hold no grudge, euphoria

one

o n e
sweet escape

HAVE YOU EVER hid just to be searched for? Trying to get just far enough from your parents that they'd worry, but still find you with ease? Then as you get older, it turns from hiding from your parents to hiding from your friends. You don't respond to someone's text all day in hopes they double text and ask where you are. You fall off the face of the earth, only to come back later with a sorry excuse, claiming you were busy when really you hadn't even left your bed.

But there's always that one person. Your saving grace. The one friend who can't go a day without your company. For Cassie, that friend was Maddy.

Cassie was secretly relying on it the day she chose to leave. She told herself that she'd run off and they'd all look for her and when they found her they'd be relieved. They'd talk everything out, move forward with their lives, and be okay. No matter how unrealistic it seemed, she found herself hoping that this time would be the same as the last.

She had tried running away one other time at the ripe age of fifteen after some stupid argument with her mom and Lexi. She considered that attempt half successful since nobody other than Maddy had realized she was gone. Of course, she was really only missing for a total of nine hours, hiding out in an abandoned building by the train tracks in East Highland.

Her family had assumed she was at Maddy's when she didn't get home before eleven that night. Lexi had texted Cassie saying she wished that Cassie would let her know ahead of time if she was going to stay out with Maddy, and that she loved her, and to stay safe. Cassie didn't get to read it until the next morning. In her attempt to get out of her house with all of her necessities while still carrying as little as possible, she had forgotten to grab a phone charger. Her phone was on its last leg of life when she got two messages from Maddy, which came long before Lexi's.

bitch
since when do we not share our location???

She swallowed and set her phone aside. It'd be fine, she thought, she'd just crash there for the night and the next morning she'd get up and find a ride to the neighboring city. Although, she had underestimated how cold it would get that night, and she was really starting to feel it. While the temperature had stood around fifty degrees, the chill of the wind made it feel like thirty, and thirty degree weather was not something Cassie Howard was used to.

She was camped out there for another fifty minutes before the door creaked open, causing her to scream.

The person opening the door jumped at her reaction, quickly grabbing their phone to turn on their flashlight.

"You better have a real good reason for making me walk through these nasty ass spider webs at midnight." Maddy used her light to glimpse around the room, staring in disgust.

Cassie couldn't hold back her confusion, "How did you find me?"

Maddy rolled her eyes like Cassie should have known better than to ask something so stupid.

"Duh. We're best friends. You always come here when you have a bad day," She grimaced and walked closer to Cassie. "But I don't see the appeal."

Cassie had begun to cry,  just a little, but Maddy had a way of making her laugh even in her worst moments. She giggled, shaking her head. "You have to give it a chance! It has some real charm!"

Maddy pretended to throw up. "Girl, this place needs to be condemned. I'm pretty sure I seen mouse shit on the ground over there."

They both burst into a fit of laughter, and Maddy looped her fingers through Cassie's.