• “Bethany, what’s wrong?”
    “I can’t take this anymore! I don’t want to be here if this is what I have to deal with all the time!”
    “Don’t say that! Bethany, you have people who love you and really care about you. You can’t leave them behind. You can pull through this, and I’m here to help.”
    Today hasn’t been a very good day for Bethany. She had received a call bout her best friend Mina passing away due to her abusive boyfriend. Basically Mina’s boyfriend beat her to death while he was intoxicated. Now to top it all off, she was in an argument with her best friend Kyle. Bethany is a sensitive girl so she really can’t handle all of the stress.
    “I know that. I really do, and I appreciated it. (Sighing) I just seriously can’t take it anymore. It seems like you’re attacking me over something small…”
    “SOMETHING SMALL!?”
    Bethany looked away from his piercing eyes. She didn’t want to look at him; she didn’t want to show him the tears she was shedding.
    “My God Bethany! He’s been cheating on you and now he beats you within an inch of your life! I don’t see how almost losing your life is something small! Bethany, look at me please!” Kyle pleaded.
    By that time, Bethany had a river of tears flowing down her cheeks. She looked up at him, expecting to see anger in his deep blue eyes, but surprisingly it wasn’t anger at all; but sorrow.
    “Bethany, I love you more than you will ever know, even if you don’t feel the same about me. But I will not sit here and watch you throw away your life for some loser who doesn’t even care if you live or die. I’m going to wait for you, no matter how long it takes.”
    Bethany was shocked. She’s never heard Kyle talk like this before…at least, not to her. Why does he want to wait for a girl like her? She didn’t have anything going for her at all. All she had in her life was drama, tragedy, and pain. Did he really want to be a part of that?
    She could never think back to a time when she was happy, not even when she was with her family. When she was really young her mother had lost her battle with cancer. After that, her father started drinking a lot and slowly progressed into an alcoholic. For her to hear someone say that they loved her more than life itself and wanted to be with her no matter what; it gave her a warm feeling inside that she never experienced before.
    “Kyle I want to be with you too…it’s just…” she couldn’t think of what to say to him.
    “All you have to do is leave Blaze. Tell him that you don’t want him anymore and come be with me.” He said as he scooped her into his arms.
    “We both know that it’s impossible for me to tell Blaze that. He’s sure to kill me if I ever told him that.”
    “Bethany, I’m going to make this happen. No matter what I have to do. I will make sure that we’re going to be together.”
    “How? There isn’t any way we can. I would be dead before he would let us be together.”
    Kyle thought for a moment, trying to figure our any possible idea that would let him and Bethany be together.
    “I’ve got it! Bethany, do you trust me?”
    “Why?”
    “Just tell me. Yes or no?”
    “Ok, yes, I trust you.”
    “Good. Here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to run off, somewhere no one would think to look, and we won’t tell anyone.”
    “But he’ll come after me. He can hunt me down like a dog.”
    “I thought you said you trusted me.”
    “I do, but I’m only telling you the truth. There’s no hiding from him.”
    All of a sudden, Kyle and Bethany went silent due to the heavy footsteps that were heading their way.
    “BETHANY! WHERE ARE YOU!?”
    Bethany stood frozen with fear, she knew who voice that was is.
    “Kyle, I need you to get out of here! Don’t let him see you. I’ll go to him and keep him distracted. Get out of here! Now!”
    “No! Come with me! I can get you out of here! Don’t you see, this is our chance, we can run away together!”
    N ow the footsteps were getting closer. Bethany had to think quickly. Was she ready to leave her abusive boyfriend behind and run away to be with a man that honestly loves her? Bethany looked Kyle directly in the eyes and said,
    “But where do we go?”
    Kyle looked back at her and a smile crept upon his face.
    “I don’t know, but anywhere is better than here right now.”
    Kyle lent out his hand to Bethany and she took it with satisfaction. They both took off towards another door; away from the heavy footsteps. As soon as they shut the door, a booming voice came through the opposing door.
    “BETHANY! I KNOW YOU’RE HERE! I WILL FIND YOU! YOU KNOW I WILL!”
