Waiting in anticipation for the doors to open bouncing around everywhere. Jake grabs my shoulders calmly.
