She didn't know how long she'd been sitting there in the living room listening to the screaming coming from the kitchen, but she knew it was a long time. Summer Smith sat there on the couch, the text she'd been in the middle of typing long forgotten as her parents fought with each other yet again. The same argument they'd hashed out for as far back as she could remember; she felt like she could recite this fight by now.

"Well I'm sorry that I apparently can't make you happy, Beth!" her dad shouted.

"No, Jerry, forgive me, for being the only one here supporting a family of FIVE," Beth shot back, sarcasm as strong as her father's. "I'm sorry I'm the only one with a job here who's completely incapable of working as a surgeon and paying for your incompetent ass."

Summer knew the exact stages the argument would play through. Next would be the part where they fought about Beth being valid as a horse surgeon. That would be followed by where Rick had no business living with them and 'corrupting' their children. Then would come her least favorite part; the part where the existence of the children in the first place was brought up.

Well, not so much both of them; Morty was, for the most part, a completely intentional pregnancy. It was her existence that was the mistake that shouldn't have happened. It was Summer that made them hate each other.

She wished Rick was there to walk in nonchalant and throw some wise comment about how they either needed to shut up or divorce already. But she knew that couldn't happen this time; Rick and Morty had left on some mission hours ago, and Grandpa Rick had said it could take all night. He promised Beth they'd be back before breakfast, and off he rushed with Morty into the garage to open a portal.

Summer, knowing the argument would be unavoidable at that point, ran in behind them, just in time to see Rick punching in the combination to his safe where the portal gun was kept. 101381. Beth's birthday. For a complete asshole douche 90 percent of the time, they knew Grandpa Rick did care. It was just way deep down and hard to find if you weren't looking for it every single moment.

"Grandpa Rick, can I come with you guys?" she had asked, hopeful to escape.

"Uh, sorry, Summer," Rick replied, not looking at her while he focused on punching in the coordinates on his portal gun. "This—this is a business trip, and I don't have time to drag along a teenage girl because she's bored and h—h—has nothing better to do on a Friday night."

Summer stood there, cold as she watched Rick and Morty jump through the portal he had opened. It closed before she could hear her brother on the other side telling Rick he shouldn't be an asshole to his sister like that.

However long ago that had been, she didn't know. All she knew was that she felt trapped in a home where she didn't feel wanted; not by her parents, not by her grandfather and not by her brother.

"WELL THE ONLY REASON WE'RE EVEN HERE IS BECAUSE YOU THOUGHT THAT FLAT TIRE WAS A SIGN WE SHOULDN'T GET THE ABORTION, AND I WAS STUPID ENOUGH TO LISTEN!" Beth screamed.

Crying wasn't something Summer enjoyed doing when there were people too close, as in, right in the next room close. So she pressed her lips together and bolted up the stairs, locking her bedroom door behind her as she threw herself onto her bed. Idly, she realized she'd left her phone on the sofa, but she didn't care enough to retrieve it; a thought she'd had for the first time in her life.

But it didn't matter; she was beyond exhausted mentally and emotionally, and she couldn't figure out why she was still there. She'd forced herself to stay for years because she knew she was the real reason her parents stayed together, but now, it seemed like they'd be happier apart. And if she was the glue keeping this fuckfest going, she'd remove the problem: herself.

As a 17-year-old, she didn't know just how far away she could get on her own; probably a few miles out of town was her best guess before some cops would find her and drag her back home. Had she managed to make it far away, Rick would probably appear and bring her back himself because Beth would ask him to.

And there was her problem; she had to get far away. So far that not even Grandpa Rick could follow and/or find her. And she knew there was only one way to do that.

Eventually the yelling died down. Underneath her door, Summer saw lights turn out and darkness settled upon the house as Beth and Jerry called it quits for the night and probably went to the same bed, just to prove to the other that they wouldn't back down or lose the argument.

There were points when Summer tried to fall asleep, but she couldn't. She was restless and jumpy and the need to get out was felt suffocating. So she lied in the dark and the silence, trying to figure out a game plan, but seeing as she didn't know where she'd end up, it would be pointless.

