I, Clare Griffin, was never one for adventure. I wanted to be, I dreamt of running out of town and never looking back. My jeep, my baby, was filled with blankets and extra clothes. I spent hours at the book store staring at the maps wondering which city was the closest. I knew she could survive on my own. Hell my mom would never cut off my bank account. I knew I could make a run for it whenever I wanted to.

There was nothing in this town tying me down. Even my mother wouldn't worry after she found out I was safe wherever I ended up.

She was one of the main reasons why I hated this place. My mother didn't stay around long enough to learn who I was. I wasn't the little girl I used to be. I had changed, probably around the time my mom stopped paying attention. She didn't ask how my day was going, she didn't even have dinner at the same time as me

At first I understood, Abby is a surgeon she has odd hours. But when she started spending more nights at the hospital with her patients, when she started to tell me little things about the nurses, I knew my mother was avoiding me. For the longest time my family told me I was too much like my father. They said I had his eyes, his smile. I even had his personality, his humor.

Maybe that was my mother's problem. Maybe she couldn't stand the sight of me because I was exactly like the man she claimed to hate.

Still no matter what happened I could never hate my life. No I was just lonely. I had a few close friends, but I never felt that connection. I had known Wells since I was a baby and even he didn't really know who I was. Even with Finn and Lexa I never fully clicked with them. They were there and they were nice but they weren't the end all be all kind of love I thought I was looking for.

Not that I was actually looking. I was stuck in Pennsylvania. All the good ones were taken. I didn't even care about gender and I still couldn't find someone who made my heart stop and my stomach fill with butterflies. I wasn't picky, I gave everyone a chance. Sometimes I started to believe I was destined to be alone.

I had been alone ever since I could remember. My mom and dad got divorced when I was seven. That year started the spilt birthdays, the second Christmases. My dad moved to Texas and my mom refused to let me go along. It was a nasty divorce. The mother always gets custody of the child when things go down like they did with my parents. If I was lucky I got to see my dad over the summer. Sometimes that didn't happen.

Sometimes my mom decided she wasn't going to let me go at all. I can still remember how I went an entire year without seeing my father. Phone calls weren't enough when you were only eight years old.

I was usually content with being alone. I had my books and my characters. I could find things to occupy myself. But there's a difference between being alone and feeling lonely. I was tired of being lonely. Still I couldn't find something or someone to fill the void. It was a small town after all.

Lexa and I ended things last week. I wasn't heart broken but I did miss her. In the end we were more like best friends than lovers. But it seemed like friends wasn't a possibility when Lexa cheated on me both mentally and physically. It didn't hurt me as badly as it should.

I was starting to think something was wrong with me. A betrayal like that was what they wrote books about. All the love songs gone wrong were the pain of the woman scorned. But I didn't feel like my heart was ripped out of my chest. No I just felt like it was time to move on with my life. Maybe that was my problem, maybe I didn't feel enough to get hurt or make a connection.

Maybe I had closed myself off after I watched my father move across the country from his only daughter.

The same thing happened when I found out Finn was seeing another girl. I was hurt for a few days. I actually thought we were going to last. He made me laugh and he seemed like a nice guy. Then he pretended like he didn't know me when his real girlfriend came around and well I didn't want to be the other woman. In fact I refused to be the other woman. I ended things with him, not before calling him every name in the book.

I cried over Finn. For some reason I couldn't find the tears for Lexa.

Which brings me here, contemplating on whether or not I should actually just go for it. Point my baby blue Jeep Wrangler towards the interstate and never look back. I was old enough to choose which parent I should get to live with. Hell I was supposed to go off to college this fall. I was supposed to start my life and become someone. Who says I had to stay here in this little town?

I wasn't sure what was holding me back. Certainly not my mother. My mom was on my back to pick a major. She kept nagging me about medicine, being the head of surgery made her cocky. But I didn't want to do that. I wasn't even sure what I wanted to do. I loved my stories, I loved using my mind for more than medical procedures.

