Escape (Updated)

Prologue

The smell of stale coffee radiated throughout the station from the stand in the corner. The dozen additional passengers stood around, heads staring at their phones or at magazines and newspapers. Everyone except the girl with a messy ponytail pulled through her tattered baseball cap. Clarke stood, music playing on her headphones, lost in thought, eyes staring straight ahead, focusing on nothing. Her moment had come; she was finally leaving. Her bags were packed, and the bus to a new start was about to board.

She was about to leave the city where she had spent approximately a decade. She may be leaving a place she loved, but she was also leaving all the baggage it held. She was leaving a crappy job, a stagnant relationship, and a city where everyone she knew had moved away and moved on. While that knowledge made her a little homesick already, she knew it was for the best.

As much as she still loved the city, it held too much heartbreak now. Its streets had become filled with sadness and reminders of her failures. She could barely turn a corner without being confronted with regrets, missed opportunities, and unfulfilled promises. Even now, as she wandered around the bus station sipping her coffee, she could see the building where she hadn't gotten her dream job. It was about six months after graduation. She had been applying and interviewing while waitressing and tutoring to make ends meet. She found a job as a marketing assistant at R&R, one of the best firms in the city. There was a lot of room for growth; if she got this job, she would never need to go anywhere else. She knew getting the position wouldn't be easy and that well over a dozen people were applying for it.

She got past the first round of interviews and felt very good about her answers. By the second round, the applicant pool was down to five, and this interview would be with some of the company's executives. She left her 90-minute interview feeling good. She stumbled on a few answers and might not have had the experiences other applicants had, but she felt like there was a chance. About a week later, she got the call telling her they were "going in a different direction." Even though she knew it was a long shot, the rejection crushed her, and she just sat in her apartment in shock as she processed the news. It took her a few weeks to recover before she was ready to continue her job search.

It was not all bad; there were a lot of good memories as well. A few blocks down from where she stood now was where she fell in love with the city. It was the summer after her sophomore year when he had gotten a waitressing job downtown. She had worked the late shift. She stepped outside, exhausted from the busy shift, and the city felt alive. She saw a couple snuggled on a bench beside the train tracks. The bars were humming with activity as patrons spilled into the patios. As she walked back to her apartment, she saw the audiences from concerts and plays filling out into the warm summer night. It was close to midnight, and there was still so much this place had to offer. It was then, at that moment, that she knew she never wanted to leave this city.

But that seemed like such a long time ago. Sadness had infected all the joy and excitement the city once held. The fights she had gotten into with Dylan, watching her dreams slip away, and feeling like she was comfortable in complacency. All her good memories had become tainted by feelings of regret and grief. It was a city littered with her failures.

Freshman Year

I

It had not always been that way. She remembered coming here on one of her first college visits. She was a girl from the suburbs and was in awe of the city. A desire to explore the city and all it had to offer was one reason she went to college there. Like some weird modern fairy tale, she met Dylan on their first day when they were moving into the dorms. She was struggling with one of the boxes full of her stuff, and he, like a Prince Charming in jorts and a backward baseball cap, swooped in to help her. She was balancing three boxes, and the top one was slipping.

"Need some help?" a voice behind her asked. She turned around, losing control of the box, which spilled its contents all over the lobby's black and white tile floor. She groaned loudly, put the other boxes on the floor, and started to pick up the contents.

"Sorry about that," he said as he bent down to help pick up the box's papers, pens, and other office supplies.

He put the last few items in and picked the box up. "I got it," he said. "Which floor are we going to?"

"Fourth, Room 406," she said as the elevator door opened.

"You can put that one on the bed," she said when they arrived at her dorm room.

"My name is Dylan, by the way," he said, holding his hand out. "Thank you for your help, Dylan. I'm Clarke," she responded, shaking his hand.

"Got any more boxes to bring up?" he asked.

"Yeah, just one more load."

They returned to the car, where Clarke's mom was waiting with the van in the loading dock on the side of the building. "Mom, this is Dylan. He's offered to give me a hand with this last load. Dylan, this is my mom."

"Nice to meet you," Dylan extended his hand.

"You too," she responded, giving him the classic mom once over. She had done this to every boyfriend Clarke had in high school. She always seemed to have some intuition regarding "the wrong guy." She was never judgmental about Clarke's choices. She was always there with a sappy rom-com and a big bag of kettle corn if the relationship ended in tears. Dylan seemed to pass her initial test. They grabbed the last two boxes and went back to Clarke's room.

"Thanks so much for your help," she said when the last boxes were in the room.

"Happy to help. I'm only a few floors up on 6. Room 628, if you want to hang out later."

