CHAPTER 6

            I spent my first night alone on the streets huddled up with my backpacks and four sweatshirts under the Miller Street bridge. The Miller Creek that ran under it was dry during the winter, and the wide bridge made for a decent shelter from the weather. The long cement tubes that were about three feet high made for decent protection. It rained the whole first night, making the whole night a wet and cold one. "It was much better than being at home" I told myself over and over as I was shivering uncontrollably.

            The Miller Street bridge was well over ten miles from my home, the walk here was long and difficult, but I had to get as far away from there as possible. I didn't get more than one hour or so of sleep that night. I wasn't quite sure of what to do now, I'm sure they had people out looking for me by now. I decided I had better wait for nightfall to go any farther. I ate a few rice cakes to hold me over through the day. The daylight was surprisingly warm, and I ended up sleeping through most of the day.

            I'm not sure what time I woke up, but it was dark, very dark. There was heavy overcast above, shielding any light from the nearly full moon. I wish I had at least taken my watch with me, the small essential I valued most. I packed everything back up into my packs, but took out another sweatshirt and pulled it over the others. The overcast meant that it could storm, and storms get cold really fast. The wind chill was enough to keep me alert and moving, forcing me to run some even in an attempt to warm my body. At home I was emotionally frozen, right now I was physically frozen. I'm not too sure at the moment which one is worse. The physical was much more invasive than the emotional, although it was a whole lot easier to deal with. Pile on another sweatshirt and run a mile, problem solved for a while.

            I decided that the best place for me would be in the city, no one there would recognize me at all. I walked for what seemed like forever, but not knowing the time, I didn't know how long. I did know however, that it was several hours, since I walked or ran as far as I could until the sun began to come up. I stuck my thumb out as I walked along, hoping that someone heading to work in the city would pick me up. If no one picked me up by the time the sun was completely out, I'd find myself having to hide again.

            Finally someone was kind enough to stop. A really nice truck painted the perfect shade of red. I run up to the passenger side window, "Hey!"

            I see a man with his wife and what I take to be his two teenage sons. He talks to me as his wife stares straight ahead as if I weren't even there, "What's going on?"

            Okay, okay, I had to come up with some good lie and make it convincing, "My cousin was supposed to pick me up and take me to the city, my aunt is going to have her baby in the next couple hours. He called me and told me that he was having car trouble, so I decided to start walking."

            The wife turned to me wide eyed, her husband had the same look, "That's an awful long way to walk."

            I shook my head and continued to lie, "Nah, I've done this twice before. One time he actually got his car working and met me half way."

            The man and wife turned to look at each other and with facial communications decided, "Okay, climb in the back, we'll take you into the city."

           All of a sudden I started hoping and praying that I didn't smell or something, this was a really nice truck with some really nice people. I opened the door and smiled at their sons as they looked me over. I threw both packs in the seat behind them and climbed in after them, "Thank you very much, Aunt Kelly will be happy to know I got a ride from such nice people."

            The man nodded at me in the rearview mirror as we headed off, he then went around the car and introduced everyone, "I'm Mike, this is my wife Lynne, and our two sons David and Michael. What's your name?"

            I smiled back at his reflection in the mirror, "Oh, sorry, my name is Taya."

            Lynne turned back and looked at me with a smile. She had the most beautiful shade of dark brown hair I'd ever seen, with deep blue eyes, and a really nice smile. She threw me a candy bar, "There you go, just for a snack."

             I was so happy to have something other than rice cakes, it was a lifesaver, "Wow thank you, that's really kind of you."

            She nodded at me, tilting her head to the left slightly, "Taya, huh? That's a beautiful name, can't say that I've heard it before. It's not a name that you come around too often."

            I giggled, "I'm not sure if there is anyone else named Taya. When my mom was a child, she had a doll that she named Taya and carried it with her into college. I suppose I was her doll after she lost it. She told me it was a special name."

            "Oh really?” she said as she turned back around to face forward, "It sure is a special name. She did come up with a beautiful name. How is she doing?"