Every time I fought my mom on a major she told me she couldn't build a life or a career out of creativity.

I had done my research after my dad moved. It was only a twenty four hour drive from my hometown of Lancaster to Houston, Texas. I had always been in love with the lone star state. I dreamt of the big skies that went on for miles. Whenever I went to visit him I felt at home. The loneliness was gone when we spent our nights staring up at the stars. My dad had a way of making my life with my mother seem like a distant memory.

I wanted to pick a college down in Texas. Money didn't matter, I had my pick to choose from. Between both of my parents jobs I knew I could go wherever I wanted to go. I had applied to the big names, now I was just waiting to hear back.

I sighed as I turned onto the main road and drove back towards my house. It was a quiet Sunday afternoon which I somehow had off from the bookstore I worked at. I picked up the part time job while I was still in high school as a way of bothering my mom and making a little extra cash that was all my own. I kept it in my own account cleverly titled run away money.

The sun was bright, the sky seemed to go on for miles as I pulled to a stop at the red light. I scanned the radio for a better station and found an old country song I loved playing. For a moment I didn't hate this town or this day. I was content to sit in my jeep and dream of all the places I could be right now.

I was sitting there minding my own business, singing along to the radio when it happened. My car door opened and someone got into the passenger side. The light was still red, but his voice didn't shake, "drive."

"What? Who are you?" my voice shook as I gripped the wheel. I kept my foot pressed on the break even though he was in a rush. I wasn't one to break the law for no reason. Not for a stranger, no matter how good-looking he was.

"It doesn't matter just drive!" he screamed at me. I panicked and then pushed down on the gas, running the red light. A truck skid to a stop before hitting us and honked his horn loudly. I couldn't help but laugh as I left him behind, speeding down the road.

I couldn't help but glanced in the rearview mirror, but there were no sings of sirens chasing us.

I held the wheel tightly. My fingers were turning white as I tried to control the panic I was feeling. The adrenaline of running that light wore off as fast as it had appeared, "great now I'm going to have to explain that ticket to my mother."

The stranger sighed, "that's the least of my problems."

I glanced over at him, his shaggy blonde hair hanging in his eyes. He had stubble around his jaw, his brown eyes were surrounded by dark circles. He looked tired and crazy. Slowly I swallowed the lump in my throat wondering how I was suddenly sitting in my jeep with a crazy person. There had been whispers earlier this week of someone like him running around. Or maybe that was another story I had been dreaming about.

Sometimes I had a hard time remembering the real world and the world I created inside my head. There was always a story going on inside my head. It had gotten me into a lot of trouble when I was younger.

"So where am I taking you? Or better yet where are you taking me?"

I sounded more confident than I felt. I let out a slow breath and continued driving at a normal pace. The panicked boy beside me kept staring out my windows like he was waiting for someone to start chasing us. His hands were fidgeting in his lap. I could tell he was nervous about something.

"I don't know," he said sighing. He thought for a moment and then glanced in my direction, "go to fifty one Edenweld lane."

I raised an eyebrow at him as I turned onto the next street that would lead us to that address, "what's there?"

"My house," he whispered his eyes staying on the road. He sighed, seeming content with this slow pace. I couldn't help but notice his black hoodie pulling against his arms. His blonde hair wasn't natural even if the roots were the same color. I have been a blonde my entire life and I had never seen a shade as perfect as the one he was currently wearing.

He was hiding from something. Or maybe he was running from someone.

The radio filled with static just before an announcement was made, "residents of Lancaster please be advised there is a fugitive on the loose. Bellamy Blake has evaded police custody for the last twenty four hours. He was last seen on Oregon Pike. It is believed that he is traveling on foot. Please be cautious as this individual is very dangerous."

I looked down at my hands, my knuckles were white as the stranger flipped off the newscast. I took in another deep breath forcing my fear down, "I take it you're Bellamy Blake."

