It was an early summer morning when we fled from my mother’s home and it was still dark outside. One of my closest friends once lived in the abandoned house, but for some reason they had left the house and utilities were cut off. Her older brother and his friend were still living there, struggling through the humid month of August. This was the only place that we could go where no one would find us until we could figure out what we would do next.  We didn’t have a car so we had to flee on foot in the darkness. We stayed there all day and just tried to enjoy the last day that we would be together. We knew that we were to young to make it on our own but we wanted to so bad. So this was our time to make the memories that would tie our hearts together forever. As night fell, we were in the dark house when we saw a blue light and spot lights being shined into the windows. By this time, the older two guys were running through the house and shouting “Cops! Get out.”  Ryder’s Dad quickly pushed me to run ahead and go with one of the guys and promised he would be right behind me. We jumped out the back door and started running across the field into the woods. In such haste, I had left behind everything including my shoes. The ground was covered with stickers, so thankfully he lifted me on his back and continued running. I kept looking for Ryder’s Dad, but he wasn’t behind me. Finally, after navigating through the woods at night, we found a familiar trail. We had made it to the park, the local hang out for our neighborhood, a place we knew so well. We waited there hesitantly for some time until we heard a car driving through the park. Then I heard his voice. He was calling out my name, and I was so relieved that he made it out of the house. Later, I would find out that he hid under the bed as the police searched with their flashlights, but luckily they never found him. After they left, he got out of the house and went to find his older brother. His brother had a car, so they came to find me. As he continued to call out my name, I ran out of the woods and ran out to the car. In the headlights, he could see me running out to him. He jumped out of the car and ran to me. He grabbed me up, and I was so happy to be back in his arms again, that’s where I always felt safe. We left there to find a phone to call my mother. We knew that she was searching for us, and we were out of options and money. We made it to another friends house and he let us use the phone. When I called her, she frantically told me that she and the police had been looking for us all day. She explained to me that she would not press charges against Ryder’s Dad for running away with me, if I would just come home. I cried and begged her not to send me to Charleston. I told her I was sorry and that we would stop seeing each other if only she would let me stay. Of course, we all knew that would not happen. So, tearfully, I explained to him that I would have to go home to protect him.  I would do anything for him, my heart would have to be broken to protect him from harm. He argued at first, but reluctantly agreed. As we pulled up, my Mom’s friends were there with her. They had been looking for me all day. I was crying and begging them to talk her into letting me stay. I couldn’t leave him, I couldn’t live without Ryder’s Dad.