I want to run / I want to hide

-"Where the Streets Have No Name" by U2

It was a Monday morning, and Luke Skywalker was asleep in Algebra 2. Again.

"Mr. Skywalker!" a deep voice bellowed. "See me after class, and until then, please try to remain conscious, capiche?"

"Sorry, Mr. Harris," Luke responded groggily, still trying to shake himself awake. He tried to remember his dream, but it kept slipping away from him. He felt as if it had been a dream he had experienced before, but the details were hazy at best in his mind. He knew it had something to do with his parents, but beyond that, he had no clue.

Dreaming of his parents was nothing new though, of course: they had passed away fifteen years prior, when Luke was barely one year old. He remembered very little of them, and without the pictures his uncle Lars and aunt Beru had hanging up at home, he doubted he would've even been able to picture their faces.

Luke had been born in Syracuse, NY, but one night while he was home with a babysitter, his parents' car smashed through a guardrail and sank to the bottom of Seneca Lake. After that, he was sent to live with his aunt and uncle in the small town of Safford, AZ. Aside from the occasional vacation, he had stayed there ever since.

"Psst! Luke!" his close friend Biggs whispered to him from the desk to his right. "Are we still going rabbit hunting after school?"

"I can't," Luke whispered back. "I promised my aunt I'd help her paint the living room tonight - she wants to make sure it gets done before I graduate. Sorry!"

Luke and Biggs had been close friends for as long as either of them could remember. The two of them had been inseparable, spending every minute they could together, riding their bikes, watching sports, or (Luke's favorite) stargazing, either at the observatory in town or in the middle of the country, lying on their backs on a tattered quilt, having those special kind of conversations that only happen in very specific, special circumstances.

Luke was internally debating whether it'd be worth it to try to sneak out to go stargazing again that night (the skies were supposed to be clear, so it'd be a waste not to), when suddenly he heard the ancient loudspeaker crackle to life. "Luke Skywalker, report to the principal's office immediately. Luke Skywalker, head straight to the principal's office immediately. Bring your backpack with you."

His classmates snickered, as high school students do when someone is summoned to the principal's office. Luke grabbed his bag, gave a quick wave to Biggs, and walked out of the classroom, ignoring the jests of his fellow students.

In certain belief systems, there are two worlds of existence: our world, and another, much stranger, much more off-putting world, and in certain places, the two are closer than in others. These liminal spaces cause strange feelings in anyone passing through them, often distorting time and distance, creating discomfort, and just generally feeling a little bit off. One of the more commonly experienced liminal spaces, at least for youth, is in school hallways while everyone else is in class. Luke was not an exception to this, and as he walked towards the principal's office, the hallway seemed to stretch forward ahead of him much further than usual. It felt as though he had been walking for hours by the time he finally reached the front office.

"Hi, Susan," he said to the normally energetic receptionist, but her now somber face did not reply. She wordlessly gestured for him to go through the door labeled Principal Monroe.

He entered and saw, as expected, Principal Monroe sitting behind his desk. What surprised him, though, was a firefighter seated in one of the two chairs in front of the desk. When he entered, they both stood up, pained expressions on their faces, as if they had something important to say but absolutely no idea how to say it. "What's going on?" Luke asked.

The two men paused, then glanced at each other. "Mr. Skywalker," Principal Monroe finally said, "I'm afraid a tragedy has struck. Please sit down."

Luke ran.

AN: Hey all! Thanks for reading this! This is my first fic ever, so I hope to get better as it comes along. This is a multi-chapter ongoing fic about Han and Luke's road trip across America. When it's finished, the titles of all the chapters will make a great road trip mixtape. Please give me feedback so I can improve! Thanks!