Where would I keep money? Then remembered she and her father never thought alike. No! Not where would I put it, but where wouldn't I put it! Maya looked around the kitchen. Not in here. She quietly walked into the dining room. In here? She shook her head. His bedroom! She mentally hit herself for being so stupid. She slipped passed him lying in the living room and intered the master bedroom. She closed her eyes against the memories. The last time she had been in here was when her mother was dying. Walking across the floor to the bed, she slipped her hand into one of the pillows and pulled out a roll of dollar bills. Counting them until she was satisfied there was enough for her to get away, she stuffed them into her pocket, rushed out the room, and silently closed the door. Back in the kitchen, she picked her duffel bag back up onto her shoulder, unzipped it, put the bag of food in, and zipped it back up.

Opening the house door into the garage, she picked up her ice skates, put one in one of the outside pocket on the duffel bag, and the other in another. She wouldn't leave without them--her mother had given them to her.

Going back into the house, she went to the back of the house, exited the back door, and shut it. She sighed. She was free--forever.

Emmy jumped slightly at the voice behind her. She turned and saw that it was Brian; she blushed a little, embarrassed for having been startled. "Um... I do like being alone, most of the time."
Before he could answer, the fire alarm suddenly began screaming loudly. Peter came up to them and told them they had to head outside.

-------

Logan stepped out into the schoolyard with everyone else, glaring dismally at the dark clouds above. "Great, just great. Hopefully it won't be raining later, or it might ruin our skateboarding plans." He then remembered the tree, and immediately looked in that direction. Jen was already over there - was she talking to someone? Logan tapped Peter's shoulder. "Hey, Pete... should we check it out?"

Maya walked down the country road to avoid any cars, though some had stopped and had asked her if she wanted a lifted, but she had declined as politely as she could.
As dusk came, she spotted a rundown farm and decided to stay the night in the hayloft in the barn. Opening the barn door, she climbed up the latter wearily and layed down in the soft, sweet smelling hay and fell asleep.

Peter noticed where Logan was looking and saw Jen talking to some girl-the same girl he saw at the tree! "Yeah, let's check it ou!" Just then, he could feel raintrops touching his dark curls. A couple more ht his neck and shoulders. Still, he needed to find otu what was going on. So, he followed Logan towards the girl.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Miley laughed, "I hate math too and I have it next. Who ya got for math?"

Feeling the warm sun on her face, Maya awoke. Hungry, she pulled the food bag out and broke a chunk of bread off the loaf. Munching on the piece of bread, Maya scooted over to the loft window and peered out. The farmhouse wasn't too close to the barn, there was a chicken coop to the left of the house with chickens spilling out the hole in the side of the house, and out in the fields there were about ten cows. This was a triving farm and she envied them. She wished she could have a home like this. Peace and quiet. Loving family. Riding horses--Maya's dream.

His heart pounded in his chest. His breath came in spurts. His lungs burned. He needed rest. He needed relief. He was almost there. Pushing a little harder, he willed the extra energy into his legs. The street loomed in the distance. If only he could make it there he could lose them. They wouldn't be able to trail him there. Crossing garbage cans and leaping over boxes, he disappeared into an alley that entered into the street. He stopped. Trying to calm his breathing, he saundered into the crowed sidewalks, looking as causal as possible.
Picking up a newspaper, he walked to a park bench and sat down, resting his quivering muscles. An hour later, when he was sure he was no longer being followed, he continued to his destination.
He knew what he had to do. He was a man on a mission. And nothing could stop him.

(((^'The man with a plan.' Princess's post.)))

Gathering her things together, Maya climbed down the latter and walked over to one of the stalls with a horse in it, opened to stall door, walked in, and closed it behind her. Talking to the horse quietly, she rubbed a hand over its shoulder, across its neck, and down its nose. She loved horses--always had, but never had the chance to ride one. Turning around to reach for the horse brush by the door, the hores nipped the hood of her jacket.

"Hey," she said in a strong Southern accent. " I ain't gonna hurt ya. I'm jest gonna brush ya down a bit. It won't hurt."

After brushing down the horse, she exited the stall. Before she could close the stall door, she felt a hand on the back of her collar before she was lifted off the ground and was thrown back into the stall.

Brian left the building with Emmy, finding it rather annoying that they had to have a fire drill. This means it may run classes a little late, and school may go longer. Not something I'm going to enjoy.. he thought with an audibly sigh, glancing up at the clouds over head. It's getting rainy...this may cancel our skateboarding trip. Boy I bet that would put out Logan. But me and Peter can still shoot hoops in the gym. his face brightened slightly as he thought of being with Peter without nosy Logan. Then he realized how rude he was being, ignoring Emmy so he spoke up "Well..from what your brother was saying you like to read. So do I. Just not school books" he chuckled, and felt a few drops of rain land on his nose and cheeks

*****

Melisha heard a voice erupt next to her, causing her to jump and jerk to looked up at the face that was staring down at her own. There was a girl there, her face kind and caring and her hand extended to her, but the sight of another finding her caused Melisha to scrabble to her feet and run in the other direction. "Leave me alone!" she sobbed as she ran, feeling rain beginning to fall onto her back. She heard the girl calling after her but she ran strait, unwilling to turn back. The terror her father had placed in her heart by his cruel beatings, and abuse made her fear for others great too.

