Gavin's POV

I slowly walked myself home. I climbed the ladder knowing that dad would be downstairs somewhere and would appear if I came through the front door.

"Hey Gav, can you help me with this question?" James appeared in the doorway to the bathroom.

"Geez, are you trying to give me a heart attack? I thought you were dad" I jumped and almost fell out of the window. I flopped onto my bed and looked at James. "What's the question?" I asked and he came in with his math textbook.

"So with this question are you meant to multiply that then add that and somehow subtract x?" he asked.

"No you have to divide that, add that and multiply by x. This exam is tomorrow, why are you only studying now?"

"Footy was intense and I ran out of time."

"Well you'd have more time if you weren't running after girls all weekend" I told him.

"Thanks for the help," he left the room and I heard dad's footsteps coming upstairs. I locked the doors and tried to stay quiet.

"Gavin, open up I know you're in there, I can hear you breathing." the door was about to give way with all the banging. I grabbed my phone and hid in my closet.

"You still up?" I texted to her.

"Yeah, i'm reading what's up?" she replied

"I'm sorry to put this on you but is there a chance I could come over. Dad is about to break down my door."

"Oh Gav, you know what my father could do. It's not safe here either. I'm sorry."

"Everly, what would you say if I said run away with me?"

"I don't know Gav. Running away seems a bit extreme." She texted back. "Dad just got home." She explained. I heard the door crunching under the pressure. I grabbed my duffle bags and began packing them but hiding them so when dad comes in he wouldn't see them.

"Gav? Are you still there?" Everly asked.

"Yeah I'm here, door isn't going to last much longer.

"When are you going to go?"

"Tomorrow after school."

"Where are you going to go??"

"Charwood," I responded

"Oh shoot, dad's coming" and with that she disconnected. I began packing everything from my closet, until I heard the door finally give way and embraced what was about to happen.

"Why was your door locked? Why are you in your closet?" Dad asked, I could tell by the way he was looking at me that he was extremely drunk which meant more pain for me and less pain for him.

"Why are you drunk dad? It's Monday night not Friday" I told him as he swayed closer. The problem with dad when he gets drunk is that his anger reaches above maximum and then he takes it all out on me.

"I'll ask the questions around here. You're a piece of shit and deserves to be punished" Dad pounded me and I zoned out and thought about tomorrow, which helped me not feel the pain.

I'll take the duffle bags and hide them in a bush and then clean out my locker during the lunch break then when the bell rings I'll get the duffle bags and take them to the bus stop and from there I'll catch the next bus to Charwood and from there start a new life with a new home, maybe a car, new job, it'll be great. Tomorrow is the last day I need to be a graduate anyway. I could probably get Oscar to redirect my certificate and mailing to my new address. I'll be 18 tomorrow anyways so nothing should be stopping me. Everly's birthday is on Wednesday too, I hope she comes with me. I pretended to pass out, since I found out that dad doesn't find things as fun when I'm passed out. After ten minutes it worked, I waited a little bit longer before getting up. I grabbed my phone and found missed messages from Everly.

"Okay, I'm going to come... are you leaving straight after school?... Where will we meet up?" I read the text messages.

"I'm glad you're coming, yes we are leaving straight after school, We can meet up at the shed when the exams finish" I explained putting the last few things into my duffle bag and leaving the closet. I grabbed my second duffle bag and went through my desk grabbing everything from books to pens and then lastly I cleaned out the bathroom of everything that was mine. I put the duffle bags under my bed and went to sleep.

I woke up before the sun was even on the horizon and quickly got changed and grabbed all my things and carrying them down the ladder for the very last time. I hid the ladder in the bushes even though it didn't really need to be hidden anymore. I ran down the street and made my way to the bus stop. I found a good place to hide the bags for the day. I kept my backpack and laptop bag and went to school. I turned on my laptop and used the school internet to get the bus tickets. 3:30 or 4pm? 4pm that'll give us enough time to get here after school and get ready. I took out my wallet and grabbed my Visa card and paid for both of them. I checked the time on latop, 7:02 am.