    Bethany and Kyle didn’t stop running. Even though she became tired a few times, she was too scared to stop, to afraid that her now ex-boyfriend Blaze would catch up with them. Once they thought they were out of harms way, they stopped to take a well earned rest deep in the forest.
    “Do…you…think we’re…far enough?” Bethany gasped.
    “Yeah, we should be fine for now. But we should keep moving for awhile. I don’t want to risk Blaze catching up to us.”
    Bethany and Kyle started walking again, hand in hand, unsure of where they’re going to end up. For the first time in a long time, Bethany felt safe and protected. She kept looking over at Kyle and wondered if this could be real. She was running off with her best friend who had just pronounced his love for her. This all just felt like a dream to her, like someone was about to shake the crap out of her and wake her up. Kyle noticed that Bethany was looking at him, so he turned to her.
    “What’s wrong?”
    “Nothing.”
    “Well why do you keep looking at me?”
    “It’s just…never mind.”
    “Seriously, tell me what you were going to say.”
    “I just can’t believe this is all real. It just seems like all of this is a dream and I’m about to wake up.”
    “Well believe it. You’re not going to wake up, this is all real.”
    “But what if Blaze finds us? He wouldn’t care about me at the time, but once he’s finished with you…I shudder to think of what he might do to me.”
    “Bethany, that’s never going to happen, I won’t even let him lay so much as a finger on you.”
    “No offence, but you’re no where near as strong as he is. He’ll have you stomped into a puddle in a matter of seconds.”
    Kyle just stared at her speechless.
    “You… (Sighing)…We better keep moving.”
    Days past, Kyle and Bethany were more than sure that Blaze wouldn’t be able to find them. But their luck was about to take a spiraling drop.
    The day was bright with a few storm clouds in the horizon. Kyle and Bethany were sitting in a little country restaurant finishing their lunch when the door opened. The thud of heavy footsteps sent the restaurant into a hush. Kyle and Bethany turned to the door, Bethany’s mouth dropped open. There stood Blaze; six feet tall, 190 pounds of pure muscle and eyes as if the life had been sucked clear out of them; scanning the area. He turned slowly, only to face Bethany directly in the eyes.
    “I told you I would find you. Now we can do this two different ways; you can come with me and I leave your little friend standing or…I can kill you both where you stand.” Blaze growled.
    “Fine…I’ll come with you.” She said as she lowered her head.
    “BETHANY! NO! Come with me! We can get away!” Kyle said, grabbing her hand.
    “No. I don’t want anything happening to you.”
    “Oh how cute. Now come on! We’re out of here.” Blaze mocked.
    “No! Come with me please! Bethany, think about it! Do you want to go back to the life you once lived?” Kyle pleaded. He was determined to leave with her.
    “I don’t, but I have to. Kyle I’m doing this for your own good. I love you…goodbye.” She kissed him on the cheek and walked over to Blaze.
    Blaze grabbed Bethany’s arm and started to drag her out the door. Kyle jumped out of the booth and ran towards Blaze. He brought his arm back and punched Blaze right in the jaw. Taken by surprise, Blaze let go of Bethany’s arm and she took off in the other direction.
    “WHY YOU SON OF A…!”
    “Bethany, run!”
    As she took off towards the back door, she stopped suddenly and turned around to see if Kyle was following her. What she saw made her heart drop. Blaze had one hand gripping Kyle’s throat and had him pinned against the wall three feet in the air.
    “BLAZE! NO! STOP IT! LET HIM GO!”
    She ran up to him, hitting as hard as she could with tears blurring her vision.
    “Do you honestly think that you can hurt me?” he laughed slowly.
    Blaze took his empty hand and threw her across the room. Her vision suddenly went black.
    She hears voices in the background, but cannot make out what anyone is saying. Her vision was blurry; all she could make out was the darkness. Finally everything became clear, she was standing in the same ally from when she was 18.
    ‘How in the heck did I just go back three years?’ she thought to herself.
    “Hey there pretty girl. What’s the matter? Got no place to go?” said a familiar voice.
    Blaze, the guy everyone feared, he was second in command for a very powerful gang. The gang terrorized the town, brutally beating people, vandalism, and sometimes, murder. He still looked the same, but his eyes were as black as death itself.