"Yeah, sure. I might have time to stop by once I get all this unloaded,"

"I look forward to it, Clarke," he said as he walked out of the room towards the stairwell.

She ran back downstairs to say goodbye to her mom.

"I like him," her mom said, gesturing towards Dylan, who had just left the dorm.

"Goodbye, Mom," Clarke laughed, wanting to give that comment as little acknowledgment as possible.

She then went about unloading and stashing away all her things. She was just starting to make a dent when her roommate came in.

"You must be Clarke," she said, "I'm Becky," she said, putting down the bag she was carrying.

"Do you need help?" Clarke asked.

"That would be great. I still have a few loads down in the car."

They went down to the loading dock where Becky's car was parked. "It's the blue Fiesta," she said. The back seat was filled with two large containers and a few random boxes and suitcases in the trunk. When all of Becky's stuff was in their room, Becky looked at all her stuff and said, "I really don't feel like dealing with this right now. Any chance you want to go get some food from the Union?"

"Yeah, let's go," Clarke said.

When they entered the massive red brick building in the middle of campus, they passed the food court full of fast food places that would lovingly be called "The Grease Pit" and walked up the stairs to the dining hall. Dinner that night was Salisbury steak, a veggie mix, mashed potatoes, and gravy.

"I don't think I have ever had bad mashed potatoes," Becky commented as they sat down.

"Clearly, you haven't had Aunt Tracy's," Clarke said with a laugh. As they ate, the two roommates got to know one another. Becky was from Kentucky and came to college up north because she wanted to be far from her family. A year ago, her grandmother died. When the will was read, it caused a fracture among some of her family members. She had taken her share and put it into going to college.

"It got scary; it almost came to blows a few times. My dad and his sister were angry when their younger brother's name came up in the will. He had been estranged from everyone else for a few years. He had been in and out of rehab and couldn't hold down a job for longer than six months. They felt they deserved more than him, but they all got an equal share. I got out of there fast. She had always promised to help me pay for college; what she left was enough to get started.

"You think you'll ever go back?" Clarke asked, "Move back, I mean."

"Probably not. I love my family, but they showed me who they really are. I cannot shake some of what they said to and about one another. They were so quick to anger and had no compassion. My uncle is not a bad guy. He just had a bad go of it and never really recovered," Becky sighed. "But enough about my family drama. What about you?"

Clarke told her about growing up in the suburbs and her ever-growing desire to move to a city. When she applied to colleges, she jumped at the chance to go to a place unlike where she grew up as possible.

"There is something I have always loved about a city. I visited New York City a lot growing up, and I still hope to move there one day. I loved walking down the street, taking a left, and discovering something amazing. I love a nice backyard as much as the next person, but nothing compares to how alive a city feels. In the 'burbs, you have to drive for 10 minutes to see something interesting. You take two steps off this campus and are in the middle of something."

"You are preaching to the choir here," Becky said. "It's not like I came from a one-traffic light town, but it was damn close.

They spent a long time chatting and laughing, comparing stories and experiences. By the time they left, the Union was going to close, and as they headed back to the dorm, she remembered the invitation from Dylan. She felt terrible, but she had only just met him and figured she would run into him eventually.

When they got back, they noticed that the door to room 403 was open. They went over to introduce themselves. Courtney and Lilly were locals. They had been best friends since Kindergarten when Lilly moved in next door. They were both the babies of the family. Court had two older brothers, and Lilly had an older sister.

"We both relished being the youngest. Our siblings were always there for us, helped us out a more and a few scrapes with our parents." Courtney said. "They absolutely laughed at our epic failures."

"Like when you were trying to sneak out of the house and ended up twisting your ankle when you tripped over your mom's rosebushes,"

"I was pulling thrones out of legs for days," Court says, laughing.

"It really did pay to be the youngest."

"Wouldn't know. Only child," Clarke said.

"And I'm the oldest of two, but my brother is only about 18 months younger, so I didn't get much of a head start on him. We basically grew up at the same time. We were only a grade level apart. Best I could do is tell him what teachers to avoid."

Courtney and Lilly grew up and attended school in the city; their high school was just a few blocks from campus.

"We will be your guides to the city. "We know all the best places to go and things to do," Lilly said excitedly when Clarke talked about her small-town upbringing.

"The waterfront was a place to avoid a few years ago but has become a go-to destination in the past few years. It's very nice down there now." Lilly said. "And if you are here during the summer, something is always going on down there: concerts, movies, festivals, stuff like that."

It was after midnight when Clarke and Becky headed back to their room. The first orientation session was at 7:30. Whatever was not already unpacked was put in a corner, and the two of them went to bed.