Earlier

The Beginning:

I’m hiding in the bushes behind my house, holding my breath, praying hard not to be found. “...7, 8, 9, 10! I am coming, ready or not Isolabella!” Suzy whoops in the distance. I suck in my stomach and cover my head with my camouflage hoodie. Please, please, please don't let me be found, I pray in my head. I hear Suzy walk across the lawn to check my usual hiding place. I hear her groan, but she continues searching. Then, I hear her walk towards me. I totally freak out and without realizing it I let out all the air I had been holding in. I hear her footsteps crunch through the leaves as she walks towards me. I jump out of the bushes and rush towards the small forest covered with thick green moss near my house; Suzy follows me close behind. I feel her hand touch my back and I stop running. “GOTCHA!” Suzy shrieks. “Awww, dang-it!” I yelp. I was not planning on getting caught this time. “Alright, now it's my turn to hide!” Suzy exclaims excitedly. “Sorry, but I think I’m done for today, plus my aunt got really sick yesterday, so I have to go!” I say solemnly. Suzy’s shoulders lose their good posture. “Oh… okay. See you tomorrow Isolabella'', Suzy says disappointingly. I feel bad for Suzy all of a sudden. I’m the only one who knows what she went through before the foster family adopted her. Even though I have no idea what Suzy thinks of them, from the way she looks at me, I know she hates them VERY much. “Listen, what if I come over to stay the night?” I ask slowly. I’ve never asked to stay the night. I wonder if her adoptive parents will approve of it. Suzy’s face brightens up immediately. “Sure! Let me ask my... parents'', Suzy says, pausing at parents. I’ll never really know how she feels, but I can feel her hurt. Suzy sprints to her house while I walk back to my own. I’m kind of excited to go inside. It’s not that I dislike Suzy; it’s just that I’ve been busy working on a poem to express everything in life, and I want to finish it tonight. Now, just thinking about it makes me jog across the backyard. I open the back door and walk straight to my room. I grab my bag of colorful pens and my special notebook; then, I find the page that I’m working on and continue with the poem.

I open my eyes thinking, did I fall asleep? Did something wake me up? I listen closely. I hear a loud cough, one that sounds wet and raggedy. Crap. I forgot to give my aunt her water and medicine. I walk slowly into her room. “Hey Aunt Penny”, I say softly. “Hey girly…”, Her voice is hoarse; it’s almost a whisper. “Here are your meds and some water” , I say tenderly. “You take such good care of me Isolabella”, she says hoarsely. I start to hand over the cup of water, but she sits there staring at the wall dumbly. “Aunt Penny, you need these meds”, I say calmly. She doesn’t respond to me. I put the cup down and walk towards the door saying, “Take those meds, okay? I’m going to bed.” I shut the door and lean against the wooden frame. I say a silent prayer of strength, and then I tumble off to bed. I toss and turn all night though. At 3:00 a.m, I get out of bed and slide my feet into my slippers. I walk down the hall and rap on my aunt's door. No reply. I rap harder and harder until my knuckles hurt. I still get no reply from her. I open the door to her room and find her still sitting in the same spot I left her in. “Aunt Penny?”, I ask tenderly. “Are you awake?” I get no reply. “Aunt Penny?” I reach out and touch her arm. It feels cold like a stone. I back away. “No, no, no….”, I say quietly. The last thing I remember before hitting the ground was hearing the lady at the end of the phone asking me what happened. I told her everything; then, I fainted.

The Escape:

Her funeral was beautiful; for now, that’s all I can say. Susy said that she was the only one who could pull off looking pretty in a casket. That should’ve made me feel a lot better, but with tears flowing freely down my face and a hot anger in my heart, I couldn’t feel anything remotely close to relief. I went back to the house that night scared. It wasn’t because I was alone, it was because it was like her spirit was still there, lingering. I expected her ghost to pop out of every room, face contorted and blue. It didn’t happen of course, but the thought that it might scared me until I was shaking. She was the only family I had left. The one who was taking care of me when my parents died. Now that she’s gone, I’ll have to go into foster care like Susy. I don’t like that thought at all though because Susy told me what it was like to have bad foster parents, and I DO NOT want to take the risk. Besides, the police are coming back again tomorrow. I don’t want to be here when they start taking her things from her bedroom. I get up and walk to my room. As I open the door to my bedroom, I immediately grab an enormous backpack. I open one of my dresser drawers and take all the shirts inside of it; I stuff them inside the backpack. Crap. It’s already half full. I open my second drawer and only put half of the pants I own inside the backpack. I scowl at the quarter-filled backpack; then, I throw in a few socks, underwear, and about four jackets. I hurry down the hallway towards the kitchen and open the pantry door as I grab a few garbage bags and a smaller beach bag. I fill the beach bag with everything in the fridge and store the garbage bags inside the backpack; then, I run to the front of the house, unlock the door and slip into the cool, inky-black evening. I try to walk down the street like I’m going to someone's house, but I know that all the creeps on this street are staring at me, wondering, waiting for me to think I am perfectly safe and then attempt to kidnap me! What a way to start the evening Isolabella. I kept walking through the neighborhood until I reached the exit, where I stopped to take a break behind some bushes. Crap. I just realized I forgot my phone. Well, there’s no way I’m going back to the house because I’ve already walked 2 miles and daylight’s only 1 hour away according to my predictions. “Oh well…”, I mutter silently. “I can go back after the police leave.” I get off the curb and leave the neighborhood.

