I'd read books where people stayed in the rundown motels to hide from people. It never really dawned on me how those places looked in reality, but then I'd never been in a place where I'd realistically ever stay in one of those places. They seemed like they were in a dreamworld that was untouchable by me. Like they didn't really exist. 

When I stumbled across the Forest Run Inn on the outskirts of Denver, those books all came back to mind. I hurriedly walked over and went up to the front desk. The man sitting there reading a newspaper seemed like a regular guy, not too creepy or anything that made me uneasy.  He looked up when he heard me get close and sat the paper aside. "Hourly or nightly?" he asked. 

Hourly? I hadn't thought of that as a possibility before that moment, so I was confused. Brayden did nightly, right? "Nightly," I said.

He nodded, clicked around on his computer, and reached behind himself for a key. An actual key, not a card. He tossed it onto the counter. "That'll be sixty for the night."

I reached into one of the outer pouches of my bag and pulled out a hundred. I handed the bill to him and he gave me my change. Mom's shopping money was coming in handy after all. I hadn't planned on using it this way, but I counted this as an emergency. 

The money had been tucked away in a small zippered compartment on the outside of my suitcase. Mom had given me some money when she'd taken me shopping and I saved as much as I could. When we got home, I had tucked it away in my suitcase and forgot it was there. Until I was cresting the hill into Denver, that was. When I got there and realized I would need to stay somewhere, I searched the bag and found the money I'd stashed. 

Key in hand, I walked out of the worn-out lobby and walked to room number nine. Hoping the number on the key was right, I put it in the lock and it turned. I walked into the room and felt around for the light switch. When I found and flipped it, the room was bathed in a soft glow. A small overhead light turned on. I made sure the door was locked behind me and took in the room. 

A full-sized bed occupied most of the space. It was covered by a worn, threadbare comforter that touched the floor. There was a dark green couch that seemed like it was crusted over. There was a desk under the wall-mounted TV, but I didn't see a chair for it anywhere. Further into the room, a closet with folding doors sat across from a door I assumed led to the bathroom. 

I left the suitcase near the door and walked to the bathroom, my bare feet slapping on the wooden floor, which felt greasy. The bathroom held all the usual things, but unlike the other places I'd been staying, the shower had a ring around the tub. Something that looked suspiciously like mold was growing in the corners. I pulled back the curtain a little, wondering if I ought to shower or not. That question was answered when I looked up at the showerhead and found a pair of panties hanging from it.

Nope.

The mirror was cracked in a few places, and splattered with fluids I probably didn't want to know about. I wandered back out into the main room. What had I gotten myself into? 

---

The sun was warm on my back, bordering on hot. It had been a few hours since I turned in the key to that God-forsaken motel. I'd barely slept the night before, worried about whether or not I was going to get a disease from sleeping on the bed. I'd stayed away from the couch since it seemed worse for wear. Also, I had a feeling that the chances of picking up something was much higher if I even so much as looked too hard at it.

Cars were zooming past me on the highway. My new shoes were hurting, and I knew I'd have blisters on my feet. Not to mention the cuts littering the soles of my feet from running through the woods. I didn't want to think about what kind of infection I was inevitably going to get after walking around in that motel room, either. I also needed a shower. Even after stripping the bed down to the fitted sheet and sleeping on that, I still felt so gross.

A shower would have to wait. I knew that. I did the best I could to get rid of the feeling, though. I had changed clothes and shoved the ones I slept in into the motel trash. I'd washed my feet in a public bathroom and put on socks until I reached a store and bought the first pair of shoes I saw that seemed comfortable. 

After my conversation that morning with Brayden, I was even more scared than before. My dad was on the loose, and I knew that he would put two and two together soon enough. I had his phone with the conversations he had with my mother. It was only a matter of time before I sent a text or two or three. If he knew where she lived - and it seemed like he at least knew the area - he was already on his way. He'd ransacked Brayden's guesthouse, so he knew I wasn't there. Process of elimination only left one place. 

I walked a little faster. It had been nearly two hours since I left the motel, and about an hour since I'd been walking on the highway. Brayden had texted me sometime after his weird call that morning. He told me to turn off my phone so the police couldn't track me, and to delete his text. I searched the route home, memorized the distance to the nearest town, and turned it off. Now I had no way to call anyone for help, which was working my nerves.

Not being able to contact people shouldn't have been as anxiety-inducing as it was. After all, I'd only gone my whole life without a phone. But I'd never been running from dangerous people. That in and of itself was so different from how my life was back in Rapid Falls. I only had one dangerous person waiting for me at my home, and I knew where he was in relation to me at all the times that mattered. Now, though, now I didn't. To make it worse, I had to worry about my step-father too. 

If either one passed by me on the road here, my goose was cooked. My mother, too. She would drag me back to their house and I would have to escape all over again because I couldn't tell her no.

A car slowed down as it approached me and my pulse spiked. A man rolled down his passenger window. I looked over and didn't recognize him. That fact calmed me down a little, but also sent my guards up. "Hey there, miss," he said. "Where you tryna go?"

I focused straight ahead and didn't respond. The stranger kept pace with his car next to me. He kept trying to get me to look at him. After a minute or two, I stopped. The car rocked as he suddenly braked. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. Against Brayden's advice, I turned it on. "Drive away," I told him, finally making eye contact. "Pull away, or I'm calling the police and reporting harassment."

