Doubts were attempting to enter her mind as she packed what few clothes she could fit into her small utilitarian bag. Pushing the doubts away, though, she pushed on making sure to grab everything she thought she may need. Abigail cringed as she placed two of her dresses into the bag. Oh how she loathed them. Though, remembering how Alex was dressed when he came to see her, she took some blue jeans and her plain t-shirts she usually slept in and placed them in her bag, as well. She had never worn blue jeans outside of helping her mother work in the yard, and it was a strange feeling to think she would wear them any other time.

As night approached, she told her parents goodnight and went to bed as usual, all the while feeling nostalgia for the fact that it would be her last night to do so, and then began waiting for Alex to come collect her. Her nerves had her every hair standing on end, but she wasn't sure if it was more about the risk of being caught, or the idea of leaving with Alex, a boy she barely knew. In the back of her mind, she knew she should figure out which, but just as she began to ponder the thought more deeply, she heard the now familiar tap of a small rock against her bedroom window. She pulled herself from bed, thinking that this would be her last time to lay in it, and went to open the window. Alex motioned for her to come out back again, and this time she did so without hesitation.

She silently dressed in her darkest colored dress, a deep blue one, and carried her shoes in her hand she she grabbed her single bag and her jacket and walked down the stairs. She locked the door behind her on her way out, and rather than letting Alex come into her yard, she walked out to him and locked the gate behind her. There was no turning back now. As soon as the gate clicked shut, she turned to face Alex, who seemed to be surprised at her decision. For some reason, she found a joy in that feeling, and inwardly smiled at herself as she pulled her shoes onto her feet.

"You're sure about this?" Alex whispered to her. She didn't even take time to pause before responding.

"More sure than I have ever been in my life... about anything." Alex seemed even more taken aback by her. She idly wondered what he thought of her, and she felt surprised at her interest in the boy. She had never cared so much about the opinions of others outside of the ruling officials.

"Well then," he turned to her, "if you are sure, let's get out of here." Abigail nodded in response and followed as he began walking towards the outskirts of the city. A prickle of fear spiked in her when they began walking down the dimly lit path: Abigail had never been out past curfew. Wasn't he concerned about being caught out here in the open? Just as she was about to voice her opinion on the matter, Alex turned to face her and leaned in close to whisper in her ear.

"We will take the sidewalk to the end of the block, then the rest of the way in on back trails. Until then, be on the lookout for any patrolmen... though they haven't been out much lately. We may be lucky tonight and not see any at all. Abigail was grateful for the dark when Alex pulled away and began walking slightly ahead of her again. She had never been in that close of proximity to a boy before. She felt warmth spreading to her cheeks and was sure she was blushing at the close contact, as well as the warmth of his breath as he spoke to her.

Soon enough they were turning off of the sidewalk and onto a trail that seemed to lead into the forest that was on the outskirt of town. As soon as they were out of sight from the road, Abigail breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn't realized she was so tense about being out but the relief she felt from being hidden safely from anyone who may come checking the curfew took a considerable weight off of her shoulders. Abigail peeked a glance at Alex as he walked ahead of her and he seemed to be more relieved as well: he was walking in a more upbeat pace and wasn't taking as much caution as he had before. The fact that he was more carefree also made Abigail feel the same way, though she still carried many trepidations about the journey, and what it meant to her. As she walked a little faster to keep up with Alex's fastening pace, her mind drifted idly to her parents, and what would happen when they realized she was gone.

After a few hundred yards, the duo came to an abrupt stop. Before them stood a chain length fence which stood more than ten feet tall by Abigail's approximations. As she looked down both directions that it stretched across, wondering what they would do now, she caught the movement of Alex making his way closer to the fence. He was stooped down low as if searching for something.

"Alex," she began in a low voice, "what are we going to do now?" Even she could feel the rising panic in her voice. She couldn't believe her one chance could be averted so easily. Before Alex could answer, though, she caught on to what he was doing. A few feet away, he pulled at the bottom of the fence, revealing that a piece of it had come loose from its support pole, and with a proud smile on his face, Alex simply looked at her knowingly. "After you."