As I walk down the street towards a diner I notice a person in a black hoodie with a hood following me down the street. Crap. I knew that all the creeps would follow me. I start walking even faster. I’m almost at the diner, almost- Yeah… no. I didn’t make it. The person behind the hood grabbed my shoulder and with their other hand took the hood off. I took one good look at the person and instantly knew it was Suzy. “Why are you following me like a creep?” I ask, all snarky. Suzy takes a deep breath and says “Because I saw you leave your house and surprise, surprise I found myself unlocking the door and leaving the house.” Somehow, I knew that she was telling me the real reason she was out here. Our houses were a block apart, so she couldn’t have seen me unless I walked by her house. Which I did, but I thought everyone was asleep. “Why were you really following me?” I ask, a little nicer this time. “Let's go into the diner and get some food, then I’ll tell you.” Suzy opens the door with a ding and walks inside. I follow a little too close behind. She sits down at the nearest table and opens up a menu. “Suzy?” I ask. “Aren’t you going to tell me why you were following me?” “Yeah, yeah I will… just let me… um…” Suzy says quietly. I knew immediately she was stalling. “Do what…?” I ask slowly and serenely. “Uh… go to the bathroom… yeah that’s it… the bathroom-.” I don’t allow her to finish. “Suzy, what are you hiding!?” I whisper-yelled. She slowly lowers the menu and sighs deeply. “The Bennett's are planning on having me leave soon.” She mumbles. I freeze up, and the breath catches in my throat. “Leave!?” I barely get the word out. “They can’t make you leave!” Suzy sighs again and continues. “They were making me leave, but I decided to run away before tomorrow morning. Then I saw you leaving, and I knew you had the same idea as me. I left my backpack in the bushes by the entrance in our neighborhood and we can leave soon.” I sat there close to tears thinking about my best friend leaving to go somewhere else. She could’ve been sent half across the country! I try to gather my thoughts when it hits me; she won’t be leaving because she’s coming with me. Why can’t I figure these things out sooner?

After eating something at the diner and walking what feels like forty miles, I’m exhausted. Suzy keeps trying to convince me to walk just a bit further so we can make it to the state border, but my feet are hurting and my mind keeps shutting off. I feel like I’m going to fall asleep on my feet. Suzy finally said we could rest a few minutes ago; I’m just recalling what happened earlier. Earlier, ha; that’s a funny word. Like earlier, I was at a funeral, earlier I found my aunt had gone with the wind, earlier I had been trying to sleep in my own bed, earlier I was working on a poem, earlier I was playing hide ‘n’ seek with Suzy. It's been a heck of two days. Like I said earlier. Earlier…..

I might have fallen asleep on the word earlier last night. This little composition book my parents gave me is very small and could probably fit inside a pocket and I woke up with the words earlier scrawled on a page. Today I woke up, almost hearing my aunts laughter, at me still clutching my notebook in my sleep. I expected her to walk into my room and gently shake me awake and give me a kiss and hug before leaving for her work. When I woke up, all the sadness and anxiety from yesterday pressed into me and I fell into a heap of sobs. My face is still red and puffy from crying earlier. I want so much to see her again. Suzy was still asleep when I woke up, so she wasn’t much help in comforting me. Crap! I just realized I left the photo of my aunt at her house. “Suzy! Suzy! We have to go back! Wake up! Come on!” I yell. She mumbles something in her sleep and turns over. “Good ‘ol’ Suzy, am I right?” I ask the air. Suzy sits up fully awake now and looks at me with daggers in her eyes. “Good ‘ol’ Suzy?” She asks. I avoid the subject, and skip right to the point. “We have to go back because I left a photo of my aunt in her house!” Suzy looks at me with disdain. “Yeah and I left my best friend's brain in fourth grade.” She replies. “C’mon Isolabella; it’s just a photo.” That’s it. I’m done playing good cop. Here goes the emotional wreck card. “JUST A PHOTO?” I burst out. My breath goes ragged as strangled sobs come from inside of me. “YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS TO ME! SHE DIED JUST YESTERDAY SUZY! YESTERDAY! I SWEAR, I SWEAR THE DAY SOMEONE YOU LOVE DIES YOU WILL BE JUST LIKE ME, UNABLE TO COMPREHEND ANYTHING!!!!!!” Suzy stares at me startled. “I-- I--....” She starts. “I-- I--... What Suzy?” I mimic her. “What’s so bad about your life huh?” She stares at me, her eyes go cold. Crap. I shouldn’t have said that. “What's so BAD about my life?” She asks snorting. “Sure, my life is perfect. Yeah it’s so perfect. I mean whose life’s perfect with a mom and dad? Whose life’s perfect with foster parents who-- who-- never-- ev--even c-c-cared” Suzy slows down as her own sobs come forth. We sat there in silence for a few minutes before I put my arms around her. We rock back and forth for a few minutes, crying for our lives to be normal again. Then we part with small sheepish smiles plastered on our red and puffy faces. That’s just how my life is going right now. When our smiles fade and the angry pounding headaches come forth we both collapse onto our little home made cots and fall asleep for a couple of hours. I woke up a few minutes ago, and we’re back on the road. I guess Susy was right, it was just a photo. That photo can’t make her come back can it? Anyway we just crossed the state line. If I’m correct the police officers are looking for me and Susy right about now. I look up from my journal for a few seconds only to find that I am now alone on the road me and Susy were walking on. “Susy!” I yell out. “Where are you?” All I hear in response is the wind whistling in my ears. “Susy!” No reply. “SUSY!?” I scream, feeling worried. “WHERE ARE YOU!?” “Over here you doofus!” Susy yells, her voice muffled. Doofus, huh. That’s a new one. I walk over towards the bush on the side of the road. “What the heck is wrong with you, Susy? You scared the crap out of me”, I say, as I try to calm down my racing heart. Susy sighs like I don’t understand anything and then says “Isolabella, why are you so worked up?”she ,in a tone that almost sets me off, almost. “Why?” I whine. “I am so worked up because I don’t want to be left alone again.” Susy sighs again and looks up at the sky. “It looks like it's going to rain, let's keep going a little bit farther before we stop to rest.” Susy says serenely. I can’t help but agree.

