A/N This is not part of my Expectations trilogy, it's just an idea I had to write. The characters and setting of this piece do not belong to me, they belong to their original creators and I make no profit
Prologue
Mary Connell sat on her bed in tears. She was home alone, not her actual home but that of her best friend Danny McCoy, where she had lived for the past three years. Mary was eighteen, a high school graduate, and she felt totally alone. Danny had joined the Marines, leaving two months before. Danny's father had insisted she stay at the house after Danny left, knowing she had nowhere to go. But he was at work and Mary didn't think she could tell him her problem anyway.
She wiped her eyes and in her steely gaze you could tell she had made a decision. She opened a drawer and counted the money there, some from her part-time job and some Danny had left for her. She went to the hall closet, returning with the luggage that had belonged to Danny's mother. Then, she began packing.
She left only one item in the closet, the prom dress Danny had bought her. She touched it wistfully, then grabbed her bags and left for the airport.