His mouth opened and closed before he drove away - only to pull over in front of me. I silently begged my phone to turn on faster. His door opened and he got out. "You gonna report me?" he asked. "I'm gonna give you something to report."

I had no idea what to do. This grown man was coming at me, a man who could easily overpower me, and I was frozen to the spot. Back home, I never had to worry. We weren't a tightknit town by any means, but we at least had decent humans who would stand up for others. Here, though, I was completely on my own. There wasn't anyone who was going to magically stop and save me. No one who was going to tell this man to back off. 

My phone's home screen came up. While he came towards me, I frantically hit the phone app and dialed. About the time he reached me, the operator picked up. I just screamed as he grabbed my arm holding the phone. "Help! He's trying to assault me!" I screeched.

Profanities began coming out of him, and I dropped to the ground. My hand was a vice grip on the phone as he tried to pry it out of my hand. "Let go!" he snarled.

I clenched my hand tighter and screamed again. "Help!" I shouted the approximate place I was on the highway and we started hearing distant sirens. His eyes grew wide and he hesitated in his movements. I kicked upwards and hit him. He doubled over and I kicked at his legs. He fell to the ground, grabbing at his crotch. I forced the phone to my ear and heard the operator asking if I was still there and what was going on. "Please send help," I repeated. 

"Police are on their way, just hang tight," the operator said. "I have two units en route to your location. They should be there in just a minute."

I was struggling to pull out of the man's grip. Despite his pain, his grip wasn't releasing. "You're going to be arrested for assault," I told him loudly. 

That seemed to trigger something in him. He released me and scrambled to his feet. I watched him hobble to his car while I told the operator the make, model, and license plate number. With a loud screech of his tires, the man drove away. My heart was still racing and I was still full of adrenaline as I resumed walking down the highway.

About thirty seconds later, a police car flew past me with their siren and lights on. Another car pulled up behind me. I stopped and turned to look at them, swiping hair from my eyes. A young officer climbed out of the driver's seat. "Were you the one to call 911?" he asked as he got closer. A woman officer climbed out of the car behind him and headed our way.

"I was."

"The other car is looking for him. Can I get your name?"

"Jennifer Herrington."

"You from around here?" He pulled out a notebook and began writing the information down.

"No, I'm not. My mom lives here with her husband, and I was visiting them. I'm trying to go back home." I stopped on that word. Home. Was that even what Rapid Falls was to me? It was all I'd known until I convinced Brayden to help me, but it had never truly felt like home. 

"And where is home?" he asked.

I frowned. Well, it was the best answer I could give, I guess. "Rapid Falls, South Dakota."

"You're a long ways from home. Are you planning to walk the whole way?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm just walking to the next town. My boyfriend said he'd meet me there to take me back." It felt so weird calling him my boyfriend. The word felt foreign, even though I knew that's what he was to me.

"That's a mighty long way," the girl said. Her voice carried a trace of a southern accent. "You're trying to get there on foot?"

I shrugged. "I don't really have much of a choice. No one's giving me a ride and I can't afford to pay for one."

"You said you were visiting your parents," the guy said. "Couldn't one of them give you a ride?"

"They didn't want to give me one." I couldn't tell them about Mom's husband. That was a whole can of worms I felt should stay closed. For now, at least.

"They didn't want you to leave or something?" the girl asked.

I gave them a small smile. "Honestly, they were trying to make me stay so I could go to college, but that's not what I wanted. This was the only way to change fate."

"Do they know where you are?" the girl asked, eyeing me. There was a glint of recognition that I didn't want to see.

"I don't care if they do or don't. Before you ask, no, I didn't leave a note. I left last night, stayed somewhere else, and now I'm here. Home is where I feel wanted and safe. Home isn't here." My words echoed in my head. I wasn't sure where they came from - probably somewhere in the back of my mind where I stored information that I couldn't handle - but they hit home, and hit it hard. The only place I'd ever felt that was when I was a child, and any time I was with Brayden. He made a place feel like home. He was home. Wherever he was, that was my home. 

Tears sprang to my eyes as I realized this. I wiped at them and gave the cops a wobbly smile. The woman just looked at me for a moment while her partner scribbled something. "You don't seem like you really want to leave," she remarked.

My smile fell. "What do you mean?"

She gestured to the suitcase near my feet. "You only have one bag, for starters. Second, you seem like you're sad to be leaving. Is that boyfriend of yours making you leave?"

I shook my head. "Absolutely not. I only have one bag because everything I own fits inside. Yes, I miss my mother, but that's it. I don't want to ever see her husband again in my life." I frowned. "No disrespect intended, but this is all my business. You're not going to make me change my mind. I'm leaving and that's all there is to it. There are things at play that are out of my control. I know I must sound crazy or something, but I'm being completely serious."

The girl shrugged. "We can't really make you do anything without a valid reason, so we're going to let you go. I do recommend that you stay off the road and maybe get someone to come pick you up. At this point, we're more worried about your safety. I'm very concerned that you're being coerced into something you don't want to do. Again, can't really do anything without a reason. If we catch the man in the car, we'll let you know and you have the option to press charges."

"I'm familiar with the process," I interjected. "I'm pressing charges on someone else back home. Am I free to go?"

The girl pursed her lips, looking at me for a moment, but then nodded her head. "You're free to go as soon as we get your contact information."