לפעמים, כשאני הולכת ברחוב עמוס באנשים, בטעות אני נוגעת בידי בידו של אדם אחר. לרגע נהיה לי חבר חדש. אינטימיות כפויה.

אתמול היתה הופעה מעולה.

“Turn away right now!” she heard a foreboding voice from inside her head. That was a stranger's one of her so called “mothers”. It sounded like a mixture of Miss Grinbare the second “mom” she had and Rosie David's, the social worker that was in charge of her wellbeing in the past few years. “it's not too late. They will take you back.” Yes, they will take her back, said her own voice. There was no doubt about that. They will also get their checks again, for every week she is with them. Not that she will ever see this money. Anyway, it wasn't about the money. This is not why she left (“ran away”- the voice inside insisted).

The sirens were getting closer as she stopped for a few seconds right under the empty road, listening closely. Then they were exactly above her, deafening, and then… further and further away.

This little tick of standing right beneath them will maybe buy her a few more hours, if she will do everything else just right. Now she just needs to find a ride to the city. Bren might have her for a few days, until her parents might decide to intervene and call someone, but then she can move to Leo downtown and from there… but that's in the far future and right now she needs to cross the road and take a little trip in the suburbs until she could come back to the highway, after she is sure the cops gave up on this short piece of land.

There was silence again above her and she thought she could come out now. It didn't matter how hard it might be outside, she decided she is never coming back to the Wilhelm's family. She had enough of that. That was the time to keep going, so she did, not looking back. She reached the stairs at the other end of this tunnel and looked up to the blue sky. To stay in the same place for too long was too dangerous for her, so she started climbing up when a horrible feeling came creeping in to her heart. It was too quiet on the other side of the road, and that might mean there is a trap up there above her, that the cops are out waiting for her to come up. They will tell her that the game is over and it's time for her to go back to the sweet couple that took her to their house with such kindness and selflessness that she might have been of their own blood. They will mutter darkly that she's so ungrateful, so disrespectful to these good people. Yeah, right, “good” people.

“Relax. They are not there. You are in the suburbs. Of course it's quiet here. Get out and keep going to Bren's house, that's all. There is no one out there.” her voice said in her mind. It was right too, there was no one out there.

A step and another one and there she was, outside, blinking in the blinding light of a small wood's clearing. It seemed to her somehow bigger and more ominous, yet what could she do about it? The stillness was heavier now, if it even was possible, and she hear the beating of her heart in her ears. “You are being stupid; do you know that?” The lady in her head told her. “Just go back to them. How long do you have there anyway, a few months? If you think about it, it's not so bad, now is it?” no, it is so bad. She answered to voice inside. She turned one more look behind her and saw only the grey road, empty in every direction, surrounded by woods from either side. She started marching toward where she thought were the suburbs waiting for her. Only they weren't waiting there. She couldn't imagine in her wildest dreams what was really out there in these woods.