Betrayal:

A little bit after we left the bush where Suzy had been resting, it started pouring. I mean POURING. It was almost as if the heavens had opened up and let all the water up there come down for FUN. I’m pretty sure Aunt Penny was cracking up. When I saw that 7-eleven on the corner, I almost started crying with relief. I was sticky with sweat from the humidity and soaking wet from the rain. We stepped in unison into the gas station, while the door dinged open. Suzy immediately began to dry off her feet, but I made a beeline for the bathroom. Once I was inside, I took paper towels and dried myself off the best I could. Then, I cleaned up the puddles of water I trailed inside. I threw away the now drenched paper towels and then headed for the granola section. I know from long trips with Aunt Penny that you need to have granola with you, or you won’t eat. Aunt Penny didn’t like spending much money unless it was for clothes, shoes, jewelry, or makeup. I personally think food is way more important. I took one huge granola bag with peanuts, almonds, raisins, dried cranberries, and cashews. I grabbed another bag of granola, but this one was smaller. It consisted of some M & M’s, peanuts, raisins, almonds, and cashews. The larger bag was for emergencies; the smaller one was for health. I head up to the cashier and pull out the small amount of money that was in my aunt’s bank. Just as I was starting to pay for the snacks, a funny smell drifted through the air. Oh gosh, this guy is smoking. I’m not too worried about it; it’s Suzy who I am worried about. She absolutely despises it when she meets a smoker. Then, for about an hour, I have to listen to her rant on and on about how people shouldn’t smoke! It’s getting kind of old. I start tapping my fingers against the cashier. This guy is as slow as a sloth. He takes my cash and then lifts up the cashier like he has all the time in the world. Well, he won’t in a minute. He begins handing me my money, and I snatch it out of his hand. I make a run for the door of the gas station when Suzy pulls up right behind me. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!” I scream. Suzy looks at me like I am crazy. “What?” She asks. “Are you okay??” I nod curtly and continue walking towards the door. “Well, at least we were dry for a few minutes.” She remarks as we walk back into the pouring rain. “Yeah, at least…” I whisper.

About an hour after we left the gas station the rain stopped. Suzy and I were sopping wet when we stopped to camp for the night. I pulled out the granola, and Suzy pulled out towels. “Did you steal those from the Bennett's house?” I ask slowly. We haven’t talked about the Bennett's or my aunt ever since I had that outburst. “Hmm…” she replies. “It was kind of easy. just wait until they fall asleep and then I grab my stuff and leave…” I just nod and take the towel she offers me. I eat a handful of granola before I begin to dry myself off. Suzy gazes at the bag of granola with revulsion. Then she turns around, opens her backpack and pulls out a banana. As she begins to peel it, I ask, “How long have you had that banana for?” She takes a bite of the perfect little banana, and replies with her mouth full. “Just a few days; I had little money so I went and bought a carton of blueberries and some bananas.” “You didn’t think to tell me!?” I retort. She shrugs and finishes the banana, before she throws the peel into the woods we’re next to. I roll my eyes and roll out my sleeping bag. I flop my pillow on it and fall asleep easily. When I woke up this morning, Suzy was staring at me with curiosity. “What?” I ask surly. “You were saying something in your sleep…” she says softly. “Something about the cashier at the gas station…” I freeze up. “What did I say?” I try to snort. “In your sleep you kept saying over and over about how he was the guy that crashed your parents car… Over and over until you woke up.” Tears fill my eyes. I never told Suzy about how I was there the day they died. I turn around so Suzy cannot see my eyes. “I wasn’t there. How could I possibly know?” With my peripheral vision I can see Suzy shake her head and sigh. I wipe the tears from my eyes and turn around. I begin rolling up my sleeping bag when something hits me on the head. “OUCH!” I yell. Suzy turns around and looks surprised. “An apple!” She cries. I look up. I remember falling asleep to the shadow of a tree. I thought perhaps that we had fallen asleep in a parking lot. We were actually on a farm. Suzy gazes up with the tree, then gives a small gasp. She stands up and looks around, her eyes fill to the brim with tears. She looks to the left then starts running. I get up as quickly as possible and start running after her. “SUZY!! SUZY!! WHERE ARE YOU GOING!?” I yell. She doesn’t reply and runs like her life depends on it. I forced myself to run faster. As I ran, a house came into view. Suzy ran up the steps and knocked on the door, her chest heaving. A woman answered the door. I watched as the woman stared at Suzy before hugging her tightly. I sped up the stairs, nearly tripping over myself, and plunked down the question before Suzy could explain. “Who’s this!?” I said, my own chest heaving. Suzy stood up from the woman's embrace and wiped away the tears that had fallen. “This is my mom.” She says softly. “YOUR MOM!?!” I say completely and utterly surprised. I had always thought Suzy was placed in foster care because of her parents dying or something. “When I was born, I had gotten taken away from my mother because they thought she was an abuser. They thought she had another daughter she had abused.” Suzy says quietly. I sit in silence. Why hadn’t she told me? “Then when you decided to run away, I thought that it was a perfect idea.” Suzy continued. “I could get away from the foster care system and find my mom.” I gasp. Suzy had been planning on betraying me the minute I said come. Suzy’s mom stands in the doorway looking at her daughter with a strange mix of admiration and a scolding in the near future. “Why don’t you girls come in for some rest and a hot meal.” Suzy’s mother says. I take a deep breath before I say anything to that woman who made Suzy betray me. “No, uh ma’am. I-- I-- I should probably get back on the road.” I say trying to keep my voice steady. As I turn to leave, Suzy grabs my wrist. “Stay please just for a little.” That’s when the anger lashes like a whip. “Why should I stay with YOU?” I ask with a wicked snort. “I mean this whole time you never intended to stay with me!!! I mean my aunt, the last person in my family, died this week. If you don’t know how that feels, maybe try it one day. I don’t ever want to see your face AGAIN Suzy, I mean that.” I yank my wrist out of her grasp and walk back to the woods where we had camped out. I never looked back, and now I regret that.

Help:

I roll up my sleeping bag and shove it in my bag, along with the bags of granola. I hear the snapping of twigs as if someone is running this way. I zip up my bag and run off before the person can crash through the bushes. After I made it out of the apple tree grove , I came to a road. I decide to walk it until I either find a town or die from exhaustion. Either would have been fine. By the time I finally did find a town, it was dark like it might start raining. I did not want to end up at another 7-eleven, so I hurried to the nearest house. I dropped under the eaves of the house and laid down on the porch. I could hear the rain drumming on the tin roof. A sign I passed by earlier told me I was in Dakota. North Dakota to be exact. I pull out my bag of granola, the one with M&M’s. I deserve to be treated. Just after I start to settle down, a car comes screeching to a halt at the side of the house. A man with a beefy face and big hands with big knuckles, gets out of the car and walks up to the porch. He simply steps over me as if I wasn’t there. For a minute I am worried that I am a ghost and that no one can see me, but when the man looks back at the truck he sees me. “You stuck ‘ere?” He asks, his voice thick with a country accent. I don’t nod, or smile, or anything. This man was a stranger, strangers were dangerous. “I asked you a question, young ma’am, you best answer.” He growls. I gulp before answering. “No, s-sir. Th-this is my house.” I lie. “No it ain’t.” He says quietly. “Git up.” He commands. “Git up now and git in my truck. I’m taking you down to the police station for trespassing.” No way. I am not going down to the police station with a fat jerk like him. I get up and act like I am getting in the truck. Once I get to the door, I bolt.

