Dead End

[Maeve]

OOC: Just felt like doing something of this sort. Feel free to join.

IC: How did I get here? Samantha shook her head as she trudged down the side of the road, frigid winter air buffeting her each time a car passed at 60 miles per hour. Somehow she doubted that was the set speed limit, but who was supposed to enforce it in the middle of nowhere?

Sam wore a cream-colored turtleneck with a thin green jacket over it, both garments stained with the dirt of travel. Her sweatpants weren't nearly warm enough for her, and she was weighted down by a full backpack. Her brown hair was pulled into a ponytail, her pale skin looking clammy compared to her normal rosy cheeks. Even her blue eyes had lost their sparkle. An abusive father can do that to a person.

The air was dry as well as cold, and the sixteen-year-old girl's hands had become chapped, the skin cracking and bleeding, the blood drying into a thin maroon crust over her knuckles. When she lifted her hand to hold out her thumb for a ride, the scabe would crack and the bleeding would start again.

The time of year was late November in New England - not a good place to be without wool socks. Samantha's Chuck Taylors simply didn't do the trick. Not to mention, she needed gloves and a jacket that fit her well enough that she could zip it.

It had been hours since she began walking, after she had been dropped out of town by one of her friends. God, she wished Kate could have come with her, but Sam knew that she wouldn't be able to handle this life, that she didn't deserve to be chucked out. Despite the bruises on her arms and legs, even she felt guilty for leaving her father. What would he think? What would he do? Would the cops look for her?

The sound of an engine idling alerted Samantha and she turned to see a yellow Pontiac Sunfire - one of the newer ones, she thought - stop on the road beside her, a figure inside beckoning to her. Jumping inside the car, Samantha gasped "thanks" and turned to face her rescuer.

[Icy Werewolf]

Too many times, this has happened. Another fight with his mother. Derek could never try to even compromise with his mother. Not even a year out of school, and this happens. When would she learn that screaming at him wouldn't make anything better? It made him want to defy her even more. To get rid of that urge, he was driving through... wherever it was he came. Honestly, he didn't know where he was.

Driving down the rural road, he loved to make out his surroundings. Nature most of all. Any sort of nature would sooth him. But in this season, he didn't expect to find too much color. When a car rarely drove by him, he would note it's color. Just something to occupy him. He was just about to turn around and see if his mum had come to her senses (if a few hours was long enough) when he caught sight of something.

It was a girl, not too much younger than him, walking, alone, near the road. She had a small, thin jacket on, a backpack, and no gloves. What was she doing out here? Derek slowed beside her, and opened his door. She quickly jumped in, and gasped her thanks. Derek could not think of why she would be in this state, alone.

"Are you okay? Why are you out here alone?" Derek quickly burst his questions out before saying, "You're welcome," and turning the car around.



This post has been edited by Icy Werewolf on Dec 21 2007, 07:37 AM

[Maeve]

Sam looked uneasily at the man who had picked her up. His immediate questions aroused her suspicions, but she told herself to relax. She wasn't in trouble at the moment, in a heated vehicle.

"I'm..." Sam considered telling the truth, but decided on just the barest facts without explaining the whole situation. "Trouble at home," she said finally. "I need some time to myself."

Holding her hands closer to the heater, Sam added, "I'm not really sure where I'm going, but the forest around here makes me feel so small. Are you headed towards any cities, or at least some town with more than a hundred people living in it? Really, I'm not picky. It's just sort of an 'anywhere but here' thing. Some where far away, very fast."

[Icy Werewolf]

"I'm going towards the small town in which I live," he said in answer to the girl's question. He was still confused. What kind of trouble at home would force her to do this? He had no idea. Shaking the thought away, he said to same, "There are about 350 people in the town."

He drove for a few minutes, and then remembered that she had never told him her name. Not very unusual, considering the state she was in. He decided to ask her. "So what's your name? Mine's Derek."

[Maeve]

Sam chuckled slightly when the man appeared to be taking her words literally. 350 people or no, it was still a small town. Shrugging to herself, she guessed she really couldn't be picky at a time like this.

"My name's Samantha," Sam said. "But you can call me Sam if you feel like it. I get plenty of both back home."

She looked away. Back home. Those words lit a spark in Sam's mind that blossomed into a train of thoughts. Home was not just a house. Home was a place where you could feel safe. Was there anywhere like that for her anymore?

Sam looked out the car window at the trees flying past, at the rolling mountains that surrounded the forest. They used to make Sam feel sheltered, like the trees were holding her safe in their branches, but now, barren of leaves and coated in snow, she felt small in the midst of it all, an insignificant speck compared to all the trees and cliffs and snow. It was just too much.

[Icy Werewolf]

Derek heard Samantha's chuckle, but simply ignored it. He had no idea if she would be comfortable or not at his home, but she needed some shelter. He drove on without another thought. After about ten minutes of driving, he spoke again.

"My home's still about an hour away. What trouble at home made you come here, so far from civilization?" His curiosity had sparked the question, and he barely realised that it might make her uncomfortable. And, glancing at her hands again, a question leaped to his mouth. "And how long have you been out here?"

[Maeve]

Sam let a silence stretch between herself and Derek, trying to find the right words so she wasn't lying, but she wasn't giving away her whole history.

"I've been out here for a few hours, I guess," she said finally. " I live a few miles away and I've just been walking." Not counting the ride from Kate, she thought to herself. She didn't answer the question about the reasons for her being out here alone. There was really nothing she could say.

Sam looked away again and tried to make herself look small, hoping Derek would leave it alone, though she knew her luck sucked too much for that to happen.