No Escape

Running From Responsibility and on Pure Spite

Over the next few days, we jumped from town to town, trying to put as much distance as possible between us and Mountain City. We hadn't decided on a place to stop exactly but I assumed that we would make our way northwest from Tennessee and try to get to somewhere rural and safe, where no one knew us. I hadn't told Skye but I wanted to be in a place with trees and possibly a lake, maybe even miles upon miles of forest to run in just to get away. I figured I would wait until she seemed ready to talk again. On the first night of motel hopping, We stopped at some shady place that looked like it was about to cave in, but Skye said the prices were cheap so I just chose to deal with it. The place was loud but the room was comfortable enough and the beds were decently clean so honestly it wasn't too bad, however, I didn't get much sleep because my feet hurt like my shoes were too small. I knew that couldn't be true because these shoes were brand new and just yesterday they were half a size too big. I took my shoes off and looked down to see if there was something wrong with me but aside from my feet being longer the skin on the balls of my feet feeling rougher and thicker everything seemed normal. My eyes had done me the favor of going dim once again, that was a plus of getting away from home, the further away we got the less they shined. The second day concluded after driving for roughly twelve hours, I saw a sign for a place called the plaza motel at a gas station we stopped at around ten o'clock. We had decided to stay there for the night, just like the last It was loud but instead of being clean this one was dirty and bugs looked like they were in more supply than water for the sinks. That night I had taken off my shoes again after experiencing more foot pain, worse than the previous night, My feet looked even longer but my heel didn't want to sit flatly on the ground I figured I should start some research tonight and try to figure out what was going on with me, the balls of my feet were even rougher and seemed to be darker while my toenails had grown past a reasonable point. I had also made a realization that my nails had grown twice their original length overnight and hurt like hell, I trimmed them and almost broke the clippers in the process because of how solid my nails were, they seemed darker and had grown down towards the ground, and though still shaped like my original nail they seemed wolfish. After that I decided to do some research on what I could be, The only answers that Google gave me were 'Maybe you're a werewolf or maybe you're just crazy,' which oh boy is not what I wanted to hear while I'm already spooked. On the third night, we stopped at a dirt cheap motel called the circle train, It was nice and clean but still had the excellent 80's style decor that I think all motels ought to have. That night had me realizeing that I had control over the glow of my eyes, I didn't know how to describe it but it was something like blinking without closing your eyes almost like having a second eyelid that would open behind the first, and allowing the light to shine out at the mirror and my reflection that I had so adamantly been starring at for the past hour. "Alana, you okay in there," Skye was calling me from outside the door sounding impatient. "Yeah I'm fine I'll be out in just a minute," Panicking I quickly shut my second eyelid and unlocked the bathroom door throwing it open to reveal a half-dressed Skye holding a towel, "Took you long enough," I moved out of the way and let her go in to take a shower while I sat on the bed waiting for her. I pondered the changes I had been experiencing truly thinking over what I might be, the only conclusion I could draw was that I was either losing my mind or some kind of wolf-like freak. Skye had decided to turn her music on full blast so I couldn't hear if the water was running or not, I was almost certain that we would end up with a noise complaint by morning, I had the plan of telling Skye my thoughts about what I was and hopefully, she wouldn't freak out. She had made jokes about me being a werewolf over the past few days of travel but they were more playful than anything close to serious, things like " It's okay if you bite me at least I'll know you're just a neck romancer," I glared at her for that and then told her off for using a vampire joke when she clearly meant for it to be about lycans. "OK OK OK how about this," she giggled and took a deep breath "OK what do you get when you cross a werewolf and a vampire," she cracked up and laughed so hard I could see tears on her face, " watch the damn road would you," she gives me a sideways look that I half ignore, "What do you call it," I sit in my chair facing forward just watching the road pass me by, I raised a questioning eyebrow and turned to stare at her until she finished her terrible joke, " a fur coat that fangs around your neck," she wheezed with laughter once more and almost swerved the car into the oncoming lane before I yelled at her to watch her driving. realizing I had been daydreaming in the memories of the week I shook my head around and readjusted myself to sit on the middle of our bed, we had been sharing one as to cut down on cost and neither of us thought anything of it because after you're friends for so long you kind of just don't care anymore sharing the bed meant that we both got better sleep, it put my mind at ease to know that she was beside me, and the nightly rates were less. I realized that things would be easier the less we spent, seeing as how we didn't have much money. The following week included three more motels, and two more changes in my body the first being my strength increasing and the pads on my feet getting tougher, this time it was accompanied by blood in my shoes, aside from that we made it into the edge of Washington with no problems. Skye told me that we were heading for a small town where there would be a natural park and loads of trees for us to see plus plenty of mountains to look at and hike on. I was excited to see the new place and yet terrified of what people might think of us so I decided to tell Skye what I thought I was over dinner that night.