I finally found some trees, although I am praying this isn’t the apple grove I left a few hours back. When I finally come to a clearing, I found myself in the same place Suzy and I had camped before she ran to her house. I follow the trail to where her house stands and plunk myself down on the grass patch near it. I start to pull out my granola when the same man in the red truck pulls up and gets out of the truck. He pounds on the door of Suzy’s house until her mother answers the door with Suzy right behind her. As soon as the door is open, he pushes past Suzy and her mom. My mouth falls open. Is that Suzy’s dad? The front door is still wide open, so I get up and walk towards it. When I reach the door, I hear yelling. Something shatters. A scream. Suzy’s scream. Without thinking, I yank open the door and run down the hall. The yelling gets louder as I thud down the hallway. Another crash, and a shriek. This time though it wasn’t Suzy. I fling open a door and see a mess of glass and china all over the floor. The man, breathing heavily, stands in the middle of the room. I can see something glowing in front of him. I can see that the glow eats up all the wood and carpet. I can see Suzy and her mother huddled up together in a corner. Suzy is unconscious, but her mother stares right at me. The man, noticing the gaze, turns around and spots me. Oh, man. Oh, man. Oh, man. Oh, man. This baaaaaaad. I shouldn’t have come in here. I should-- The guy flings something at me. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” I scream. I notice the side of my head is wet, so I touch it and it comes away red. He CUT me. HE CUT ME. I run at him and punch his gut with tremendous force I never knew I had. Suddenly all the pain and hurt and betrayal I felt this week goes into this scratching, biting, punching, kicking, game of cat and dog. I’ll let you guess who’s the cat. With one last whack, I knock him out. Breathing hard, I turn to the glowing which has gotten huge. A smoldering smell comes from it, and my fight-or-flight senses kick in. It’s fire, and Suzy and her mom are trapped in a corner because of it. I can’t just call the fire department and expect them to in time. Besides, the police are looking for me and Suzy. I can’t take her away from her mother now! I look around the small dining room which is filling up with smoke. In the corner is a fire extinguisher I didn't notice when I ran in. I dash across the room and pick up the fire extinguisher. The metal is cool in my hands compared to the heat in the room. I rip the cord at the top and start spraying the cool, white foam towards the glow. The fire immediately stops, allowing Suzy’s mother to shake her daughter awake and get away from the dangerous man. I set down the fire extinguisher and began walking towards the exit, the same time the man woke up. He grabbed my ankle, and I was pulled down so hard that all the breath in my lungs escaped. The man started towards me, but Suzy’s mother, apparently having learned a thing or two from the Disney movie Rapunzel, hit the guy with a huge frying pan. I would have laughed if it weren't for the breath I was missing. I managed to wheeze my thanks and start crawling towards the door. When I finally had my breathing back to normal, I heard sirens in the distance. Oh, crap. The police were here.

Running away again:

The police sirens got nearer and nearer. Without realizing it I motioned for Suzy and her mother to follow me and hide in the thicker part of the grove. When the police arrived, we learned that the guy was wanted in twenty different states for trespassing, robbery, attempted kidnapping, and attempted murder. Obviously, we were lucky to still be alive. After the police left with the man, Suzy and her mother turned around to look at me. “Thanks, Isolabella. I- we- owe you.” Suzy says haltingly. “Thank you, Suzy’s friend.” Her mother says solemnly. “Please, call me Isolabella or Bella for short.” I say tenderly. “Ok then Bella. My name’s Karen, you can call me that or Suzy’s mom.” She says laughing softly. I can tell Suzy’s mother is a good person. Suzy is still looking at me with a pained expression. “I’m sorry Isolabella, I- I- mean Bella.” Suzy says softly. I know what she is apologizing for even though I don’t acknowledge it. “What's done is done.” I whisper. “But, I beg of you don’t use me like that ever again.” Suzy nods curtly, then starts walking towards the house. “Where are you going?” I ask suspiciously. “Back to the house.” Suzy says, her expression plain. “You can’t go back there. They’ll be looking for you, after they get the guy, who tried to murder you guys, to talk.” I say, with a knowing look. Suzy turns around and I let them follow me back to where I dropped my bag. We made our way through the bushes to the camp where Suzy and I stayed together. Ha, together. Another funny word. Except, it sounds exactly like the definition. Together.

After having walked miles, me, Suzy and her mother settled down to camp for the night. We were just starting to relax when the realization hit me. Suzy’s mom didn't have a bag with clothing or a sleeping bag in which to sleep in. I started to speak up about it, when Suzy pulled a second smaller bag out of her HUGE backpack. This backpack was to be her mom's. I pulled out my bags of granola, and scooped up a handful of deliciously crunchy nuts. I watch as Suzy makes a face at the granola again. “What?” I ask. Suzy sighs and says “That's not a very good meal, you know.” I roll my eyes even though I’m smiling. We’re back to normal. I roll my sleeping bag out on the ground and place my pillow in the middle. Then I surprise Suzy by pulling out an apple from my backpack. “Where did you get that!?” She asks. I just simply smile and shrug before taking a huge bite of the red, crisp apple. Karen laughs at the two of us while shaking her head just like a mother would. I look over and Suzy is laughing her head off, and without realizing I’m laughing too. This is what I have always wanted. Yeah, I miss my mom and dad, Aunt Penny too, but this coziness, and closeness is what I’ve longed for. I haven’t laughed for a week and this feels good. Really good. After we all stopped laughing, Suzy and I concocted a plan that someone should be the lookout in case someone decided to come trampling across our camping ground. Suzy took the first watch and I promptly fell asleep with a warm feeling in my chest.