            My heart stopped. Do I tell her about how my mother's dead and I was in foster care? Do I lie and make up some story? I decided to keep it as simple as I could, "Oh, she's doing fine, no complaints from her."

            I felt awful as I said that, was that like spitting on her grave or something? I didn't mean it in a bad way, but somehow it really felt bad. Lynne stopped talking to me so I just turned and looked out the windows as we drove. So many miles from home, so far from everything I knew, so far from my real mom. I forced myself to ignore the thoughts, I was entering a new life, a life without all the pain and disappointments, a life without the beatings and torture of my school. Away from the town I grew up in, away from the neighborhood where my real parents and I lived, away from my new found friends, my mothers’ memory and everything she held dear. A new life.

            "So," Mike spoke up as he turned the radio down, "Mind if I ask what your aunt is expecting?"

I forced a grin, hide my lie, "Oh, she's having a baby boy. Her third boy."

"Wow," Lynne said as she pulled her visor down and opened her vanity mirror, spreading chapstick over her lips, "What is she planning on naming it?"

            That one I didn't know, time to lie creatively, "Last I heard, she was planning on naming him Bryan Miller."

            Ooh quick thinking, Bryan being my real dad's name, and Miller as in Miller Street. Wow, I really have this lying thing down! Not that it's something you should be proud of, being good at it would sure help me later on, I'm sure of it. Look at all the good things that have come from it already. I suddenly became aware of that voice in your head known as your conscience. The darned voice was worse than the real ones.

            "That's a very nice name,“ Mike said as he pulled his sunglasses on, we were now entering the big city, "Okay Taya, which hospital did she say she was going to be at?"

            Which hospital, you mean there's more than two? Wow, this must be a big city! I tried to think fast, "Shoot I don't know! I was just told it was the closest one to Karbrook."

            "Ahh, " he said as he nodded his head, "I know which one you're talking about. Carson County Medical Center, I think..."

            I quickly nodded my head, "Yeah, that sounds right. I think I remember hearing that name a couple of times."

            We ended up pulling up right next to the emergency entrance, with four police officers standing around the door. I swear I stopped breathing when I saw that, but I couldn't refuse to get out, they'd know something was up. I smiled at them as I took my backpacks off of the back seat, "Hey, thanks again for the ride, you saved my feet a lot of trouble later!"

I could see the officers glance at me, but I tried to push it out of my mind. I shut the door and walked up to the passenger side window again, "Thanks a lot!"

            Lynne smiled at me and so did Mike. Lynne grabbed my hand and shook it lightly, "You take care of yourself and your aunt, and say hello to Bryan for us."

            "I will," I lied again, man was I sucked in or what? I got up on the sidewalk near the door and watched, waving at them as they drove down the block and disappeared.

            I turned to see the police officers walk up to me. Okay, don't panic, play it cool, "Hey."

            Ooh I was the first one to say anything, I get bonus points! They smile back at me and all say hello, one of them walks up to me and puts his hand over my shoulder. He placed it so well that it was lying right on a tender bruise, but I hold back the pain. I calmly brush his hand off my shoulder, while trying to hold back any sign of pain. Ouch that hurt! I'll scream about it later.

            They introduce themselves and go on asking me how my day's going, what I'm up to, why I'm at the hospital, with two backpacks no less. I lie, lie and then lie some more. I say the whole baby story again, leaving out few details to make it more believable. They seem extremely nice to me. Why do people have such a hard time with the police? They all seem to be really nice people if you stop and think about it, but I did still have that fear of them deep down that I didn't let show.

           After a couple of minutes we say goodbye to each other and I wave goodbye. I walk myself into the lobby, since after all I had told them the baby story and needed to follow through on it. The lobby was definitely nice and warm, much warmer than it had been outside. I decided to stay for a bit and warm up, sitting myself in the corner lounge chair away from all the other people. I read through four different magazines as I enjoyed the heat. I'd rest myself for a while before heading back out to find my way in the big city streets.