~ Chapter 01 ~
Dear my love, haven't you wanted to be with me
And dear my love, haven't you longed to be free
I can't keep pretending that I don't even know you
And at sweet night, you are my own
Take my hand
We're leaving here tonight
There's no need to tell anyone
They'd only hold us down
So by the morning's light
We'll be halfway to anywhere
Where love is more than just your name
I have dreamt of a place for you and I
No one knows who we are there
All I want is to give my life only to you
I've dreamt so long I cannot dream anymore
Let's run away, I'll take you there
We're leaving here tonight
There's no need to tell anyone
They'd only hold us down
So by the morning's light
We'll be halfway to anywhere
Where no one needs a reason
Forget this life
Come with me
Don't look back you're safe now
Unlock your heart
Drop your guard
No one's left to stop you
Forget this life
Come with me
Don't look back you're safe now
Unlock your heart
Drop your guard
No one's left to stop you now
We're leaving here tonight
There's no need to tell anyone
They'd only hold us down
So by the morning's life
We'll be halfway to anywhere
Where love is more than just your name
[Anywhere ~ Evanescence]
[Excerpt from NM, Ch. 12. Intruder, Pg. 287]
"Isn't there any way for you to get free?" I whispered, touching the rough edge at the back of his shorn hair.
His hands began to tremble, but he didn't open his eyes. "No. I'm in this for life. A life sentence." A bleak laugh. "Longer, maybe."
"No, Jake," I moaned. "What if we ran away? Just you and me. What if we left home, and left Sam behind? [End of Excerpt] Look, Jake. We could leave tonight. We could leave right now. We don't have to tell anyone. They'd just try to stop us anyway. We could take one of the motorcycles and by morning we could be far away from here. We could be halfway to . . . anywhere."
"Bella. . . . I would run away with you . . . if I could. You don't know how I've dreamt of it. I've dreamt of going to a place where no one knows us, where we can get away from all the . . . complications in our lives right now. You're the only one I want to give my life to. I've been dreaming so much about this, I don't think I could dream anymore." He said all this in a whisper, but in a rush. After pausing for a few moments, he said, "You would . . . run away with me?" I nodded at him, a shy smile beginning to play around the edges of my face. How much I wanted to tell him I'd dreamt of it too.
"Let's run away," I said, whispering too. "I'll take you there. We'll leave tonight. Let's go right now, Jacob. We don't have to tell anyone we're going either. They'd only try to stop us anyway. And by morning, it'll be too late - we'll be long gone."
"What about Charlie? And Billy?"
"We'll call them, when we're far away. I'm eighteen, I can do what I want. And besides, Billy's always let you do pretty much what you want anyway. I mean, they'll be mad, sure. But what are they going to do, really? And I have to get you away from here before I lose you. I can't lose you, Jake!"
He looked at me, confused and . . . scared!
"I . . . I just don't know, Bella." He turned away from me and put his hands on the windowsill. "I just don't think I can walk away from . . . everything. From my dad. . . . From the p- the guys."
"It's easy, Jake," I whispered. "Just forget this life. Come with me and we'll never look back. You're safe with me. Just unlock your heart and drop your guard. We'll leave now and there'll be no one left to stop you."
Jacob turned around from the window. I'd unconsciously drifted forward so I was only a few inches from him now. His arms hung at his sides, and his eyes radiated with such love, I'd never seen the like of it.
"I think it's you that needs to forget this life. Let's leave. Let's run away together. You come with me, and I'll make sure you never feel the need to look back. You'll be safe with me; there won't be any more nightmares for you. Unlock your heart, drop your guard, and let him go. No one's left to stop you but yourself. I'll run home and get the bike. You pack what you need, but try to keep it light; I know how girls can get when they pack," he joked.
"As long as you're with me, Jake, I don't need much. I don't even need the sun to shine, because you are my sun."
He smiled at that, and then wrapped his arms around me. He kissed my forehead and then he was gone, down the stairs and out the front door without making a noise. How had he become so non-clumsy?
I couldn't think about that. I packed my bag of toiletries and a few changes of clothes into my backpack. Then I packed all the money I had with me (hidden in a sock under my mattress, ironically (corny, I know, but I never did really trust banks). We would call Charlie and Billy in the morning from a payphone somewhere. We'd have to stop for food, anyway.