The car is speeding up the hill, I’m safely tucked into my baby seat, buckled in tight. My mom is dozing in the front and my dad is listening to his music. The car goes faster. The gate around a curve is supposed to protect us, but it didn’t. A huge crash comes from the front of the car as it hits the gate with a big impact. The car is falling, falling almost in slow motion. An exploding noise comes from the engine as the car hits the sand below. A high pitched scream emerges from the front seat. The seat belt that's holding me back jerks. My seat gets flung from the car and I cry as the impact hits. The car is upside down now. It’s stopped spinning and the sound of sirens fills the air. I’m scared.

I shoot up from my sleeping bag with sobs shaking my body. Suzy had fallen asleep while on guard. It was good because I didn’t want her to ask me why I was crying. I haven’t had that nightmare in years. When my parents died, my mom was only twenty-four, and my dad was thirty. What's even sadder is that my mom had just found out she was going to have a little baby boy. At the time, I was three or four, so I didn’t understand much. Now I do. At sixteen years old and still haunted by my nightmares from twelve years ago, I don’t know what to do. My tears start to slow, just as the first few rays of sunlight peak over the trees. I nudge Suzy awake with my foot and get up. I stretch first before rolling my sleeping bag up and putting the granola away. Suzy puts everything in her backpack before waking her mom up. We all set out quietly this morning, as if we don’t want to disturb the quietness of the morning. We walk in silence until we reach a gas station. While we’re inside, we smell the aroma of coffee beans, junk food, and slushie machines. “Oh thank the Lord.” Karen mutters. “They have coffee.” Suzy laughs at her mom. I can’t help but laugh too, honestly. It’s almost as if adults can’t live without coffee. Karen walks towards the smell of roasting coffee beans while Suzy and I head to the snacks section. “You know what, Isolabella?” asks Suzy. “What?” I say suspiciously. “We deserve to be treated!” Suzy exclaims while she picks out a HUGE bag of M&M’s. Karen walks over and exclaims at how much sugar is in the M&M’s. I chuckle and pull out my own small amount of money. We pay for the M&M’s and walk out the door. “Today, I think we should just relax and not travel.” Suzy says with a satisfied smile. I look over at her and notice how happy she looks. She never looked this happy with the Bennett's. I wonder if her mom knew who she was with, and what they had done to her. Karen laughs at Suzy’s remark and I just remain silent. “Hey Bella, you okay over there? Did you sleep okay last night?” Karen asks, truly concerned. I nod my head and force a smile onto my lips. “Just thinking about how pretty it is today.” I say, but now I wish I could punch myself. It's not pretty outside at all. Suzy looks over at me concerned. “What are you really thinking about Isolabella?” Suzy asks with a frown playing on her lips. My lips tremble. “I- I- had a recurring nightmare, f- f- from when I was four.” I say softly. Dang these stupid stutters! It makes it sound like I am four again! Karen looks at me with wide eyes. “Ten years ago?! Bella are you alright?” She exclaims. A look at Suzy tells me, it's the time to tell her everything before we came here. Something inside me also says, tell Suzy you were there with your parents. I close my eyes and sigh. It’s one of those days.

Telling the truth hurts:

We decided to sit down in a nearby cafe. I gave Suzy a look that she should go first in telling her mom what had happened to her. Suzy nodded her head and said, “When I was taken away from you, I was placed with the Gomez family. They took care of me until they had another child and could no longer take care of me. Then I was placed with Bennett's at four years old. They did not, um…. Treat me well. Most of the time I was locked in the garage. They wouldn’t give me food for several days and I barely went to school. That's what it was like before me and Isolabella found you.” Suzy says softly. I glance at Karen to see her face in a mix of furiousness and hurt for her daughter. Suzy looks at me expectantly and I start in on my side of the story. “My parents died when I was four. I was taken into my aunt's home and lived there for twelve years---” Suzy interrupts me and exclaims, “Your SIXTEEN!?” I nod slowly. Karen just sits there flabbergasted. She’s making the same expression my aunt had when she died. I close my eyes to shut out the chaos and resume. “I lived there for twelve years until last week when my aunt died unexpectedly from an unknown illness. I didn’t want to be put in the same position as Suzy so I ran away with her. The recurring nightmare I had twelve years ago, was when I was with my parents in the car crash.” Suzy’s expression goes from surprise to pity. I expected her to yell at me for not telling her, but maybe she learned from my mistake. Suzy’s expression is still pity, but I can see curiosity in there too. “This is how it went.” I say softly. “Our car was speeding up the hill, and I was safely tucked into my baby seat, buckled in tight. My mom was dozing in the front and my dad was listening to his music. Our car goes faster. The gate around a curve was supposed to protect us, but it didn’t. A huge crash comes from the front of the car as it hits the gate with a big impact. Our car was falling, falling almost in slow motion. An exploding noise comes from the engine as the car hits the sand below. A high pitch scream emerges from the front seat. The seat belt that's holding me back jerks. My seat gets flung from the car and I cry as the impact hits. The car is upside down now. It’s stopped spinning and the sound of sirens fills the air. I’m scared.” Suzy sits back, shocked. I can still see Karen in my peripheral vision, sitting against the cushioned seat of the cafe. A waitress comes up and breaks the dumbfounding moment. “What can I get’cha?” She asks with a wink. Karen doesn’t notice the waitress, but Suzy and I order two large steaming cocoas. When the waitress leaves, Szsy looks at me. “When was your sweet sixteen?” She asks curiously. “Didn’t have one.” I reply calmly. “It was yesterday, but I had forgotten until I had my nightmare last night.” Suzy’s eyes go wide. She turns to her mom and waves her hand in front of her face. “Hellooooo, earth to Karen!!” She whispers. “Did you hear that mom!? Isolabella never had a sweet sixteen!!” Whatever tone Suzy used, it woke her mother up from her trance. “You didn’t have a sweet sixteen?” She asks quietly. I nod the muscles in my neck pulled taut. “Well we’re going to give you one--” Karen says, until the waitress appears with two huge steaming cocoas. “Enjoy!” She says with a wink. “What's with the winks?” I ask laughing. No one answers my question, I mean it was rhetorical. Susy laughs along with me and takes a long sip of her cocoa. Her eyes light up with delight as she realizes how good her cocoa is. “Oh My Gosh, Isolabella… you have to try yours.” she says licking her lips. I take a small sip and instantly regret not having taken a huge gulp. I sigh contentedly and pick up the Styrofoam cup. “Let's go, Suzy.” I say sleepily. “OK, do you want to go somewhere for your sweet sixteen?” She asks excitedly. “I think the best sweet sixteen present would be to find a place to nap.” I say as carefully as possible. I don’t want to hurt Suzy’s feelings, even if it is my sweet sixteen. I watch Suzy as we leave the diner, but she keeps the same smile on her face.