    “No I don’t. Why?” she murmured.
    “I can get you off these streets, and give you a life you could only dream of.”
    “I’d…I’d like that.” She said as she took his hand.
    Everything went black again. Bethany’s head was pounding and she struggled to open her eyes.
    (Mumbling) “Wha…what happened?”
    “Bethany! Get up!” Kyle shouted.
    As she heard Kyle yell those words, her eyes shot open in fear, thinking that Blaze was making his way towards her. She jumped up and as she did, she almost fell back onto the floor from the dizziness. Once she regained her balance, she got ready to run again. The next thing she knew, she felt a hand lay on her shoulder; she turned around and punched the mystery person in the face. When she saw who it was, she brought her hands up and covered her mouth.
    “Oh my god! Kyle, are you ok?”
    (Moaning) “God, you hit hard! But yeah, I’m fine.”
    “I’m real sorry! I thought you were…”
    (Interrupting) “Blaze? Yeah I kind of figured that out after the punch in the face.”
    “Where is he? What happened?” Bethany asked frantically.
    “The owner called the police. I guess they’ve been trying to find him for awhile. Well after he threw you across the room, I punched him in the face as hard as I could. After that, I blacked out. Once I came to, I was lying on the ground. I don’t even know what happened.”
    “Are you hurt anywhere?” she bent down and looked him over, stopping at his eyes. Kyle cleared his throat, which brought her out of the trance that she put herself in.
    “No I’m alright.”
    “Well we should get you to a hospital. Just to be safe.”
    “No. I’m fine. We don’t need to give Blaze an opportunity to catch up to us.”
    “Still I think you should go. But you’re right. I don’t want him to catch up to us.”
    The both gathered their things and started walking down the path. After a few hours of walking, they came to a wooded area where they heard the sound of heavy flowing water. They followed the sound until they came to an open area with little hot springs everywhere.
    “Oh wow! Can you believe this?!” Bethany exclaimed.
    “Yeah. It is beautiful.”
    “Can we take a break Kyle? Please!” she begged.
    “I think we’ll be ok for a little break.”
    By that time Bethany had taken off most of her clothes and jumped in.
    “Come on in! The water feels great!”
    Kyle stripped down to just his plaid boxers and jumped in with her. They swam around for awhile, letting the warm water soothe their stressed out bodies. Kyle swam up behind Bethany and grabbed her by her waist and pulled her in close to him. She was startled by him but she let him hold her. She turned around to face him, and when she did he kissed her. Not just any kiss, but a sweet, sweeping of your feet with butterflies in your stomach, kind of kiss. She let him part her lips gently with his tongue, melting into his arms. It seemed like time had stopped just for them and she wished it would never end.
    (Whispering) “Bethany I love you so much. I don’t know what I would do without you.”
    “Same for me. I’m glad I decided to do this. I wouldn’t be alive now if I had stayed.”
    “Well I think we should get out and get going.”
    When Bethany started climbing out, Kyle grabbed her hand and pulled her back in for another kiss. She wrapped her hands around his neck, playing with his hair, and he wrapped his arms around her waist. They finally climbed out, dried off, and got their clothes back on. As they started to walk off, Bethany stopped suddenly and started looking around.
    “What’s wrong” Kyle asked her.
    “I hear something.” She replied.
    “It was probably just a bird.”
    “No…it’s defiantly human.”
    “You don’t think…”
    “I’m not sure but I think it would be a good idea to get out of here.”
    “I think you’re right.”
    As Bethany and Kyle started to make their way through the wooded area, they heard the familiar booming voice.
    “BETHANY! WHERE ARE YOU?!”
    Kyle and Bethany started running as fast as they could, trying their best to get away. When they were running, they saw what looked like an arrow fly by their faces.
    “WHAT THE…What was that?!” Bethany screamed.
    “I don’t know! Just keep moving!”
    Both Kyle and Bethany kept running. They could still hear Blaze’s heavy footsteps behind them.
    “YOU CAN’T RUN FOR LONG! I WILL CATCH YOU!”
    Then the next thing Kyle knew, he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He fell to the ground and the last thing he heard was:
    “OH MY GOD! KYLE! GET UP!”