Abigail took off her backpack and slid it through the fence to the other side first, immediately following it through the opening. The space was a tight fit, but as she extricated herself from it and found herself on the other side, it was as if the air felt different. Maybe it was true: the grass truly was greener on the other side. On this side of the fence, she could almost smell the delicious scent of possibility filling her nose and going deep into her lungs, driving out the old stale sensations that had once filled her.

Once Alex had made his way through, she saw him pause and take a deep breath in just as she had. "There's nothing like that first breath of freedom," he began, "it's truly intoxicating."

After taking it all in for a moment, he turned back to the fence and positioned the broken panel back as it had been, so that there was no more evidence the two had ever left. In the back of her mind, though, Abigail couldn't help but wonder about the damning evidence of her not being in her bedroom come sunrise. What would her parents do? How long would it take for the town to begin a search for her? In all of her years, Abigail couldn't recall a single instance of a missing person. Where would someone go in her world? Running away wasn't a thing that people did.

None of these worries seemed to even occur to Alex. He just carried on as if all the trouble was behind him. Abigail wondered if perhaps he was trying to keep a brave face for her, or if maybe the brave face was to keep him focused on this task instead of on his brother. Either way, it concerned her. She knew better than to ask right now, though.

She followed him towards the tree line away from the fence and immediately regretted her attire as they began fighting the thicker underbrush of this unmaintained area. None of it slowed Alex down, though, so she fought through it with him. She wasn't going to let her unfamiliarity with such environments be the cause of their capture. She would die out here of exposure before she would allow herself to be taken back to that town. She had often thought about the possibility that she may one day end up in one of the holding cells at the courthouse, but now that she knew there was more to the world, she refused to let herself reside to that fate.

Neither of them realized how quickly the time had been passing until the first inklings of daylight broke. The small slivers of light shining through the treetops illuminated the forest floor, revealing to Abigail a slight path. Alex did know where he was going after all! As more and more light began to shine in, Abigail began to feel sweat trickle down her forehead. Not just from the now-present sun, but also because she knew that in just a few moments her parents would be discovering that she wasn't at home in her bed. And even worse, she hadn't even left a note - which would have been a mistake even if she had wanted to.

Picturing the panic she knew would fill her mother's eyes was almost too much to bear. Her father was more difficult to imagine, however. He was strict, and probably wouldn't take it well that his little girl had gone missing - and probable even worse when he figured out that it had been voluntary. She had never seen a missing person case occur, so she could only wonder and speculate about what would happen. The higher the sun rose, though, the more she could feel the panic rising.

It didn't take long for her dreads to become reality. In the far far distance, she could just make out an alarm bell ringing out - alerting the residents of Louxe of her terrible deed. Of course, none of the residents would immediately jump to such a conclusion, but she knew all would be revealed soon enough.

"Alex!" Abigail quietly yelled in panic. She motioned for him to come closer and as he reached her side she immediately panicked. "What does this mean? Will they be out here looking for me?" She could feel her chest begin to tighten. Air wasn't getting into her lungs. Her face felt clammy and she worried she would pass out. But before that could become a possibility, she felt Alex's warm hand on her shoulder and his breath on her ear.

"Breathe in... " he whispered to her, "just breathe. Count your breaths." As she followed his instruction, she could feel herself coming back down to reality.

"Now," he continued, noticing her calmer state, "here is what we are going to do. We are still a good ways from my home, but we have some hidden bunkers around here we can hide out in until the sun has set again. We don't need to be traveling in such visibility."

She simply nodded her head in agreement and followed him as he turned to walk away. As they ventured deeper into the forest, he turned off the barely visible path and began working his way through what was now especially dense underbrush. With the heat beginning to bear down on the, she was thankful for the coverage the treetops were giving her. Farther away from the city, she could begin to hear birds singing their praises and the distant mingling of tree leaves in the slight breeze. Soon, she could no longer hear the alarms of the city's ruling panic at all.

In her mind she could envision the mass movement that would be happening back in Louxe. But she pushed the thought out of her head and tried to think, instead, of what would lay before her. As she tried to look beyond this forest, however, she realized something unsettling: she had no idea what she was going to find at the end of this journey. She had been so caught up in the grand overture of it all that she hadn't even attempted to get the smaller details.

Deep into her thoughts, she bumped in Alex with a deep thud before falling very clumsily to the ground.

