It was raining when Avery got off the train.
For a moment the fact was puzzling. This was LA. (The signs at the train station had confirmed it.) Those two letters alone had the incredible power of immediately conjuring up images of shorts, bikinis, sunlight and warmth. A kingdom of crashing waves and sandy beaches. People pleasantly toasting themselves under the glaring sun. In this context rain was a somewhat unexpected factor.
Avery thought about the contents of the backpack she'd packed at home and how none of it involved an umbrella. She sighed. This was not a great start.
Still, she didn't feel quite up to being too worried about it. Yet.
On the way out of the station, she stopped for coffee. She needed some badly. Nothing looked achievable when running on two hours of uncomfortable sleep, unless there was a guarantee of coffee sometime in the immediate future.
Ordering a large frappuccino brought on the slightest sliver of something that could have been panic, but wasn't. Uncertainty. She hadn't left her home long enough to be missed or announced missing and technically, she wasn't breaking any laws. She was eighteen. At the same time though, she was eighteen and alone in a strange and unfamiliar city, no money and only enough possessions to fit in a not-very-large backpack.
Uncertainty gnawed at her.
Cradling the cold beverage in her hands, Avery went to sit on one of the plastic chairs set outside the café, under a protective cover of an ugly, sunburnt shade of once-upon-a-time red. She was fairly certain that the cover was meant to protect against the sunlight and offer customers shade. As it was, it now provided decent shelter from the rain.
In the street the storm raged, bending palm trees and drenching everything in miserable water. She stood there slowly savouring her coffee with the thunder and the rain to keep her company until the ice in her drink melted and she pulled out her phone.
It was time to do something decent.
Since she didn't feel like talking, she decided on a text to her brother. Instead, though, she found herself staring at the screen, her mind suddenly empty.
The part of her brain that provided articulation for thoughts seemed to have vacated the residence just when she needed it most.
Dammit, brain.
The screen had gone black again and she was still trying to force thoughts into words when her phone started ringing. Caller ID lit the screen.
She didn't pick up.
It rang again.
And again.
After two more times, it chimed with a message.
From Tyler.
where the hell are you? parental units r going crazy.
Tyler wouldn't know she'd run away yet. He, like their parents, would think she'd simply snuck out, not understanding that nothing about her was ever simple. She was too complicated to even understand herself.
She thought hard before typing a reply.
gone. not coming back. don't come looking. i'm sorry.
It read like a telegram but she pressed send anyway.
Her phone started ringing again. She let it ring as she looked around. The storm wasn't slowing down but the light was dimming as the end of the day approached. It was time to get moving.
In her hands her phone stopped ringing long enough for a message to get through.
dammit, avery! pick up!!
A second later it started ringing again. This, she should have anticipated, would be a problem. Avery considered turning it off, but didn't. She was alone in a strange city in the middle of a storm. You never could know when you might need google maps.
Letting the call go to voicemail, Avery set down her now empty plastic cup and braced herself before diving into the storm and the crowds of hurried passer-bys, feeling both strangely brave and strangely free.