I wake up to a low growling sound. Pattering footsteps going in circles, slowly like someone circling their prey. I sit straight up and hear howling close by. Oh, crap. Protect Aunt Penny! I start to scoot out of my sleeping bag, when something comes crashing through the bushes. A shaggy wolf comes running out. I duck underneath my sleeping bag and wait for the sound of the wolf scampering away. When he finally does, I get up and look for Suzy and Karen. “Suzy wake up we have to move.” I whisper. I do the same to Karen, and we begin packing. Then the crashing sound comes from the bushes again. Oh, crap. A howling noise comes from the bushes and five or six more follow. My heart starts to beat faster and I start to sweat. “RUN!” I scream and Karen, Suzy and I run away from the crashing bushes. Snapping branches lets me know the wolves are following us. I hear Karen yelling something and understand that she’s saying that there's a clearing up ahead. I force myself to run faster, until my lungs feel like they’ll explode. I can make it! We can make it! We made-- The wolves speed up and surround us. There's about thirty or forty of them in the pack, all hungry for dinner. I think fast and yell,“THE TREES! HURRY CLIMB THE TREES!” Suzy starts climbing up and yells, “HURRY BELLA; C’MON MOM; THEY COULD POUNCE ANY SECOND!!!!” Karen starts scurrying up the tree trunk and I begin to follow when something hooks onto my sweater. Everything happens in slow motion. I look up to see Suzy gasp, and Karen sits shocked. A scream is coming from somewhere, could it be me? Something sharp slices my shoulder and I hit the ground, my breath escaping from my lungs. More hot sharp pains enter my body and another scream comes from far away. The wolves above me become blurry and I can’t keep my eyes open. Someone screams my name. What is my name? Who is screaming? Be quiet please, I need to sleep…

A soft voice penetrates a blinding white room I’m in. I’m tucked in a soft nightgown and bundled under blankets. My head aches and my body stings and burns when I move to do simple tasks. A lady walks into the white room holding a kit and telling me I’m lucky to be alive. I don’t respond, just fall back to sleep. When I wake back up, I feel better. My head has stopped hurting and I don’t hurt when I move the slightest bit. A man walks into the room. His name is nurse Walker. I watch as he checks up on my stats then crosses the room to check on me. “Hi…” I say slowly. “What’s up?” He says grinning. “I heard you had gotten attacked by some wolves, how are you feeling?” “I’m feeling much better than earlier. In fact, I’m so hungry that I could eat an elephant.” I say, warming up to him already. “That’s good!” He says laughing. I laugh and grab an orange from the fruit bowl next to my bed. The nurse pulls some sunglasses out of his pocket and says, “Now that I’ve saved another life, I’m going to have to walk out looking cool.” I start laughing as Nurse Walker leaves the room with dark sunglasses on. I finish up my orange and start to fall asleep. Before I doze off, a sudden realization hits me. Where are Suzy and Karen? I turn over and hit the call button. A few minutes later, a lady nurse comes walking in. “What’s wrong?” She asks, speaking softly. “Where is my friend Suzy?” I ask slowly. “Who?” The nurse says tentatively. “The girl and her mom who brought me here!” I shout. “Oh…” She says looking at the ground. “The mom is here, but the girl has gotten taken away.” She whispers. “To where!?” I ask, distress written on my face. “To a place where bad children are kept.” She whispers again. The blood drains from my face as I realize where Suzy is. “Juvie?” I whisper. The nurse nods slightly then turns and leaves the room. I sit in my hospital bed as white as a sheet. Why is Suzy in Juvie? Was it because she had run away? Are they going to take me there when I’m healed up? I get up from the bed slowly and pack up the things that we will need to escape. I take the bowl of oranges and stuff it into my bag. The door opens to my hospital room and I look up. Karen walks in stiffly. Her eyes are red and puffy around the rims. I run over to her, and without realizing it, I hug her like she’ll be taken away. Karen doesn’t act surprised; she just hugs me back as tight as she can. “I’m so sorry.” I murmur. I can feel a tear drop fall onto my gown as Karen says, “We just have to let it go.” I pull back and almost push Karen. Let Suzy go? What is she thinking? I stare Karen dead in the eyes. “Pack your bags.” I say strictly. Karen's eyes get wide, a look of shock coming upon her face. “We can’t go get Suzy.” She says slowly. “So you want to give up!?” I yell. “You want to leave your only daughter in that horrible place!?” Karen's eyes get bigger and fill with tears. “You sound just like your mom…” She whispers. I feel the blood drain from my face. “Y-you knew my mom?” I ask, trying to hold back the tears stinging my eyes. She nods curtly and a tear streaks across her cheek. “She was my best friend. She was there when I had Suzy. Stayed there with me in the delivery room, even after the nurses asked her to leave.” She says softly. “D-did she look like me?” I ask in a whisper. She nods the tears flowing freely. “She looked so much like you, Isolabella. Your aunt too. They both were very beautiful and whenever I look at you I see them.” I feel a tear fall down my cheek as I listen to Karen talk about my mom and aunt Penny. “What was my mom's name?” I mumble. Karen looks up at me. “Isabella.” Sobs rack my body as my mothers name bounces around the inside of my skull. Karen comes over and hugs me tightly. A grip that I don’t want to let go of. “Bella, she loved you so so much.” Karen murmurs. “I want to know one more thing.” I say slowly. “What is it you want Bella?” Karen asks, her eyebrows arching in a surprised way. I mumble my request and Karen nods. “I’ll see what I can do.”