"Hey!," she demanded, "why on Earth would you just stop like that?"

"Because we are here," Alex replied.

Abigail looked around her and saw no indication of where exactly 'here' was. There was no cabin they had wandered upon, no tree house to climb up into... she didn't even see a place where a tent could be hiding. Alex was enjoying her confusion, and as she turned back to question him, she caught the smirk he was trying to conceal on his face.

"It's an underground bunker, Abigail," he explained before moving the fallen leaves aside to reveal a green metal covering almost like the manhole covers that were scattered around Louxe. With what looked to be a good bit of required strength, Alex twisted and opened the 'door' and looked up to her expectantly.

"Ladies first."

She was irritated at his attitude, but decided she had trusted him this far, what else could she have to risk? After tightening the straps of her backpack so that it was snuggle secured against her, Abigail stepped into the hole feet first, and slowly made her way down into the black pit below her. With each ring of the ladder she descended, she could feel the air around her become cooler and cooler. It was a sweet relief to her sweat-covered forehead. The darkening area around her seemed heavy and encompassing, however, and as she finally felt her feet hit solid ground, she could feel the tingles of fear at the back of her neck and she tried to feel her way around the wall to the area she had entered.

When Alex was fully into the hole, he pulled the door back closed, encompassing the both of them in complete darkness. The clang his foot made as he climbed down rung by rung echoed in their enclosed space, surrounding her with the sound. As his foot connected with the bottom, she felt his warmness as he moved close to her. She was almost certain he was too close for comfort as his arm reached across her chest to reach the opposite wall. Before she could question him, though, she heard the low hum of electricity and the room before her was illuminated in a low dim light.

Abigail slowly took a step into the room before her, trying to hold back her disbelief. There was a bed just big enough for two positioned in the middle of the wall to her right, and at the foot of it was a trunk. In the corner she could see a cabinet that, in the back of her mind, she hoped contained some food and water. As she stood still, taking in everything and letting her thoughts settle, Alex charged past her. He immediately leapt onto the bed, laughing as he bounced.

"I don't think I have ever been so excited to see one of these rooms!" he exclaimed as the bed settled form his jump. He rolled over onto his back and stared straight up to the ceiling, almost as if in deep thought.

"One? There are more?" Abigail questioned.

"Oh definitely," he said, "we built tons of these in areas between our town and yours, as well as others."

"How far do you think we are? From your home?" Abigail asked.

"Not too far, now. But, Abigail," he admonished, "it's your home now, too."

Rather than answering, Abigail stepped further into the room and sat her bag beside the bed. She carefully eased down onto the bed and felt her nerves begin to relax as she felt her body sink into the mattress. Perched on the bed, she turned to face Alex, who looked as if he could go to sleep right then and there: fully dressed.

"So, ummm," she began, embarrassed, "Alex."

Without opening his eyes, Alex let out a relaxed, "mmmm hmmm,"

"I, um," she could feel the heat rushing to her cheeks, "I need to change."

"Well," she could hear in his words that he was smiling: he knew what was going on. "Go ahead, sweetheart. I'm not gonna stop you." He was cajoling her.

Not enjoying being made fun of, Abigail turned back so that her back was to him once again. She was eager to adamantly ignore him for the rest of the night, but as she thought about it more and more, she realized she really needed to get out of her hideous dress and into something comfortable if she was going to have any chance of sleeping tonight. Today. Her days and nights were going to be very confusing, she realized.

"Please, Alex," she admonished, "just let me change. Will you turn away or something?"

He didn't immediately respond, but she felt the bed shift as he got up, and looking back over her shoulder, she could see him standing and facing the far wall. Deciding she had better take advantage of the moment quickly, she picked up her bag and dug around for her sleep clothes. She pulled her pajama pants on underneath her dress, and she could hear him quietly chuckling at her attempted modesty.

"Be quiet, please," she joked with him. Then she quickly pulled the grotesque dress above her head and in the same instant, pulled her new shirt over. She had just finished pulling it down when Alex turned and threw himself immediately back onto the bed in the same position he had been in before.

"You do realize that some of that is going to have to change, right?" he questioned her. "You can't be acting like you are still in Louxe whenever we get home." After saying that, he stood up once again and pulled at his belt buckle. The next thing Abigail heard was the rush of cloth as his pants hit the ground and he was left standing before her in his underwear and t-shirt.

