Free Bird

Prologue

Author's Note: This was my first story and when I started I didn't have any clue about the order of operations. So, I don't provide any pictures for the cast until later on. Those chapters are marked in the Table of Contents so possibly you'll want to check those out before continuing with the story. Or not. Your call.

Anyway, feel free to comment and let me know what you think and vote if you like it! Thank you!

I wouldn't allow myself to feel fear. Occasionally it lingered deep inside, threatening to surface and take over like the demons that emotions were, but I wouldn't allow it. It was too dangerous.

Scared people get caught.
I wasn't about to let them catch me.

I had long since learned the art of numbing myself. Just. Shutting it all off. I had to. If I let myself feel the fear and pain that had built up within me over the last few years, I'd go crazy. I'd make stupid decisions to escape the feelings that were ripping me apart. I'd be hasty and rash and foolish.

Foolish people get caught.
I wasn't about to let them catch me.

So, as Ray pulled up at the truck stop halfway between what used to be my home and my destination to await my ride, I won the battle with the anxiety that gnawed in my chest. This was the right decision. It didn't have to be forever. But it had to be long enough to be forgotten. I inwardly put on my big girl britches, grabbed my bag, and stepped out of the car.

"Want something from inside? A drink or something?" I asked Ray, resting my arm on the top of the car and poking my head halfway in.

Ray finished typing something into his phone and gestured towards his McDonald's cup in the center console, "Naw, I'm good."

Ray was as good as people like us could get. He was much like an uncle to me, though we weren't blood related. You could see that the fifty-some-odd years he'd been on earth had been a bit harsh on him. He frequently wore a scowl and when his icy pale blue eyes landed on you in a glare from beneath his bushy grey eyebrows, it was actually impressively frightening.

But he had to be that way. Everyone in our world had that side to them. Everyone who lasted anyway. Just some hid it better than others and only used it when they had to. Ray had a resting bitch face and he used it to his advantage.

I shrugged and slung my bag over my shoulder before carefully shutting the door. Ray hated it when I slammed his car doors. Unfortunately, I had a habit of doing just that if I wasn't mindful of it. I don't know why. It might be because growing up I was a super small kid and we always had crappy beat up cars with heavy doors that jammed. I had to use force to shut the doors and it was a habit by the time my arms got stronger and the cars got nicer.

As I turned on my heel towards the glass doors I noticed a red hatchback pull up on the driver side of Ray's car and the passenger window roll down. That was probably my ride.

He could wait. I needed to pee.

Without a backwards glance I stepped up onto the curb and through the doors. My eyes immediately landed on the slushy machine against the wall next to the hallway that undoubtedly contained the restroom I needed.

That red slushy is coming with me.

After I did my business in the restroom I washed my hands and checked my reflection in the mirror.

I looked like someone who had been on the road all day. Go figure.

My strawberry blonde curls were attempting to escape the massive messy bun I had forced them into that morning by frizzing out at my temples and forehead.