Lost

Lost

Closing the door with a click, I tightened my jacket around my waist and crept down the steps. She wouldn't know I was gone, she probably wouldn't notice. Reruns of CSI: Miami could be heard in the distance as I slipped through the maple trees in the front yard. After I quietly made it to the sidewalk, my step quickened, and I left my shoulders relax. Hadn't been caught once, and I didn't plan on getting caught, ever.

About a block and a half later, I took a quick peek to see if there were curious eyes watching me and then I slipped between a broken fence into a field of tall grass. I adjusted the straps on my faded blue knapsack, and kept walking. I could see lights in a cabin abour 100 yards away. A smile made its way onto my lips without thinking. I broke into a brisk run, feeling the grass swishing against my legs, a breeze lifting my hair. The cabin was small, made haphazardly out of logs and plywood, and I grabbed the door handle and pulled the moment I was close enough.

He looked up from the floor, and grinned. "Hey, baby," he said, getting up and stepped gingerly around some photos he had laid out on the cabin's floor. He put his arms around my waist and kissed me gently. It was like a warm rush, all the way to my toes. "Want to see the latest ones?" He gestured to the photos on the floor. I nodded, and set my bag on a chair. He handed me a can of root beer and we settled down on the floor, one arm still around me with the other pointing out the various images.

We'd been meeting secretly for over 6 months. I didn't even understand why it had to be a secret. Daniel was a wonderful guy. When we first began to date, he came to talk to my grandmother, but she refused to see him and forbade me to as well. Since then, we'd been meeting every night that I could steal away. We'd met in school, but shortly after my grandmother also decided to home school me. It seemed that every time I made friends, we had to move or I had to hide out. I didn't understand why she had to make my life so difficult. I was 17 years old, and my own person. I wasn't drinking, smoking, or doing drugs. I wasn't even out having sex. I just wanted to spend more time with this beautiful black haired boy, who was so smart and so talented.

"Here's a picture of Jennie McPhee, after some of the guys threw her into a mud puddle," he snickered. "And here's a sunset I saw the other day. It reminded me of you."

"Of me?"

"Of how beautiful you are." He looked right into my eyes. I felt myself blushing, and I looked at my hands. He lifted me chin gently and kissed me again. "When do you have to leave?"

"Soon. I'm supposed to be studying for some sort of English exam that Judith is giving me tomorrow." I never called her Gran or Nanny like most grandchildren did. She was as distant as she could be from me.

His arms tightened around me. I snuggled my head into his neck, breathing in the warmth of his touch, the smell of his hair. I wanted to stay but knew that I wouldn't be able to return if I gave in to the temptation. I knew he understood. He let me go easily when I started to get up and then I grabbed my bag.

"Here," he said, handing me a paperback. "It's something I read recently and thought you might enjoy." I looked at it for a second, and then stuffed it into my bag.

"Thanks." Another quick kiss and I left, not looking back, in hopes that it would make leaving the warmth and going back into that frigid house easier by any degree. The moon was bright and it shone over the neighborhood in an eerie, still type of way. I dreaded the winter. It was late October and the leaves were a colorful carpet to the world, and my sneakers crunched on them with every step.

I slipped back through the gate, and saw familiar red and blue flashes as I neared the house. My throat sank into my stomach, but I kept going.