It was around 3:30 a.m. when she heard Rick and Morty trudging up the stairs, back from whatever mission they'd embarked on.

"Geez, Rick, you know, you could have spent less time at that bar on the way home," Morty yawned.

"Well, you—you—you know, Morty, one doesn't always—doesn't always get to go to the Black Hole Bar in the Calgon Galaxy," Rick slurred. "It's a rare opportunity, Morty. You gotta—gotta, you know, go when you're there, Morty. The—the stardust whiskey is made with real bits of stars, you know."

"Keep it down, Rick," Morty hushed him. "You're gonna wake everyone up. I'm going to bed, goodnight."

Summer waited. She heard one door click closed – Morty's bedroom – followed by a second one further down the hall – Rick's. Her heart was pounding; she didn't know what to do at this point, anxiety taking over. Should she pack? Should she leave a note saying she was going away and don't come looking for her? She didn't know how to do this sort of thing. The only thing she knew was that she absolutely had to. She couldn't stay where she was the reason everyone was miserable.

She opted not to take anything. She didn't want anything to remind her of what she left behind.

After five minutes, she knew she'd be in the clear. Rick's alcohol would surely knock him out and Morty was always exhausted enough to fall asleep quickly. As quietly as she could, she crept down the hall and descended the stairs, all the way to Rick's garage.

A pause as her hand touched the doorknob separating her from Rick's workshop; could she really do this? Should she really do this? Her inner-Rick pegged her as an over-emotional teenager who was overreacting, and that she should be used to the same hashed out argument she's heard all her life. Her inner-Morty was telling her he same speech the real Morty had told her a while ago.

"Nobody exists on purpose, nobody belongs anywhere, everybody's gonna die."

Tears began to sting her eyes again as she remembered those words, and she knew they were exactly why she needed to leave. So without a second thought, she slipped herself inside the garage and locked the door behind her, her eyes falling immediately on the safe as soon as she flicked the lights on. It was eerie being in the garage alone; she was never in here without her grandfather or her brother, and she felt rather small, seeing things on the shelf and knowing only one person in existence knew what they were capable of and how they worked.

She didn't like feeling so small, so Summer pushed herself as fast as she could go, because she knew if she stopped to think about it, she might not have been able to go through with it. Her fingers ran swiftly along the keypad on Rick's safe as she punched in the code: 101381. With a green flashing light and a clicking noise, she ripped open the safe.

Small test tubes filled with neon-glowing substances, file folders full of loose papers with who knows what secrets on them and numerous currencies were just some of the things stashed within Rick's safe. Part of her was curious and wanted to sift through it all; to try to piece together Rick's mysterious 20-year absence from her family's lives, which she was convinced was all sitting before her. The better part of her screamed to keep moving before she got caught.

There, on the top shelf, resting on what appeared to be some sort of charger, was Rick's most prized possession: his portal gun.

Adrenaline took over as Summer ripped it off of its charger and carefully closed the safe, making sure it locked and that nothing else was out of place. Standing up straight, she analyzed the device in her shaking and eager hands. She'd seen Rick use it a million times, but honestly, she had no idea how to use it herself.

She identified the trigger quickly enough, and tried to read the coordinates displayed on the tiny screen. She gave up quickly enough, though, determining she would never understand where the location was and that it didn't really matter in the end. So she took a deep breath, aimed for the garage door, and blasted a portal to wherever right in front of her. The blinding green light subdued, and she stared at the hole that was her future right before her.

It took all of her will power in the moment, but she took the short distance step by step until she was no longer in C-137.

Summer found herself in the middle of nowhere, actually. It looked like earth, save for the oddly colored/shaped trees and the discolored red sky. She had no idea where she was, but she could see some kind of formation ahead of her; a town, perhaps. It was as good as it was going to get, and she had to stop second guessing herself.

So she made one final rash, quick decision to make sure she was certain.

Summer raised the portal gun up over her head, and threw it down on the ground, watching it shatter. She stepped on the already-broken device a few extra times, just for good measure.

And she walked towards that town without looking back, tears unknowingly sliding down her face.