Finally Free | L.P.

Prologue

A dark alley, backlit by a streetlight at the end would normally scare people. But not Emmie. Her childhood might have been rough, but she was not afraid of a little scuffle. Learning how to dance had been her way out for years, from her best friend moving away to her father being killed in action as a marine. She slipped down the alley, and into the door going into the back of the building. Seeing her dance troupe spread out and stretching, she smiled, dropping her bag next to the wall and making her way to her normal spot.

After a short warmup, they began their dance. As she and her partner, Josh, started their lift, she knew something was off.

"Wait!"

Too late. She was too unbalanced and got dropped, landing hard on her shoulder. Feeling a pop made her head start spinning, and she quickly sat to get her head between her knees. That wasn't good. A quick assessment from her coach confirmed her fear. She had broken her collarbone. Badly. And to make things worse, her home situation was not about to allow her to get the medical attention she probably needed.

Returning home with her head low, and her arm in a makeshift sling, she was faced with her mom and stepdad.

After blatantly refusing to bring her in and threatening to call the cops on her for insurance fraud if she went in by herself, she brought herself to her room, looking at the bag she had packed. As of yesterday, she had bought a plane ticket to California. A long way away from Michigan, where she was currently stuck. As of 11:38 tomorrow afternoon, she was 18 and was completely legal to get on the plane at 4 pm. Knowing they wouldn't know she wasn't in school, as her step-siblings were too young to spy on her in school, thankfully, she waited until the house was silent, before slipping out and peeking in on them sleeping. As much as it broke her heart to leave the 4 and 6-year-olds, she knew they didn't like her, and she knew that she couldn't afford to stay any longer. She had a chance at freedom. She would work until she could afford a doctor. And wherever life took her after that, she would take as it came.