Run Away

She watched him run around stage, singing and glancing at her every few minutes, a smile plastered across his face. She sang along, smiling and nodding her head to the songs. As the music stopped, John hushed the crowd.
"Shhhh! Everyone quiet." he said quietly.
"I LOVE YOU GUYS! WOOOO!!!" was heard from the center of the crowd.
"Shut up dude!" Garrett laughed.
"This next song is special to me. It's called 'Saving Grace', so sing along if you know it." he said, staring directly at her. He smiled as the song started playing.

Later that night, she laid in the bunk alone, thinking about her life. John sat in the lounge drinking with his bandmates and his crew.
She was busy overthinking, as always.
~~~~~~~
Lauren walked down the street back to her house after the last day of school before Spring Break with John by her side, hand in hand. It was nearing the end of senior year, and they had plans to roadtrip to California for a few days with some friends. For some reason, something was off that day. She had a horrible gut wrenching feeling, and she had no idea why it was there.
As they got closer to her house, she realized her dad's car was in the driveway.
"That's odd. Doesn't your dad get home at 7?" John asked, scratching the back of his head with his free hand.
"Yeah..." she replied quietly, getting worried instantly.
Her dad never came home before 7 every single night. She felt like he was more committed to his job than anything.
"It's only 3:40. What is he doing?" John asked again.
As they walked up the sidewalk to the front door, she heard her mothers muffled voice through the thick wood
"Please Ethan. Please just stop. Ethan don't."
Her mothers voice sounded rash, but it had a quiet tone to it.
"Fuck you Missy." she heard her father growl from the other side of the door.
She grabbed the cold handle, her palms sweatting. She swung open the door.
"Lauren..." John's eyes got wide as her father spun around and pointed a loaded pistol at her forehead.
"And my piece of shit daughter. Oh look. She brought that perfect little boy from two houses down home! Great, right on time." her father snarled as he glared at the pair of them, then reached behind them and shut the front door casually, the gun still staring her in the face.
"Sit over there. With your worthless mother. Both of you!" he waved it in the direction of her mom, who's face was puffy from crying.
"Leave them out of this Ethan." her mother quietly begged.
"Shut up Missy just shut up!" her dad snarled through clenched teeth.
"Lauren. You worthless, good for nothing piece of shit daughter. I don't think I ever loved you. From the moment I saw the ultrasound, I wanted to vomit. I had never seen anything so pathetic and disgusting in my entire life." he spat the words out at her, and they cut her like a knife.
"Don't talk to her that way!" John yelled, shooting up from the floor.
"Ahh, so, you first, eh Mr. O'Callaghan? Mr. Perfect? I've known you since you were a child. You will always be a good for nothing son of a bitch. I guess you and my piece of shit daughter were made for each other. Pathetic." he clicked the gun off safety.
Lauren shot up.
"NOO!" she screamed and stepped in front of John, her body tensing up.
Her dad just stared at her.
"Ethan. Put the gun down. Please." Missy begged her husband.
Instead, he shoved the cold metal barrel against Lauren's forehead.
Lauren reached for John's hand behind her and as soon as she got ahold of it, John was pulling her to the ground. Two seconds later, a bullet that was meant for her head was in the wall. As her father stared in disbelief, John managed to gain some footing and tackled him to the ground, the gun sliding across the cold hardwood floor, right by Lauren's feet. She bent down immediatly and picked it up with her shaky hands as her father socked John right in the cheek, spinning him around and pinning him to the ground. He put his fist in the air, getting ready to punch him again until he felt the tip of the gun on the back of his head.
"Hit him one more time, and you die." Lauren snarled, her finger on the trigger.
"You little bi-" he started.
"I'M NOT FUCKING KIDDING. GET UP. AGAINST THE WALL. NOW!" she screamed as rage filled her body.
~~~~~~~
Her eyes started to water and her hands started to shake lightly as she remembered the time in her life when she thought they would die. John and her would die without knowing what the future would hold. Her mom would die at the hands of her husband, who had snapped that day.
John opened the bunk just in time to find her curled up shaking and crying, and he knew exactly why.
"You're thinking about it." he said as he climbed up and into the bunk next to her.
"It doesn't pop into my head often. Tonight just might be one of those nights." she nodded, rubbing her eyes dry.
"Well, it's okay to have feelings." he kissed her forehead.
"Garrett knows. He found the test." she whispered in his ear.
"I know. He told me. He didn't think you wanted me to know that he knew. He has our back, baby."
She leaned her head on her booze smelling boyfriends shoulder, and she drifted off into sleep.