A/N: I hope I'm not rushing through this and that this chapter is worth the write/read! Please read and review and enjoy :) Sorry for the long waits, inspiration takes its sweet, sweet time.

Recap: Skylar leaves Charming in a stolen car with stolen money from Clay and Gemma in a rush decision after realizing she isn't safe in Charming and neither are the Sons.

I drove on for what felt like hours to nowhere in mind. My entire life I had only ventured in one city and then in just a matter of months I took two journeys, both involuntarily necessary, and I feared this trip would end up horribly too.

The entire ride my mind wandered to the people I left behind. Clay and Gemma, strangers, opened up their heart and home to me and I repay them by stealing? The Sons, each who had risked their lives in order to bring me and Charming safety. And in a spur of the moment I leave them all behind because that's what I can do for them. I can finally repay them all for helping me by running away. Story of my fucking life. How could I possibly think this would be the best? Was I that afraid of my mother and the connections she possessed? Yes. If there was one person I feared more than Danny, It's her. The one person who was supposed to protect me was the one person I had to run from for the rest of my life because I dared not to raise a hand against the woman who birthed me, no matter how much she deserved it. I had my morals and no matter how much my life sucked I would never take it out on them personally.

Even so, She would never stop hunting me down but if I stay hidden for as long as possible maybe she would think me dead, or make them believe me to be dead and in the end we both get what we both wanted. I just wanted to live even though my life hasn't even begun.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

In less than a day with an one hour break, I made it to Washington. One of the longest and farthest times I had gone and this time I wasn't being chased down to be murdered but rather running from the danger I faced. Eventually I needed to stop running and actually face my problems. Until then this would be my life.

Washington wasn't the best choice but it was the farthest away from Charming I could get in less than a day without bringing more attention. By then I knew the car was reported stolen and I would have to ditch it soon or at least change the license plate before any sensors picked up on me.

I didn't know what part of Washington I was in. I knew very little of other state and much less about their cities. Should have paid more attention in my social science classes from grade school, maybe then I wouldn't have felt like such a target in the new city. Or maybe I should have paid attention to the signs stationed outside the cities.

Either way. I knew nothing and to a person who knew nothing of the world surrounding them meant nothing but danger.

Driving carefully through the city I realized the city was much bigger than Charming. Charming was just a small town with a small population of people who practically knew each other. This, however, seemed to be more of my hometown but not quite.

I found a cheap motel that I could pay for with the little money I grabbed and not waste too much. Just $30 a night didn't seem so bad to me, especially due to my exhaustion and cramps from being in the car for so many hours at a time. I don't know how I did it. I

I keyed in and found the small room almost appealing and mentally challenging. It seemed like the same hotel that…

No. I won't go there. Not again.

I shut the door and made sure to lock it before tossing my bag aside and collapsing on the plain white sheets and pillow. My body instantly started relaxing but the aches were more apparent and painful. How long had I been up? A whole day with barely a 30 minute nap and 12 hours driving? Too fucking long.

I grabbed the pillow and molded it to my body, trying to find the instant asleep spot. Even though I felt beyond exhaustion and I could sleep, my mind was on overload still.

How could I be so stupid and ditch them? How could I survive on my own when all my life I had people "take" care of me. I knew nothing of being responsible, just survival. Survival of the fittest. Kill or be killed. I had no high school diploma. No form of education to get me anywhere in life. No sense of normalcy but I didn't want to be "normal". I craved family and affection and attention but my social skills were nonexistent. I lived alone, grew up alone, and felt alone all my life. Loneliness filled my being and I let out a deep sigh. Loneliness filled my being and I let out a deep sigh.

Solidarity, my best friend and most hated enemy.

It was me, myself, and I once more.

How fan-fucking-tastic.

-0-0-0-0-0-

I passed out on the bed for a long time.

No nightmares plagued me that night, maybe because I was too exhausted or because I wasn't worried about anything like before. The farther away from people I am, the safer they end up being, and the less of a guilty conscious I have. But that didn't make me safe or guarantee anyone's safety, especially my own. After my hour long nap I decided to get up and take a trip around town. It was about 9am, shops opened around that time and I needed to find myself some food and a job. Pronto.

Making sure to grab some money and the keys, I left the room, locking the door behind me and walking towards the stairs. Only my luck to have a room on the second floor. I had more energy this time from the nap and I was walking with a smile. Freedom felt nice. Real nice.

I calmly walked down the metal stairs counting how much money I grabbed, ignoring all the everything around me including the steps which might have been the reason why the next second I found myself falling over unexpectedly and screaming for all it was worth. Why did I have to fall now when I was perfectly fine a while ago?!

"Careful there sweetheart."

I looked up, the sun blaring down in my face blocking me from seeing clearly, into the eyes of a few men. Me being me, I narrowed my eyes at them. I hated pet names like those. I got up brushing off the dirt from my clothes.

The man who spoke was a blondie, a blonde like Tig, with short spiky and messy hair that actually went with him. The guys around him were snickering and not all that important but this guy stuck out to me. Maybe only because of his resemblance to Tig.

"Don't call me sweetheart."

He raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Feisty girl huh."

I walked around him and his buddies eying them in the face, never breaking eye contact. "You have no idea buddy."

Walking fast to "my" car I hadn't realized the man was heading over to me. I opened the car door and was surprised when I heard him talk. "You dropped all this cash." And he dropped the clean unwrinkled hundred bills on the hood of the car. I didn't need to turn and look to know what suspicious look I was getting. I mean, what teen girl has kind of money on them if they aren't whoring themselves out. "By the way, I'm Kozik."

I shook my head. "By the way I'm not legal."

And that was the end of the conversation because I grabbed the bills, crushing them in my palm before nearly tossing myself in the car to ignore his response. I didn't have time to be harassed by some random guy. I made sure to keep my eyes from the window as I turned out of the parking spot and left them.

See, if I had paid a tad bit closer to my surroundings, just decided to give a fuck about where I was, I surely would have packed up my shit and hightailed it out of Tacoma, WA as fast as i could. How could I have not realized? He was right in my fucking face, that cut was right in my fucking face but I was too stupid to even register that Kozik's cut was the same as his cut.

If I bothered to notice.

If I had known, everything would have been different and maybe this time different was for the better.