AN: I don't even know why I'm attempting another long piece. I've been bored and snowed in all week and this is the result. Feedback is always appreciated!

"She hid around corners… and from it she fled."

October 2009

"Falco, we've got another rape victim," Detective Fontana just shook his head as they entered the witness examination room. He handed off the file to his Junior assistant. "Could you work your charm on her?"

"He didn't rape me," the girl shocked her head and looked up. Her makeup was completely ruined, mascara smeared down her face. She was young and pretty. She had a broad, friendly Asian face that looked like she smiled easily. Her mouth was twisted up in an expression somewhere between fear and rage, an expression that Fontana saw every day. "He almost did. He got my friend."

Fontana shook his head, realizing that the girl was horrified. She was shaking in her inappropriately thin red dress. Her bright lips matched exactly. She was probably freezing. He sat down carefully across the table from her. "Start from the beginning. You were out with some friends?"

"Yeah, me and a bunch of girls went clubbing."

"You seem a bit young to get into bars," Falco interrupted.

"I'm 21!" She said boldly.

Falco threw her ID onto the table haphazardly. "This says you're 19."

"Yeah, well, almost 20 in a few months."

"Anyway, continue the story." Fontana looked up at the junior detective pointedly.

"I'm just saying she looks like she could be 15."

"That's enough, Falco," now Detective Fontana rolled his eyes and looked at the girl again. He was always getting in the way, making wise comments. Fontana glanced at the girl's ID. "I'm sorry, what were you saying, Lily?"

"We got in because my friend knows the manager. It's nothing major really. It's not like we drink or anything. Anyway, we were there for like a good hour and I realized these guys were watching us. It was creepy, so we left, but they followed us. They pulled down my friend and they started like, attacking her and I ran. I just ran," the girl broke down suddenly and started crying.

"Did you get a look at the guys?"

"Yeah, big guys. They had really big, weird star tattoos."

"It was a gang," Falco looked up at Fontana, eager to be right.

For once, Fontana just nodded coldly. "Yeah, and they must have seen you, Lily. You've got to get out of New York."

"What do you mean? My folks live in Brooklyn."

"They'll find you. They always go after the ones that get away… and they might be hungry for blood now that they know you saw them."

Her eyes were wide with innocence. "You mean-"

"Yep. They'll kill you." Fontana saidd solemnly. "Get out of the state as soon as possible. Don't even get your stuff. Change your name, go to some small town in Ohio or something. You'll be safe outside the city."

"You mean like those guys that wear ski masks in the witness protection program?"

"Not quite. We don't have the secret service or anything to protect you, but you'll be alright. Just don't tell anybody the truth. Don't even tell them your real name."

Lily Moscowitz just stared up at the detectives in shook. She nodded, knowing exactly what she had to do.

Lily somehow managed to explain the whole story to her parents in a shaky voice on the pay phone in the Port Authority bus terminal. They agreed; it was probably the best idea to get out of the state as soon as possible. By the time she managed to get a bus ticket, it was almost morning. She managed to buy some track pants, a sweat shirt and flip flops at the 24 hour pharmacy and ditched the red dress for good. It felt nice just to wash her face and pretend to be normal for a bit. But she knew her definition of normal was about to change well into the foreseeable future.

Her life had actually been pretty uneventful so far. As far as she knew, she'd been born to a immigrant Chinese family in Brooklyn that had been unable to care for her. She was placed in a foster home and was eventually adopted by the Moscowitz family, a nice Russian American couple in Bay Ridge. She'd gotten decent grades in a local charter school and now attended a local city college. She was a sophomore now and still didn't quite know what her major would be, maybe Literature or French. She loved language, even if it wasn't very practical. She could probably get into college in Ohio if she wanted.

She wasn't sure what she wanted. Her family didn't know anybody in Ohio, so she'd basically be on her own. Her bus was headed for Chicago and she knew she'd get off at one of the stops before the windy city. She was tired of city life. Her parents had agreed to deposit some money in her bank account to tide her over and she'd have to find a motel or something for the time being. It was all just temporary. The thought of starting over was overwhelming and as soon as Lily's head hit the back of her bus seat, she fell asleep.

She woke up a few hours later, the sun glaring into her eyes, totally confused and a bit hung over. Of course she'd been lying to those police officers. She wasn't about to ruin a good club hook up just to bust some gang dudes… even if they were out to kill her. She shook her head and looked out at the highway for some sign of life. They must be somewhere in Pennsylvania, she thought. Sure enough, there was a milage counter up ahead. They were traveling on highway 80 and different cities were listed and everything seemed so far apart. They must be hours from anywhere. Lily started digging through her scant belongings, just to be doing something. She'd been carrying a fancy clutch to the night club and the only things inside were a credit card, a metrocard so she could get home, her keys, her dead cell phone and a tiny notebook and pencil. She carried one everywhere, even though her friends made fun of her. It came in handy.

She turned to an empty page and wrote TO DO in her tidy script.

-buy clothes, she wrote, looking down at her excuse of an outfit. She hadn't even worn stuff like this in high school when she wasn't feeling good. She liked to look presentable, especially if she was gonna go looking for a job or something.

-find a place to stay. A motel would be fine, but it'd be nice to know she had a home base for now. She wasn't due to arrive in Ohio till late afternoon.

-find a job

-or school, she jotted in quick succession. She knew she needed something to do and quick. She could be a pretty intense person and being bored was the worst feeling. Suddenly, her stomach turned over due to nerves or hunger or maybe both and as soon as she was about to write that she needed food, the bus pulled into a rest stop. It was oddly satisfying.

A little while later, back on the bus and full on chips and coffee, Lily fell back asleep. She was overwhelmed and couldn't think about everything that was happening. She slept all the way through Pennsylvania and half way through Ohio. She woke as the sun was setting on the midwest. The bus was stopped at red light, the traffic signal swaying wearily from an electric wire. Lily stared up at it, she'd only seen small town America in movies. She looked out her window, at the small strip malls, late model station wagons and dainty medical offices. There was a miniature garden planted at the crosswalk with a small sign detailing who had worked on it. It all seemed so simple; a life that Lily had never really believed existed. The bus sped up through the green light and turned a couple times until pulling into the bus station. "Lima, Ohio and Ohio State University. Next stop, Fort Wayne, Indiana," the bus driver announced.

Lily stood suddenly and made her way to the front of the bus. This was perfect, maybe she could go to OSU or something and anyway, it was getting dark. She smiled at the bus driver and thanked him politely. She wondered what this small town had to offer... and where she could get a burger.