"Might as well go to the bank before school starts." I said out loud knowing no one would hear me. I got up and walked down the street to the retail area of the small town. I went to the ATM and got $1000.00 out. I went back to school and saw kids starting to arrive.

"Hey dude! You are early is it the exams or what?" Oscar asked when I reached the corner.

"Hey man, what's up?" I asked him bro hugging him.

"Nothing kinda nervous, this is the last of our exams of our school lives" He said.

"Make it count, am I right?"

"I guess, something is off about you, your hand wasn't like that yesterday, what happened?"

"I don't remember it breaking. Hmm it doesn't hurt, I didn't even notice." I told him.

"Where has your mind been then? Last time you came out of it you were suicidal and was almost successful." Oscar asked very concerned.

"Don't worry, everything is fine and thing will be magical soon. Maybe you could visit after you go through the graduation dinner and the actual ceremony. I'll need you to do something for me in a couple of weeks" I told him and I knew he thought I was having a crazy mental breakdown.

"I don't think you are in the right mindset to do a test. You should do it some other time"

"I can't I won't be here after tonight. I going to leave, and I'll never come back. You could visit when you finish school. By that I mean after graduation." I told him by plan without the details.

"Are you sure dude? I don't think you should be by yourself going to a different town." Oscar seemed really concerned.

"I'm not going to be alone, someone is coming with me. We decided this last night." I told him.

"I didn't realise Satan could talk and is a real person." Oscar half joked.

"It's not Satan who is coming with me, but Satan could be a real person." I joked as we entered the school grounds and waited outside the shed.

Before I knew it lunch was over, my locker was empty and I was entering part 2 of the exams. I took a deep breath and starting the last exam of my entire school life.

3 hours later and the whole year level were all finished with the exams. The leaders planned for the year 12 cohort to have a party to celebrate finishing all our exams and surviving the school year. I made my away the back of the shed where the party was set up.

"Hey, how do you think you went?" Everly asked skipped to me.

"Wow you're excited. Yeah I did a good job it was kinda easy, I don't know what everyone was stressing about." I told her.

"Yeah I know, it was too easy. Why wouldn't I be excited? We are leaving and never returning to this hellhole." she smiled one of her truly happy smiles.

"Are you talking about school or this town?"

"This town, this school was okay" she said just as Clara walked over to us.
"Hey guys. Are you excited that the exams are over?" She asked and Everly tensed up. I don't remember if it was Everly or just me, but I don't remember ever liking Clara. She was always that sporty, drama student who believed she was the smartest human in the entire school and it peeved me off. I see why Everly never did Drama now, why didn't I realise that before?

"Meh they were alright" I told her, I kept the conversation short so that she will get bored and eventually walk away.

"Finally, she's gone" Everly exaggerated

"That was very awkward, 12 minutes and she didn't get any of the clues, I wonder how she did the exam" I found myself watching Clara as she walked over to my brother.

"What time is the bus coming?" Everly asked.

"4pm, it should be plenty of time for us to get over there and grab our stuff. Speaking of, where did you put your stuff?"

"I took them to the bus stop on the way to school."

"That's what I did too" I smiled at her and Oscar came over.

"Did you know he was planning on leaving this place?" He asked her.

"Really?" She asked and I heard the sarcasm in her voice.

"Yeah and he is taking someone with him, he is insane" He fell for it.

"Poor me then, hey Oscar" she smiled at him.

"Oh no, what did he drag you into?" Oscar asked her.

"I asked to come" she defended.

"She did, we were discussing this last night"

"So you guys are just going to get up and leave, you guys only have 4 days of school left, can't you just wait until then?" Oscar asked and looked confused.

"No you don't know why we are doing this, so that's why you're confused." Everly snapped.

