Chapter 1
I gritted my teeth and jumped on the high wall, scratching my fingers in the process. Strong wind brushed through me like a reminder of where I was running from, and I glanced back at the facility. Sirens were blasting off in the darkness, signaling my disappearance. They were faster than expected. Chills ran down my spine just as the lights of the building turned on. Urgency rushed through my blood, and I whipped my head to glower at the stupid barbed wire that thought it could stop me. It was laughing at me like another lunatic in this facility, but it didn’t know me. I was a trained escapee, and nothing could stop me. I’d evaded my parents’ strict regimes and rules by escaping countless of times. This time wasn’t going to be any different.
Ha, suck it, Mom and Dad! Not even rehab was going to imprison me.
A smirk twisted my lips up, and I glanced at the nearby road where a dark Chevrolet stood. It turned on its brights for a short second, and right at the same moment, a yell behind me roared through the night.
“Shit!” I hissed, realizing my plan to cut through the barbed wire was going into the trash bin, and stood on my feet. My hand grabbed the scissors from my pants pocket and tossed them at the bush behind me. I tsked. I’d stolen them for nothing. Taking a huge breath, I stepped over the shiny metal, and my white trousers got stuck on few of the wires and tore a bit. I ignored the sharp spikes that scratched my legs and stepped on the other side of the wall. The available space was so small that a whole foot couldn’t fit, even side-wise. My heart was beating fast, alert at the danger lurking behind me, but I wasn’t going to give up on my freedom. No one could hold me prisoner when I didn’t deserve it. My parents thought framing me for using drugs was going to change my nature in this damned place, but they were damn wrong. And they knew what methods they used here. Curse them. They never cared about me.
When another shout behind me knocked me out of my thoughts, I jerked in fear, and my foot slid off the tiny space, causing me to stagger forward. The next thing I knew was the hard ground and sharp pain that made me grunt. I grabbed my elbow and clenched my jaw. My eyes shot imaginary bombs at the barbed wire that seemed miles away from me now, but when the horn of the Chevrolet squeaked at me, I leaped up.
How many times have you used it to sound like that, Danna?
I bolted to it and, with every step that I took, swore at the burning ache all over my body. At least, I hadn’t broken anything. Hopefully.
“Come on, come on, come on,” Danna urged panicky as I opened the door and got into the car.
“I’m here, don’t go all crazy on me!” I slammed the door closed, and her black eyes shot me a glare. “What?” I lifted my hands in the air. “Go if you really don’t want them to catch us.”
She revved the car, and we sped down the way just as I noticed one of the guards running through the gate of the brick fence.
I cackled and showed him a middle finger, even though he couldn’t see it. “Get that, you douche! You knew I was never into drugs anyway!”
“Well, everybody around us believes you are. Oh, Mack, I don’t know what will happen if my parents find out I am helping you,” Danna started rambling as I lifted the torn left pants leg and examined my scratches.
“Hold your tits, Dann,” I grumbled, now studying my left shoulder. My fall had been rough. It hurt like a bitch to the touch, and I could tell it was going to bruise. I had a trail of cuts all over my arm and fingers. Well, it was worth it if that was the price I had to pay for escaping the facility. “You won’t get caught. Everybody thinks you’re a goody two-shoes. Besides, even if you weren’t my ride, I would’ve still found a way. You know I easily make friends, and one of the girls on the floor promised me she’d help me if I had no one to rely on. So, your parents can’t really blame it on you.”
“Well, be grateful you have someone to rely on, McKenna,” Danna snapped, and I cocked an eyebrow. She was getting in one of her episodes again. “I’m not sure that chick would’ve helped you, or would’ve been of any use, for that matter. Her parents might be rich, but she has no access to her funds. Didn’t you say that yourself?”
I huffed. I did, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have any tricks up her sleeve.
“Yeah, whatever.” I waved a hand and turned to look at the backseats. “Where’s the makeup?”
Danna groaned, her blonde curls jumping with the jerk of her head. “Is that what you’re really thinking about now? You just ran away from a—”
“I have to look presentable.” I shrugged and pushed between the seats, going to the back of the car.
“McKenna! Be careful, you insane wattle tattle!” Danna shrieked, and I laughed at her way of censoring curse words as I sat on the middle backseat. Gosh, I really loved this retro car. It screamed of money and style. It screamed of the badass side Danna had and often hid because of her parents. Good thing I wasn’t like her; covering myself because of my parents’ requirements. I huffed to myself. But that had also brought me to this point. Preparing to run away in another state under a new identity.
“I’ve been doing this for years, don’t shit your pants!” I intentionally swore, and she gasped like a shocked child. God, her parents were so strict. It was such a big problem if she cussed once.
