Runaway

.05

It's been two weeks since I'd read the entry in her journal. My punishment was over, and Savannah has been gone for a month and one week. Time was ticking by and I couldn't get it to slow down for just one simple second so I could calm down. Every day without her was pushing me towards some sort of...cliff, you could almost say.

"Her phone is back on," Jack said, leaning against my door with his eyes on his phone. I put my Xbox controller down and looked at my phone. If it was back on, she heard my message. If it was back on, she would call back.

Savannah had to call back.

"How do you know?" I asked. Unless he was calling her every second of every day, there was no way that he could know that her phone was on.

He looked up and held his phone screen up to me. I frowned and stood up, wondering what the hell he was going on about. When I got to him, I saw that it was just a text message from him and that it had been delivered. That didn't confirm the fact that it was on.

"If it delivered, it's because it's on. It wouldn't deliver if the phone was off and would wait until it was back on," Jack explained before tucking his phone into his pocket. "But she must have turned her reads off."

I rolled my eyes and moved back to my bed. My head hurt from worrying over Savannah. I had to take a break from reading her journal; there's an entry from every day starting November 16, 2013, her sixteenth birthday. Talking about her now with Jack was not good for my break.

"Savannah doesn't want anything to do with anyone here. That includes you, Jack," I said and grabbed up my controller to continue my game. It'd break Jack hearing that but he needed to know.

Savannah may be the most amazing thing in the world but...she's also the worst. She's childish and runs when she doesn't like something. I bet she'll be running away from New York here soon because the world's too big and she didn't take that into account. It'll be any day now and she'll come home. Not home but somewhere that's...less.

"You're a goddamned liar," Jack snapped, his blue eyes filling with anger. I shook my head at him and dodged one of the linemen to throw the football to my wide receiver. "You know what your problem is?"

I frowned at the statement, trying not to flashback to any of the times that I was with Savannah. Those words constantly rolled off of her tongue before she'd slay you. She was honest to a fault and made sure everyone knew that. God, I wonder how that's helping her in New York.

"You hate to admit that you care to anyone. There's not a fucking thing wrong with caring, Oliver," he snapped and left my room. I paused my madden game and dropped the controller on my bed.

Savannah said that.

I grabbed my phone from my pillows and unlocked it to check the text messages that I had. None of them were from her. There wasn't even a missed call or a snapchat. It's like she'd dropped off of the face of the earth and didn't care while everyone else was worrying. But that was Savannah, reckless and wild.

So I was careful and...texted her.

New York is probably great. U should come home tho.

It delivered and I saw her begin to reply before it went away. I stared at the screen for some time before locking my phone and throwing it into my closet as hard as I could. Thousands of miles away and she can piss me off like she was right beside me.

*

I was restocking shelves that day when Beth Acker walked down the aisle of our stupid hometown supermarket. Beth always made everyone laugh when she came in but complaining about how the prices were so high that old Baker and wife were trying the break her out of her home. But judging by her lack of smiling and small cart of groceries, it looked as though no one would be laughing today.

"Hey Beth," I said, waving to her with a can of chicken noodle soup. Beth spotted me and waved back before coming towards me. I placed a couple more cans on the shelf before standing and looking at the less than vibrant woman.

"When you get off, round up the family. We've got something special for you guys for supper," Beth mumbled, her voice cracking every so often. I frowned and offered her a hug, but Beth walked away and denied the hug.

I've never seen Beth deny a hug before. She and Savannah were huggers. Carter had dealt with it, but I knew that Henry did not like people touching him. It was rare to see him affectionate with any of his family members unless it was Savannah. But that was just how she was. She grew up to be a daddy's girl without a doubt.

I wonder how Henry's coping without her here.

*

The last three hours of my shift dragged worse than counting the days that she's been gone. Once cleanup was done and I was clocked out, I drove home as quickly as I could to tell everyone what was going on. Mother stopped cooking instantly and began putting things away, Father dumped his beer, and people started loading up. We took two vehicles since Maddie refused to get her license and James was back at college.

Jack was breathing down Natalie's throat about some homework in math. Somehow they had both ended up in the smarter class. Jack was absolutely brainless when it came to math and Natalie did okay. I never understood how he was able to get where he was but I never asked. Somehow it had to do with Savannah.

"You two better mind," Mother said once we arrived and they got out bickering. Natalie apologized immediately but Jack didn't say anything. He simply trotted ahead of the rest of us to greet Rowdy.

We don't abuse him by leaving him outside in the snow. He loves the snow. I've watched him bury himself in it before.

I reached down with my bare hands and made a snowball, feeling the heat leave my fingers instantly. Maddie elbowed my side and shook her head like she knew something I didn't. It was more like she didn't know something I did. Rowdy loves snowballs.

I whistled and tossed the snowball in Rowdy's direction. He ran to it and caught it in his mouth. Natalie laughed and threw a snowball of her own. Rowdy caught it and ran back and forth between us and the door. I grinned as he barked.

"Rowdy!" Henry yelled from the door. Rowdy stopped immediately and ran back to the door. Henry let the dog in before seeing us. "Why don't you get out of the cold?"

Father laughed and made some smartass remark that caused Henry to chuckle. We all walked in, talking our shoes off by the door and giving our coats to Beth. Beth seemed happier now as Mother and Natalie helped her in the kitchen. Maddie had gotten everyone drinks and was now chatting with Jack and Carter. Everyone seemed okay, even Henry.

And I didn't belong anywhere. That's one of the main reasons I couldn't come to these suppers. I didn't belong anywhere and if Savannah was around, I'd get confused and think I belonged with her. That isn't the case. No one belonged with Savannah...

"Everyone shut up!" Beth yelled from the kitchen and turned her radio up.

"...Annie Young and this is my new single heard for the first time on The King 101.3," the radio blared. We were all quiet as we heard the song play and heard her sing.

Her name isn't Annie Young. She isn't some pop singer that sang about the lonely road. I knew that voice anywhere, heard it plenty of time to recognize it.

"Annie Young" is Savannah Acker.