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Chapter Two: Never Going Back



After two hours of waiting, Ashley suddenly started stirring in her sleep.


“She’s moving!” Nikki announced, causing both Kyle and Greg to come back into the room. The two of them leaned over the couch and watched hoping Ashley will finally wake up. Seconds later she did open her eyes, and the first person she saw was Nikki—the only person she’s had her heart set on seeing since she had run away.


“Nikki…” She spoke softly.


“Hey you…” Nikki replied as she brushes Ashley’s dark brown hair, which reaches just to her shoulders and has two streaks of blue in it and is still a bit damp from the rain out of her face.


“You gave us quite a scare—are you okay?” Ashley shook her head in response.


“My head hurts…”


“Ky go get her some Ibuprofen.” Kyle did as she said and went off in search of some Ibuprofen.


“So what caused you to come all the way here?”


“I couldn’t handle being home anymore…” Ashley answered, as tears threatened to fall at the remind her why she had run away.


“Feel like talking about it?”


“Brandi and I got into another one of our huge fights…She’s always calling me names and looking down on me like I’m worthless…my mom completely ignores me unless I’m doing something wrong—she would rather me be perfect like her precious Brandi…I just felt as if I don’t belong there anymore…so I left. I couldn’t take it anymore. You were the only person I could think of turning to. I’m sorry I showed up so unexpected, but I didn’t know where else to go…”


“It’s okay…you’re welcome here anytime you want.” Kyle replied, as he hands Ashley two Ibuprofens and a can of dr pepper knowing that’s her favorite soda.


“How long have you been traveling here? You look like you’ve been traveling for days.” Nikki questioned.


“Two days. I walked most of the way...then when I was an hour away from Ohio I used the only money I had—which was ten dollars to ride the bus.”


“Jeez…no wonder you passed out.” Greg replied and Ashley looked up at him for the first time, than at Nikki with a puzzled look.


“That’s Greg.” Nikki explained.


“Oh…” The three of them were silent for a few minutes, until Ashley suddenly broke it.


“I am never going back.” She announced, while shaking her head and a single tear rolled down her cheek. “Never.”


“You don’t have to honey, you can stay here for as long as you want.” Nikki replied, while pulling her into a hug. Ashley sat up a little and returned her hug. She hugged her tightly.



“The guest room is being used by Greg right now. Both mine and his parents have gone out of town so he’s been staying here with us and spending time with Seth. But do you want to share my room? My bed is big enough for two.” Ashley nodded her head in response.


“All right. Come on I’ll show you the way.” She said while getting up from sitting on the floor. She took Ashley’s hands into hers and pulled her up from the couch gently and led her upstairs to her room where she helped her get settled in.