He laughed, a deep laugh that seemed to come from the back of his throat. If this was a different time, a different place, I might have found that laugh as well as his deep voice attractive. Right now I wasn't sure what to think let alone feel, "ding ding, we have a winner."

"They say you're dangerous," I was unusually calm for someone who was driving with a criminal. I was calm on the outside, inside my heart was racing and my palms were sweaty. I was used to staying level headed in situations such as this one. My mind was racing to find a way out of this one.

Then again I wasn't sure I wanted out of it.

He shrugged, "maybe I am. Maybe I'm waiting for the right moment to pull out my gun or my knife. You don't know."

I clicked my tongue. I had seen enough shows on Deadline to know that if a man was truly dangerous he would've pulled that weapon out already, "if you were going to hurt me you would've done that already."

"I take it you don't watch the news regularly," I turned down Edenweld lane and it was filled with cop cars. There were all surrounding a little white house. They were speaking to a neighbor who was crying. Bellamy's eyes went wide, "shit. Keep driving."

I tried not to freak out as he ducked below the window and I drove as normally as possible past all the sirens. I took in a deep breath, pausing at the stop sign and then turning down another road away from them.

I never considered myself a good girl until this moment. I had never broken the law, I had never shoplifted or even spoke back to my mother. I did as I was told, I lived with the parent I didn't even like. I was boring, I followed the rules. But for some reason I wanted to break them. I looked over at Bellamy and I wanted to help him escape the people who were looking for him.

I swallowed that want and then wondered where it had come from. I wasn't normally so trusting or inviting. I shouldn't even want to help a criminal but for some reason Bellamy didn't look like one.

"What did you do?" I still had no idea where I was going.

He raised an eyebrow, "wouldn't you like to know?"

He pushed his unnatural hair out of his face and then looked me up and down. A shiver fell down my spine as I felt his eyes linger on my legs, then make their way up towards my face. I sat up straighter, thinking of a way to help someone who seemed more than innocent. Or at least didn't seem like a felon.

"I'll cut your hair. Dye it another color, they'll never know. Blend in and you can get out," I turned towards the city where the little convince stores wouldn't know me

"You can't help me," he closed his eyes, "I should just turn myself in. Shit I need to get out of here."

"Let me help you," I held the wheel as tightly as I could. If I held on tight enough he might just let him help him out of this mess.

"I'm not the boyfriend who needs fixing up Clarke Griffin. I'm the monster who needs locked up. Don't confuse the two."

My eyes went wide as he said my name. My entire facade fell as I tried to hide my surprise. How did he know me? Maybe he had seen me around. Maybe he saw my name on one of the books in the back. Still something about the fact that this fugitive knew who I was didn't settle with me. His deep voice was pretty and could spin the best of lies. I tried to remember that as I held my head high.

I stole a glance at him and then I felt the fear leave my body.

I wasn't afraid of Bellamy Blake, "I'm not going to fix you. Whatever you did is between you and them. But I can help you," my mind went back to Wells and how easily I had let him fall on his own in a situation like this, "you have no choice. I'm in on this now."

"You're crazy. You'll end up in jail," he sighed and shook his head. He seemed to be fighting on whether or not he wanted me to stay. He looked like he had had been alone for a long time now, "another ruined life on my conscious. Do you think I want that?"

Maybe I was crazy. Or maybe I had finally felt that rush. I realized that it wasn't fear that held me back. It was responsibility, acceptance from my mother. I didn't need acceptance from this stranger. I didn't even care about what he had done. Although I would like to know his story. Maybe if I tried hard enough he would share a piece of it with me.

Sitting there with Bellamy beside me, I didn't care what he had done, he didn't even know me. Then again he might since he knew my name. Either way I had a chance to start over. Most people didn't get a second chance at life. I looked at Bellamy. I swallowed once more. I knew once the words were out of my mouth there was no turning back.

I smiled, "no one knows you have help. Trust me two heads are better than one."