Escape || n.h

Chapter 1

Stephanie

"Mum." I complained for the tenth time, trying to wriggle my way out from her smothering embrace. "Can I please kiss dad goodbye too?"

My weeping mother gave in and stepped aside, allowing my father to come forward to hug me goodbye as well. His embrace was tight in another way, if that's possible. His arms could easily wrap themselves all the way around me and crush me; meanwhile my mother was tiny and could barely hug me at all.

Over dad's shoulder I could see Anne trying to comfort my mum. According to my mother, this was the end of the world and they'd never see me again. But Harry's mum seemed to take this extremely well. She barely shed a tear.

"Good luck over there." My dad whispered to me. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

He leaned back, still with his hands on my shoulders, just looking at me with a big and proud smile.

"Oh my god, they're not dying!"

My little sister Charlotte (who just turned 15 and refuses to listen to either of us unless we call her Charlie) pushed both mum and dad aside to squeeze herself into my arms. I stroked her long hair like I always do when hugging her, trying to take it all in before I leave. You never notice the little things until you're about to move away.

For example, I never really noticed how fondly my parents look at each other. Or how big Charlotte has gotten, just over the past two years.

Or how your childhood best friend owned more clothes than yourself, which you realised while helping him pack, and realised how little you owned when he helped you pack.

Harry tapped on my shoulder, making my sister and I pull away.

"C'mon Charlotte." He smiled at her, holding his arms wide open.

Charlotte on the other hand, stomped her feet like a stubborn kid and crossed her arms.

"I refuse to call you by your nickname!" Harry stated. "I've called you Charlotte all my life and I'm not going to change that just because I'm going to the States. So, Charlotte Walker, I'm getting that hug whether you like it or not."

Charlotte still wouldn't hug him. She sighed overly dramatic, and I literally pushed her into his arms because the time was running out and I wanted to get going. Meanwhile Harry and my sister hugged, I went over to hug Anne one last time (and then my mum pulled me in for another one too).

"You've got your boarding pass?" Mum asked while dad tried to pull her off of me.

"It's all in my handbag." I assured her. "And mum?"

She slowly let me go and took a step back to look at me, wiping her own cheek.

"If anything happens, I'm not alone. Remember that."

That made her break into another dramatic round of tears.

"We gotta go." Harry told me, grabbing onto his backpack.

We said our last goodbyes before turning around and leaving our families behind. As soon as they were out of sight, I exhaled.

"Thank God, I thought mum would never let me leave!"

Harry laughed as we got in line for the security check. Minutes later we were through without any stops or difficulties, and decided to grab a quick drink and something to eat before heading to the gate.

"Blurred lines" were playing over the radio around us as we sat down by a table by the windows. I made a joke about how the tablecloth matched Harry's flannel shirt and he fired back with a joke about how "I desperately tried to copy Miley Cyrus". I tried to cover it up by saying she wore this outfit last year, and that every girl our age wore stuff like that. He just grinned and mumbled something about my Converse under his breath. I pointed out that he wore Converse too, and he went quiet.