"Oh my, Alex!" Abigail nearly screamed, "You can't just walk around like that in here with me!" She was sure she was in pure panic and humiliation mode. The warmth that was once in her cheeks was now spread to her entire body. She was on fire.

"Just... calm... down," Alex tried to tell her, but it was difficult to get the words out between his bursts of laughter. She hated that he could do this to her, and she hated even more that he found it so funny.

"Look, Alex, I know my lifestyle is completely different than yours," she tried to reason with him, "but I am pretty sure that people don't just walk around in their underwear in your town."
At the sound of her panicked voice, Alex visibly calmed down. She could hear his roaring laughter calm to just a small chuckle. If she was perfectly honest with herself, she would have found the situation funny, too, if it hadn't been at her expense. Without realizing it, she felt herself let out a small chuckle, too.

With the tension somewhat broke, she turned back to him to again try talking, but was exposed, again, to the sight of Alex in just his underwear and t-shirt. This time, though, she felt more than just embarrassment, she felt something she couldn't explain. Her cheeks were red again, but this time she knew she didn't want Alex to see.

"Look, Alex, just..." she was almost pleading at this point, "... just put on some pajama pants or something, okay? It's awkward enough that we only have the one bed: I am not going to sleep in it with you half-naked." By the end of her statement, she could feel a slight anger begin to rise. This was no longer funny.

Realizing it, too, Alex opened the trunk at the end of the bed and pulled out some soft lounge pants and slipped them on.

"You keep your clothes, here?" she questioned.

"Well, not exactly," he began explaining. Abigail stood back up and walked around to where he stood in front of the open trunk. Before her was several stacks of neatly folded clothes, seemingly arranged by size. "We keep spare clothes in the bunkers."

"Well thank you for that obvious answer," she replied sarcastically. She was shocked at herself, though. She had never given a sarcastic answer to anything before in her life; at least, she had never done it out loud before. She could already tell that her time with Alex and away from her ever strangulating home was changing her. If things were to keep going like this, she was certain she would never be able to go back: she wouldn't survive it.

"Don't try to hide, Abigail," Alex caught her attention as she turned to go back to the bed. "I know things are going to be different for you, and I know that it is going to take some adjusting. But, look at me," he begged her, "I promise you will be better off for it."
Abigail didn't respond. She just pulled back the covers of the bed and slid into her side of it. As she attempted to make herself comfortable and adjusted her pillows just right, she heard the clank of the trunk shutting and felt the mattress shift under Alex's weight. It was only a few moments before he settled in, as well.

She was lying on her back staring at the ceiling, and as she glanced over to him, she could tell that he was doing the same. In an attempt to block out the thoughts of how close she now was to him, and the sheer fact that she was sleeping in bed with a boy, Abigail purposely closed her eyes and tried to calm herself into a sleep. She focused on her breaths, counting them as a placid mantra. In.... and out... one... and two. Over and over she repeated this until it occurred to her that she was no longer counting her breaths, she was counting his. She loudly let out a frustrated sigh, certain she would never get to sleep in this situation.

"Abigail," Alex began, "you have to calm down." This time, there was no joking. He wasn't laughing at her, and he wasn't making fun of her. In fact, he almost sounded frustrated. "Look," he began, this time she could hear the strain he was holding in to keep his voice controlled, "this has been a long trip for me, too, and I just really need to get some rest, now, okay?" By the end of it, she heard his voice crack. He wasn't mad. He was upset.

Then it hit her like a ton of bricks. Of course he was upset. She wasn't even supposed to be here. He was supposed to be in this bunker with Daniel: He was supposed to be here with his brother who she had watched drown only a few days ago. She didn't want to push the subject, and she certainly wasn't going to do anything else that may keep him awake more. He deserved time and space, and she was going to give him all of it she possibly could.

Turning so that her back was to him, she shifted her arm up under her pillow and instead began to count sheep. She had never tried it before, but she had heard her mother mention it once so it was certainly worth a try. As she began to slowly doze off, she heard Alex's breath catch, and knew he was doing his best to keep it together. As a final movement, she reached her leg back and placed it against his, as a sign of comfort, and then faded off to sleep.