Going Nowhere Fast

7. Freedom

We decided our best bet at not being caught was to go into Canada, because if we crossed the border after being reported missing they'd turn us over immediately. We got into my car after I said goodbye to Karen and Nip-Naps and headed straight for the border.

I was trying to keep my mind off the fact that I was doing something so reckless but I was pretty much scared shitless the whole time. Scarlet's presence made me feel better though. She seemed very calm given everything that had happened. She had fallen asleep by the time we got to the border so I had to wake her up. She flinched in confusion but soon recognized what was going on.

"Let me handle the talking," she said in a yawn.

We handed the guards our passports and all the other stuff they asked for. When they asked what we were doing in Canada, Scarlet leaned over my lap and said, "We're visiting my great aunt in Alberta, she was only given a few days left to live and my boyfriend saw how upset I was and decided to drive me to her so she wouldn't be alone when she passed." I was amazing at the authenticity in her voice. She even managed to conjure up some tears. I thought I was about to start crying too.

They let us enter without any more questions. After we were a good mile across the border I finally got the nerve to ask, "Do you really have a great aunt in Alberta?"

"Yes, she's a baller and hates everyone in my family and doesn't talk to them. Well, everyone besides me."

"Is that where we should go then?"

Her face lit up with her big, Hollywood smile she had, "That's a perfect idea! There's no fucking way in hell she'd tell anyone where we were. She thinks my family is full with a bunch of 'self-absorbed fuddy duddies' but she always loved me because I wasn't as hypnotized by conformity as the rest of my family. She still sends me birthday cards with fucking money and shit and doesn't even send them to my little siblings for their birthdays!"

"What's her name?" I asked; she never told me her aunt's name.

"She's aunt Rose. She's the fucking best."

It made more sense now that Scarlet was able to fake those tears so easily. She probably thought of what it would be like to actually lose someone she admired so much.

-----

As we headed east towards Alberta, the landscape became treacherous, yet beautiful. We had been driving for about 4 hours and Scarlet was still asleep. The sun was starting to rise, creating a beautiful display of reds and oranges in the sky over the northern Rockies. I just had to wake her up, it was too beautiful for her to miss. Plus, I needed her help with the navigating our way to her aunt's house.

"Scarlet," I whispered. I had been completely silent the whole time she was asleep. "Scarlet," I whispered again with a bit more gumption.

Her eyes fluttered open and she looked at me and smiled.

"Good morning," she said so sweetly, it sounded like a song.

I smiled. "We need to get gas and further directions soon. Do you have any cash?"

"Of course," she said as she started rummaging through her massive backpack she pulled out some U.S. dollars and we realized that we needed to go to a bank. It was still early enough that we might not have been reported as missing yet so we decided to chance it. We took the next exit and started looking around for a bank. We finally spotted one on the corner of an intersection. It was a small building but its name had the word 'bank' in it so we figured it was close enough.

"I'll go by myself," she said confidently.

"Why?"

She gave this smirk and gestured to my outfit. I was wearing a shirt that said "only dead on the inside" with tattered jeans. I also had snake bites and a ragged hoodie on whereas she was dressed in a sundress with a knitted cardigan, even her sneakers matched perfectly. I figured if you're going to be doing shady work you probably shouldn't look shady as well. I laughed a little as she went inside.

It was amazing how effortless her beauty was. Her deep red hair flowed down her back and ended in little ringlets above her hips. Her skin was tan and she had light freckles on the bridge of her nose and cheeks like mine. She always radiated confidence and had a stunning smile with perfectly white teeth. She was really beautiful.

I stopped in my tracks. I shouldn't be getting feelings for her. She was way too out of my league. I was a tree and she was a mountain.

About fifteen minutes had passed and I started getting worried. Just then the door swung open and she walked back out and looked at me with this huge grin as she lifted up a wad of colorful-looking bills. I didn't know how she managed to exchange the money without raising any eyebrows but I was so thankful she did.

She got into the passenger's seat and let out this excited squeal.

"Is it alright if I ask where you got that amount of cash in the first place?" I was genuinely intrigued.

"Aunt Rose wrote me a letter one time with my birthday card telling me to save up all the money she sent to me for an inevitable 'run-away' fund." She laughed slightly and continued, "She always sent cash and she always sent a hundred dollars. She knew my family was going to drive me insane one day and that I was going to need to run away eventually."

I thought about my aunt Carol and how she always hated how I dressed and the music that I listened to. She was always going on and on about my soul. My dad only had one brother who lived in New Jersey. He stopped visiting after getting into a fight with my mom when I was ten or so. I've never even met my dad's parents. They sent cards on my birthday and Christmas but that was it. My grandpa died last year, but my mom wouldn't let me go to the funeral. My mom's parents both died before I was born. I guess I never really had that great of a family.

"What are you thinking about?" Scarlet caught me off guard.

"W-what?" I stuttered.

"You get so quiet all the time. What's going on in that fucking head of yours?" She looked at me with pleading eyes.

I didn't respond.

-------

After a few hours passed in silence. We were just eager to get there. Scarlet fell asleep but that was okay because I had a general idea of where we were going.

I tried really hard to focus on the scenery and the thrill of running away but I was just over come with sadness. It was about five-thirty in the afternoon. We were definitely reported missing by then. I wondered if my mom was worried at all, or if Scarlet's parents were concerned that I was harming her. I wondered if they even knew we were with each other.

I knew we were going to be in a lot of trouble by the time we got back. I didn't even think I would make it back. I wasn't sure why but I had this feeling that nothing in my life would ever be the same again. Everything was constantly changing around me.

I'm glad I got to say goodbye to Karen. I'm sure she missed me. My mom never let her sleep in her bed with her, so I knew she would be by herself that night, which she wasn't used to.

I felt bad for not taking her with me, but I couldn't support a dog if I didn't even know how I was going to support myself. That felt really unfair to do that to her.

I was happy that Scarlet had confidence in our plan, because I surely didn't.

She plugged in her aunt's address to my mom's old GPS that she had given to me. It was made before a lot of the technological advances so I doubted that it could be tracked in any way.

The sun started to set in the sky creating slight red tones that grew stronger every minute. The mountainous highways were windy and steep. It was unlike anything or any place I had ever driven in before. It was breathtaking to witness. By that point, we only had a few miles left before we got to great aunt Rose's.