“You did it in Amberly’s car, not mine! You know she was—” She cut off her words, and I stared as her shoulders tensed, and her uncertain hands on the steering wheel shook for a moment. The air filled with her pain.
My heart did too. Amberly… only if you were alive.
After a stiff moment of silence, I reached out for the duffel bag between the back and front seats and opened it. Yes! My favorite shadow palette’s galaxy box shone in my eyes, and I swiped it out, grinning like a madwoman.
“I knew you’d be happy!” Danna chuckled from the front seat, and I nodded, ignoring the slight pain in my shoulder as I did that.
“You know the red color in this palette makes my blue eyes pop.”
“Yeah, yeah. You’ve been saying that ever since seventh grade.”
We locked gazes through the rearview mirror, reminiscing for a short second, and I started applying the makeup. When my vision caught the bloody scratch under my left eye, I frowned. Really? This was the first night I needed to look well in the last two months, and this was what happened? Great.
I wiped it off with the back of my sleeve and finished putting the makeup on, completing the look with dark red lipstick. It always went well with my pale eyes and black dye that covered my otherwise blonde locks.
“Let’s see what clothes you brought!” I grinned and dug in the duffel bag, hoping she would’ve bought something that fit my taste. We’d known each other for almost ten years, she had to know what I liked.
“Your favorite—black torn skinny jeans, a black sweater, and a grunge necklace.”
“Perfect!” I gasped and removed the dirty tunic from my body.
Danna’s eyes glanced back at me.
“Are you sure about this?” she asked, doubt creeping up her voice.
“About what exactly? You know there is a lot of stuff on my mind right now.”
“I know why you ran away,” she explained, “I wouldn’t have been able to stand being locked up with druggies, either.”
Wow. She and Amberly had been the ones to always take a pill and make me hide the rest of them in my toilet cistern. And now, I was eating shit for that.
I gave her a look, and she glared. “I’m not addicted, Mack.”
“And so wasn’t Amberly, but look where she is now!” I bellowed, and silence stretched between us.
As I finished putting my clothes on, I cleared my throat. “I’m sure, Dann. I believe Jude would be able to help me. He’s always—”
“Been your first and only crush? Mack, that’s not reason enough.”
“He’s always been supportive of me. And when Amberly—” I held my breath, the words not wanting to get out. It was traumatizing to talk about it. “…left us, he told me I could turn to him, no matter what happened.”
Danna snorted, taking a right turn. We were finally leaving town. The trees around us became denser, and their leaves shook with the grim mood of the night. They reminded me of the fall that was glaring at us with its outbursts of regular rains and sour winds. It was already the end of October. October 31st. Halloween. What a perfect night to escape a guarded facility. Was I one of the band now? One of the werewolves and the paranormal night creatures that were about to go wild tonight? As if. I wished. My lips twisted up at my thoughts, but my friend quickly pulled me out of them.
“And what can Jude do, Mack? Buy you your freedom? Get your parents to believe you? Or fill the blanks in your missing sexual experiences?” Her eyes clashed with mine through the rearview mirror, and I glowered.
“My missing sexual experiences are not the point here. And for god’s sake, I’m not a fucking virgin.”
Danna sucked in a breath. “Don’t use God’s name in the same sentence as a curse. You know he listens all the time.”
I rolled my eyes and leaned back in my seat, crossing my arms. Ever since Amberly passed away, the communication between us two kept getting worse. Amby had been the bridge between us and our incompatible personalities.
I pushed my fingers through my wavy mid-back long hair and sighed at the ceiling. If I had to be honest, the question wasn’t what he could do for me, it was what I could finally do. Jude, that tough blond-haired neighbor who had turned into my closest male friend over the years… The man who regularly visited my wet dreams. My first love that I never got the guts to confess my feelings to before he left for college… I loved him with all my heart.
And I trusted him.
Jude was much more independent than me.
My heart tightened, just thinking about it. His family’s influence was all over Crimson Valley. But the most important thing they had in my eyes was Pinewood Prestige University. A nearly unreachable place; one only for the high class. The dream school I could’ve gone to if my parents had let me. My guts knotted in that familiar anger, and I heaved a breath, struggling to throw the darkness out of me.
Of course, with so much power, Jude’s family also had tight connections with the police. So, if he could make them turn a blind eye to my disappearance… There wouldn’t be anything else I’d need for my new life.
I was going to disappear from the suffocating gaze of my parents. And I wasn’t going to spare another glance at them ever again. Screw them and their money. They destroyed my future just to keep their flawless image. It was pretty clear which one was more important, and that was not me. My heart stung with the memories of neglect I’d received from them all my life.
There was still a huge chance things wouldn’t go my way, and Jude wouldn’t be able to help me. If that happened, I was going to at least confess my feelings to him and disappear like a flea between the fingers of a human.
