On the 9th day of december

I booked a flight to New York.

The flight was set for 5:45 AM

On January 13th.

The tough part was going to be mom.

I had to convince her it was the right decision

I need to live on my own now.

I’m 18 and I have enough money to get by.

I started to trot down the stairs.

I mean what could go wrong now,

what could she possibly do?

Ground me?

I turned the corner around the stairs.

She was already tapping her foot.

“What’s up now Cynthia?”

“I want to move to New York.”

I thought I had come on too strong

She seemed fine with it,

She basically offered to pack

My bags.

She has been telling me to move out

Since September, when I turned 18.

I had that in mind but,

I thought this was too far.

It kind of made me upset thinking

About leaving.

She didn’t even seem sad.

Her babygirl moving across country.

I didn’t think about it too much.

It will be nice to live alone.

I thought.

I’ll get a plant.

I began to pack for

The trip.

My mom helped me put it in the moving van.

I brought everything I owned.

I hopped in the van,

And my mom waved goodbye.

“Call me when you get there!!”

Ahh, we were on the road.

I didn’t know much about the man driving

He was my mom’s cousin I guess.

But, I was going to have to break the ice somehow,

We were gonna be together for over a week.

Stop and Go, Stop and Go.

I grew sleepy only an hour in.

I soon drifted off into

Deep Sleep.

When I woke up I noticed a sign,

“Texas”

“400 miles”

We were going the wrong way…

I began to fear for my life.

As soon as the man noticed I had woken up,

We pulled over.

I began to dial police and he grabbed my phone from me.

He pulled me out from the truck.

I screamed as loud as I could.

One car went by and didn’t even slow down.

I dropped to the sandy ground, and he drove away.

I was left there with no food,

No water,

No shelter,

Alone.

I ran towards the texas sign,

I screamed for help.

Alone.

Not a single car in sight.

I saw the van start rolling towards me.

He hopped out and picked my weak, hot body off the ground.

“Watcha doin girl, get back in the truck.”

I thought it was my best choice, water on the dash.

I sweat my way up into the truck.

“I just needed a cigar honey, don't be worried”

I was there for what seemed like f o r e v e r.

We began our trip again.

Something started shaking me awake.

“Sweetie, bad dream?”

It was him.

I saw “Texas 400 miles”