I wake up the next morning to find a breakfast tray loaded with muffins and a huge glass of milk. Karen lays beside me, curled up on a sofa. She looks up at me, and nods towards the muffins. “Eat up.” She orders. “You will have to have a full stomach in order to save Suzy Y’know.” I jump out of my hospital bed and hug Karen. “When are we leaving?” I ask with hesitation. “At about noon, now eat quickly.” Karen says. I pick up a muffin and eat half of it in one bite. “How are we going to get in?” I ask, my mouth full of muffin. “You're gonna have to act like Suzy is your only sister, and that you will pretty much die if you don’t have her with you. I’m going to have to act like the mom who is overprotective and will die if her child ends up in a place like that again.” Karen says in one breath. I nod. “Good plan.” I say while unwrapping another muffin. “Now hurry up, and eat so we can go!” Karen says impatiently. I was just in the middle of chewing the final muffin and nodding along to Karen’s plan, when the door opened to my hospital room. Nurse walker walks in and looks at me and then Karen. “Now I don’t want to have to call the police on anyone, but I will if you're doing something illegal.” He says stringently. Karen looks at me helplessly, and I just continue chewing. “Uh, uh, uhhhhh… We wanted to get some milk.” Karen says slowly. I look at her like, Why Milk!? She shrugs and looks at Nurse Walker. “Why do you need milk when we have some in the cafeteria?” Nurse Walker asks suspiciously. “Uh, because we want our own milk!” I shout out, unexpectedly. Nurse Walker turns towards me and raises an eyebrow. “Who gave you muffins?” He asks. I look at Karen expectantly. “Uh, I gave her muffins. Was I not supposed to?” Karen asks seriously. “No it’s fine if you do, I was just curious I guess.” Nurse Walker says slowly. “Now what's really going on? Why are you two planning on leaving this afternoon?” He asks. I sigh. “We are going to go get Suzy, okay?” I say sadly. I look at him expecting him to have a phone in his hand, but his eyes are bright and wide. “Count me in!” He says happily. “I have never thought it good of people to put children in a place like that.” I see Karen eyeing him oddly. Does she think he’s cute. I shrug at Karen and gulp down the large glass of milk. “Oh and by the way,” Nurse Walker says, his eyes still sparkling. “Call me Andrew. My name is Andrew Walker, after all.” I set down the glass, still cold in my hands from the milk, and wipe my mouth with the back of my hand. Andrew walks out of the room, and yells behind his shoulder, “We can at 11:50 tonight. I have to go pack my things and check out. Get ready to leave in an hour. I will knock on the door at exactly 11:50.” He leaves the room and I turn towards Karen. I see her packing up the few things me and her have. She turns around and hands me a new pile of clothes to change into, and I head into the bathroom. I change quickly into my shorts and t-shirt trying to escape the cold the bathroom brings on my warm skin. I walk out of the bathroom and see Karen bringing in another tray of hot food. She wraps up the huge dishes and carefully places them in her bag. We wait by the door for exactly one hour before a quick tap comes to my door. Karen opens the door and greets Andrew with a whisper. “Let's go.” He whispers. I tip-toe behind Karen and Andrew very slowly, until we make it to the cool, black evening outside. “Follow me.” Karen whispers. Andrew and I follow her carefully until we reach a bushel of trees at the jail's edge. “Let’s do this.” I whisper.

Finding hope in family:

Andrew reaches into his bag and produces a rope, which he throws up the wall. He tugs the rope to make sure it will stay in place, then jumps up and scales the wall like he does it everyday. I jump up and grab the rope and mimic the way he scaled the wall. Let me just tell you, scaling a wall is not as easy as it seems. By the time I reached the top, and grabbed Andrew's hand for support the rest of the way up, my arms were aching with pain. I watched Karen climb the wall easily. “How’d you do that so easily?” I whisper. She shrugs. “Childbirth makes you strong.” Andrew chuckles up ahead and I laugh. Going through excruciating pain does make you stronger. We drop down from the wall and find ourselves in a guard tower walk. A watch tower stands on the left and right of me and a sort of bridge or hall in between them. A guard sits behind the glass windows, slumped over in sleep. “Good.” I hear Andrew whisper. “The guards are asleep.” A ladder descends down to the ground, so that guards can climb up and down the huge wall. Andrew, Karen, and I climb down the ladder and make it down the ladder without making a peep. We tiptoe across the huge field full of benches, footballs, basketballs, and soccer balls. A door stands wide open and we walk through it into a dimly lit hallway. Down the hallway is a huge cafeteria and we tiptoe past that. Another hallway, and we come to extremely big rooms filled with children sleeping on army cots. I hear Andrew groan quietly. We have to check every single room in this desolate place. Karen tiptoes into one room and checks each child, fixing a blanket on one every so often. Andrew takes the room across from Karen and I walk down the hallway to the room at the end. I step in and immediately, a young child catches my eye. His face looks as sweet and young as a little kid could. I can feel my hands go to my mouth. This child doesn’t belong here. None of them do. A tear falls down my cheek, thinking about how I could’ve been here. I turn and face another child. I have to keep going. I want to save them all,but I’m here for Suzy. I came across another child who looks exactly like how my Aunt Penny did when she was little. That was all it took to make me sob. I mean deep ugly sobs, coming from the bottom of my soul. Why did such unfair things have to happen to such innocent people like my aunt, that beautiful little boy? Why? I hear someone come into the room I’m in and lead me out of the room where the doppelganger of Penny and the beautiful little boy with the angel face lay asleep. I cry myself out and find out it’s Suzy who was holding me. All I can do is throw my arms around her and cry on her shoulder. Karen comes around the corner and runs towards Suzy. She hugs her tight then kisses her, then looks her over and asks if she’s been eating enough. Andrew stands grinning from ear to ear. I can tell he’s happy. Karen stands up and steps aside. I step over to Suzy and hug her again. “I missed you so much.” I whisper in her ear. “I missed you too.” She says then she hugs me tighter. “Let's get out of this place.” I whisper back. She nods then straightens up. I straighten up and look up to see Karen and Andrew eyeing each other. The type of eye that says, they like each other. “Let's go love-birds.” I whisper to them. We turn around to face the end of the hallway and then the alarm goes off. A guard comes whipping around the corner. Oh, crap. We’re in for a chase. I look to the right and see another hallway going down some stairs. “Quick! To the stairs!” I yell. We all run down the stairs and dash around another hallway until we come to a hatch in the floor. We open the hatch and stand in a cold room. We run to the other side and yank the door open. A guard comes up the hatch and runs towards the door. Andrew closes the door just in time, and we bolt. The guard opens the door again and yells, “STOP AND LEAVE THE GIRL AT THE DOOR!” “NO!” we shout, and run through the cafeteria to the hallway we entered. “STOP! STOP! STOP NOW!” The guard yells over and over. A few more shouts come from outside, where we're headed. We were surrounded. I wasn’t about to hand Suzy over so I could live. If anything, I would knock all these guys out and be counted a criminal instead of handing over my best friend. Karen and Andrew put their fists up. I did the same. We were not going to go down without a fight. The men surrounded us closer and closer until one was in fist range. Then it happened. My wrist snapped out and hit the man square in the nose, and it began. I punched, kicked, bit, spit, scratched, head-locked, swung, and rammed my head into a man's stomach. Karen hit and punched alongside Andrew and we all worked together to knock them all out. Then it happened. A guard pulled a gun out and pointed it at Suzy. BANG! Suzy fell to the ground, blood hitting the ground from her shoulder. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” I screamed. Suddenly I was rouge. I went crazy, and grabbed the guards gun without thinking. With one loud bang I had hit the guy in the leg. Blood ripped from the wound and poured onto the ground. The man screamed and hit the ground. The other men took a step back with their hands held high. I dropped to Suzy’s side and sobbed. I didn’t want her to leave me alone like my Aunt had. Karen ran over and held Suzy in her arms. “Don’t go baby. Please don’t go. Please don’t leave me baby. Please.” Karen sobbed. I held Suzy’s hand as she groaned. Andrew ran over and grabbed a wad of tissue from his bag. “Breathe Suzy. It’ll be alright.” He whispered. I prayed under my breath, “Please don’t take her back. Oh, dear lord please.” Suzy groaned again except softer. I felt her grip on my hand go limp. Her eyes relaxed and she sighed. Suzy was gone. She was with my Penny. “No, no, no, baby! No! Please! Please! Don’t leave me!.” I felt my head fall backwards and a strangled scream came from me. I couldn’t believe it. Suzy was gone. She was forever gone. I see Karen fall over on Suzy and scream. “Please baby! Please baby! Come back to me! Please!” She screams. I stand up and see the guards taking off their hats and bowing their heads. Rain starts to fall and escalates as it falls. That's it. Suzy was gone, and God was crying about it.