Jacob was back in no time (I had no idea how he'd gotten back so fast; I'd never even heard the bike; had he pushed it all the way here?). He snuck quietly back into my bedroom, and pulled me into a hug.
"Are we really doing this, Bells?" he said into my hair.
"Yeah, Jake. We are. Didn't you bring the bike?"
"I pushed it here. I didn't want the noise to give us away. When we're a few streets over, we'll start it."
"K."
"I noticed then that he had a backpack on, too. His was lighter than mine, though. I supposed he didn't really need to wear much, though he had put on a t-shirt and a pair of tennis shoes, for appearances-sake, I guess.
It was the middle of the night, and I was running away with my best friend. If this were a different situation, a different person in front of me, I might've been scared. I was a little apprehensive, but I knew this was right. This was so right, it was impossible to have even one moment of doubt. I slung my backpack over my shoulder, and gave Jake one more look, trying to convey what I was feeling right now (which was really hard, because it was hard to even define it to myself). He seemed to understand, though, because he smiled hugely at me and placed his hand on the small of my back.
We snuck down the stairs, making sure skip that damned creaky step. Miraculously, we made it outside and shut the door without a sound (my luck was really with me tonight; trust the one night my dad didn't come in to check on me to be the night he probably should have – from his standpoint, anyway). He'd brought the bigger bike, the black one, and when we got to it he opened up the seat to reveal a secret compartment that was big enough for at least one of our backpacks. I was kind of amazed; I'd had no idea it was even there.
He held out his hand for my backpack, whispering, "Yours is heavier than mine. I might be able to squish mine in there, too, but I want to make sure I can get this one in first." I took off my backpack and gave it to him, and he nestled it neatly, but snugly, inside. There was still a little room inside, so I took his own backpack off of his shoulder, and squished it on the top, tucking in stray pieces. Then he stepped back and studied his handiwork, a slight frown creasing his forehead. Whispering still, he said, "Now the trick will be to see if the damn thing closes." He stepped back close to the bike, placed both hands on the top of the seat, and pushed it down. Surprisingly, it closed with little resistance. Either both backpacks really had fit easily into the seat of a motorcycle, or Jacob was pretty strong (I was more inclined to go with the latter).
Jake pulled me into another hug, holding me tightly to him in a warm embrace. He kissed me on the forehead, then brushed some hair off my face. He smiled at me, then began pushing the bike. I followed him, and when we were out of sight of the house, he broke into a slight jog. I knew he could probably go way faster than he was going, but I knew he was making sure I'd be able to keep up with him.
When we got at least six streets over, he swung his left leg over the side of the bike, straddling it. He looked at me over his shoulder, as if he was making sure I was really going to get on the back of the bike with him. He didn't have anything to worry about though. I didn't have one iota of an urge to even think of hesitating. I'd come this far, and I wasn't going to stop now. Jake was more important than that. I swung myself over the back of the bike behind him, and wrapped my arms around his waist. "Let's blow this popsicle stick, Bells," he whispered. He lifted his leg down, bringing it down hard to kick start the engine. A low purr emanated from the bike – he must've tweaked it since we'd ridden last. Before I knew it, we were taking off, and not long after that we were turning onto the 110. I didn't pay any attention to the time, but it didn't seem like long before we were passing signs for different cities. Then different states.
We were gone. I felt no remorse at what I had just done. No regret. Just comfort. Happiness. Bliss. I knew in then that, no matter what happened, I would never regret this for as long as I lived.
Author's Note: This was supposed to be just a songfic, but when I started writing it, it evolved into so much more. I couldn't just make this a songfic one-shot, but I went ahead and put the song at the beginning so you all would know where my inspiration came from. Sorry it was kind of corny there in the beginning, but I wanted it to go along with the song. Hope it doesn't suck too much. This story is going to have a lot of twists and turns, and I hope you're ready for them. Hopefully they're not too predictable, and I'll try my best to make this different than the other fanfictions that go along with this same scenario. Love you all! Please review! It gives me inspiration to write more.