**

Ian sat in the car next to Milania, silent and solemn. He realized what he had said to her may had been the wrong thing, but he hadn't expected it to upset her so. His fine evening with an old friend had now been turned into a less enjoyable quiet drive. He cleared his throat and fidgeted slightly uncomfortable with the awkward silence "Milania....I'm sorry....I didn't mean to upset you so. It was not on purpose"

"I know" she snapped and looked at him for a minute, before turning back to the rode peering over her sunglasses "Let's not talk about it" she said finishing the conversation as soon as it began...

***

There was another sharp wrap on the door and a voice whispered hoarsely "Hello...anyone home?" it wasn't a voice Amanda knew, or in her opinion wanted to know. It repeated itself and waited there silently, just waiting for her to open the door

Amanda leaned against the door, eyes closed. "Whoever it was sounded as if they neeeded help, but it all could have Just been a ploy. SHe rushed to Abigal, who was half awake. "Got any guns?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shocked, Jen turned to Logan and Peter. "What's her problem?"

As he reached his destination, he glanced quickly around for any hints of a trail. He turned down several side streets until he reached one. To the casual passerby it seemed just like any of the others, but he knew this was the one.
He didn't have to wait long before he was approached by two men. Both were dressed in ghetto clothes. One was smoking a cigarette, the smoke drifting into the wind. It caused the entire scene to look grim.

One of the men challenged the stranger. He muttered a code word back.

"What do you need?" The man with the cigarette asked, his finely clipped speach belied his attire.

The stranger said a few short sentences that to anyone else might not have made any sense. But the two men nodded their agreement, turned sharply on their heels, and left.

Logan ran up to where Jen was and stopped as he saw a girl in poor condition running away. "I don't know," Logan responded to Jen, "What did she say to you?" It had started to drizzle a little; but for the moment, he wasn't thinking about skateboarding. The mystery at hand was more interesting.

-------

Emmy nodded. "Yeah, I like to read." She felt the first raindrop hit her shoulder, and then a few more. She looked up at the clouds, which, though dark and grey, didn't seem dismal to her. She loved the rain. It always reminded her of Tennyson; because the first time she read a Tennyson poem was on a rainy day.
At that moment, she realized that she was being awkwardly silent, as usual, and Brian must be wondering why. She decided to ask him a question. "What kind of books do you like to read?"

Jen shook her head. "She told me to leave her alone, then ran off."
Peter felt a need to comfort his girlfriend, who was just trying to be nice. "Don't worry. I'm sure she must be scared."
Jen asked, "Of what? Us?"

"Watcha doing here," the man ask gruffly.

"I was jest rubbin' down the horse. He was dirty." Maya groaned against the pain that was building up inside her chest and stomach. She slipped her hood off and watched as the man's expression changed. He didn't look much like a man, more like an older boy, about seventeen or eighteen.

"Sorry. I thought you was a boy." His voice softed. "I'm sorry I threw you." He held out his hand to help her up.

Chloe leaned her back against the school building. She slid into a sitting position, her camera resting on her lap. The only good thing about the fire drill was it let her get out of answering that question in chemistry. She scrunched her nose at the thought. Who really cared about how many electrons were in a certain element and what the atomic mass of anything was?

She looked up at the sky as she felt a raindrop hit her nose. Instinctively, she covered her camera with her arm. She had spent way too much money on the piece of equipment to let it get ruined by a rainstorm.

Taking off her sweatshirt, she put it over her head making it a makeshift umbrella. Waiting for the school to finish its firedrill, she turned on her camera and looked through the view finder. She liked zooming in and using it as binoculars. It allowed her to see what other people were doing without them knowing she was looking at them. The past summer she had also picked up on lip reading. Some might call her nosy. She called it boredom.

She zoomed into a group of students and watched them for a pit. Moving the camera, Miley came into focus. Her best friend was deep in discussion with another girl, a new girl at the school.

They were talking about math; that was all Chloe could pick up. Math was cool...better than chemistry. She decided to go over to her friend.

"Hello," she said in a friendly manner, "I've got math next period too. You'll lik Mr. Nelson; he explains a lot of the proofs, so you don't have to like wonder what in the world he's talking about. Oh, sorry, didn't introduce myself. I'm Chloe." She smiled.

Rosamunde smiled. "Hey. I'm Rosamunde."

"And good. I need an easy math class..." She chuckled as she covered the top of her head with her hand, despite the fact that it wouldn't help much against the rain.