Life isn’t easy:

I slip on my black leggings and hoodie. I told Karen there was no way I was wearing a dress. I had laughed a bit earlier when Andrew had been on my side and we tried to gang up on her. Then he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Karen laughed in between the affectionate kisses. All I could do was giggle watching my new mom and her boyfriend kiss. I chuckle at the memory from earlier this morning and grab a pair of black tennis shoes. Before slipping out of my bedroom I grab a package of white tulips and a box of tissues for Karen and me. We ride in Andrew’s car to the funeral and watch the slide show of Suzy’s smiling photos. Claire De Lune plays in the background of the slides, and me and Karen go through a whole box of tissues during the funeral service and as we climb into the car again to go to her burial. We get out and place the white tulips I brought on top of her casket. Then I heard it. The most beautiful sound in the world. People started singing the song. Her song. “When it rains, it pours. But you didn’t even notice, it ain’t rainin’ anymore. It’s hard to breathe when all you know is the struggle of stayin’ above the risin’ water line. Well, the sky has finally opened…” I join in with choking sobs. We all sing Kasey Musgraves song for Suzy and then we leave. Andrew pulls up to a cafe for lunch that afternoon and we all get out. I see him take a small velvet container from the compartment from his door and wonder what he is hiding.We step inside the restaurant and get a table for three. A waiter comes by and I order a hot chocolate. I wanted to escape the cold clammy feeling inside of me. Karen orders a water and Andrew orders a coke zero. After the waiter leaves, Andrew schooches out of his booth and gets down on one knee. He pulls the velvet box out of his pants pocket and pulls it open gently. Karen’s hands go to her mouth. I suddenly realize what’s going on. The whole restaurant goes quiet as Andrew begins to speak. “Karen, I love you so much. I love you more than stars in the sky and I want to care for you for the rest of my life. Will you marry me?” It was so quiet you could’ve heard a pin drop as a tear rolled down Karen's cheek. She nods quickly and holds out her finger. The restaurant erupted with applause as Andrew pulled Karen in for a kiss. I have to say, even though Suzy’s burial was today, even though we cried buckets of tears, today was one of the best day’s I had ever had.

ONE YEAR LATER

.“...And I now pronounce you husband and wife!” Cried the minister. Andrew pulled Karen in and they kissed as the congregation stood up and went wild. Karen and Andrew turned and faced the congregation as the minister cried out happily, “May I happily present to you Mr. and Mrs. Walker!!!!!!” I screamed with joy as they walked down the aisle together. “Go mom! You rule Andrew, oop- I mean dad!!” I screamed. After that, we danced at the after party like we hadn’t done it in forever.

“Is this it?” Andrew asks. “5467 cemetery lane.This is the place.” Karen said softly. We get out of the car and walk through the gravestones. The first one we stop at is Suzy’s. I replace the shriveled flowers with fresh new ones and say a small prayer for her in heaven. We move swiftly through the graveyard and look for hours until we find her. My mom. We sit in silence for a moment before I begin reading the gravestone aloud. ISABELL GONZALOZ. I read. MOTHER AND WIFE. BELOVED AND MOURNED BY: ISOLABELLA GONZALOZ AND HER BROTHER JOSUE GONZALOZ. My eyes widen as I read over the last bit. I have a brother?

I secretly wonder what could have happened if I had known all this earlier. If maybe earlier in this chapter of my life I could have saved us from all the trouble that we went through. Earlier is a magical word. If I could have known this earlier. I could have changed the future, but then again I wouldn’t be as strong as I am now. It does make you wonder though. Earlier….