"Whoa uh, okay, sorry Eve" He brushed the back of his neck nervously.

"He knows everything about me Ev, everything" I told her.

"Oh well then you do know" She told him.

"I know about his father, wait, Eve are you pregnant?"

"No, heck to the no" She laughed, "I haven't even done my first time yet" she whispered. I know why her mood was up and down and it's kinda bed that she's at school in this condition, and I'm actually kinda surprised that she lasted through the exam.

"Hey, shhh, you're losing it" I hugged her and ran my fingers through her hair.

"Sorry, thanks" she calmed down.

"How much did you drink last night?" I asked concerned.

"It took three glasses of wine and a shot of vodka before I was knocked out." She confessed.

"Well you don't have to drink anymore, I'll look after you. I'll have a job at the grocers and we'll have an apartment or small house all to ourselves, it'll be great and relaxing. We can start over as new people without having to look over our shoulder all the time." I told her brushing her hair out of her face.

"It doesn't sound like you have only decided this last night. It seems too detailed for an overnight thing." Oscar stated.

"It only took the three hours he had with me to come up with the whole plan" I explained.

"Wow 3 hours? That's a long time even for him"

"Mhmmm," I agreed as the bell went off indicating that school was over. "Well this is it" I smiled looking at Oscar then Everly.

"Guys I'm going to miss you" Oscar grabbed both of us and hugged us.

"Aww, Ossy, you're gonna make me cry" Everly said wiping tears away from her eyes.

"It's time to go Ev, Os I'll text you when we arrive and I'll text you our new address once we know it" I told him bro hugging him for the last time in a long time.

"Hey! Everly?! What's wrong?" I heard Clara call out from across the hall. I looked up and saw her coming across the way.

"Come on let's go" I grabbed her hand and we grabbed our bags before making a run for it.

"Gavin! Where are you going?" I heard James' voice echo behind us. The echo made me run faster. We got to the bus stop before we stopped running.

"Where did you put your stuff?" Ev asked me.

"Right over... here" I pointed and pulled the bags out from under the bus bench.

"I'm surprise that I didn't even see them" Ev stated going to the next bench and pulling her bags from underneath it.

"Yeah I know that feeling" I told her picking up the bags and taking them to the counter.

"Hi I booked two tickets to Charwood this morning?"

"Gavin Ashworth and Everly Morgan? Yes I see that, and it's extra baggage tickets too, okay just give me the bags going underneath and I'll label them for you. I'll also need some id, from one of you." A guy behind the counter instructed. We handed him my duffle bags and her suitcases and then I got my provisional licence out of my wallet.

"Here is the ID" I handed it to him after he labelled the bags.

"Happy Birthday dude"

"Oh yeah thanks" With all this planning I forgot I was now officially 18.

"Gavin" Ev hit me.

"Ow" I grabbed my id and put it back in the wallet.

"Why didn't you tell me it was your birthday?" she asked me as we walked over to the seats.

"1. You didn't ask and 2. I forgot myself."

"Well weirdly enough it's my birthday tomorrow" She told me.

"I'll buy you a present tomorrow, and a place to live." I told her.

"And I'll buy the furniture then."

"Okay, did you have a job?"

"Yeah I used to work at Target but dad found out and then the next day my boss fired me. I've still got the money since I was never allowed to do anything" Ev explained.

"Same only dad still doesn't know and Ian, my boss, was so kind to me. He even transferred my to Charwood, I texted to before going to bed last night and then this morning when I got up he had replied so I'll duck in tomorrow, we are going to be busy tomorrow" I thought about tomorrow.

"We have to find a hotel room tonight" Ev just remembered.

"Yeah we will."

"Passengers going to Charwood through the Berston Range your bus in boarding in terminal 4." A man's voice spoke into the pa speakers.

"Let's go start over" I turned to Everly and held out my hand for her.

"Yes, I have been waiting for this moment for years" she smiled.

"Me too" I smiled back and we went out to the bus.