Breathe

Many things passed through Paisley’s mind as she walked down the road that headed into town.
First things first. It was the middle of the night, around two thirty, and her parents had no idea where she was. Of course that was her intention, escape when they were in the dark about it. Her family lived on a farm about three miles from the town center. It was easy to walk to town on foot, she’d been doing this since she was a little girl.

Paisley had grabbed a good sum of money her parents had kept stored in a safe, and her passport. Which was used only once when she’d gone on a small vacation to the Bahamas a few years back. Other then that it was never touched. Paisley’s parents really shielded her from everything. They only had one TV, one computer, which was as old as a dinosaur and one house phone. As far as she knew they didn’t have cellphones. Only recently they had gotten something similar to cable installed and monitored her every time she tried to watch something other then what they approved.

She was constantly frustrated that she couldn’t live normally. She was nineteen for God’s sake! Still she had no life for her own. So, she was on her way to catch the last bus out of town to the city, which was Charlotte, three hours away.
The station was right next to the local market, which was now closed for the night. She knew the risks she was taking, leaving her town, but her parents left her no other option.

The town was nearly deserted and only a few people milled about this late. All she had on herself was a duffle bag with clothes, maps and a few trinkets. Paisley planned to runaway to New York. Yes, she had been sheltered, but she wasn’t stupid. Her town had a library, and she always ordered books offline.
She had researched the place she wanted to go and then some.

Furthermore, her being over eighteen she’d been given a great advantage. She got help from the librarian and Stacy, the librarian helped her book a train ticket and a hotel in New York, with a debit card she had taken out from the bank. The money came from her savings for the past four years, babysitting, and stray jobs here and there. Surprisingly she had a good amount of money saved up. All in all, Stacy promised that Paisley’s secret was safe and deleted all the history. Her parents couldn’t trace her.

Paisley took her first steps to her new life and bought her bus ticket. Then waited at the bus stop for the bus to arrive. It took around thirty minutes for the bus to show up.

“Last bus of the night,” the driver gave her a smile, as she stepped on.

Paisley gave him a close lipped smile and chose a seat around the middle of the bus. She settled in and pulled her legs up to her chest. The bus wouldn’t leave for another five minutes, possibly other people who might get on.

Regret flashed briefly, but she shoved it away. There was no time to dwell on her choices. Minutes later a few people got on, but thankfully nobody recognized her. Paisley pulled her beanie tighter over her head, and settled back into the seat. Something shifted in her pocket, she pulled out whatever was in there and stared at it for a second. An old iPod, wrapped with headphones. She had no idea whose it was. She clicked it on and plugged in the headphones.

Sounds of an unfamiliar band started playing, but it was soothing to her. She fell asleep to the sounds of the Smiths.