The days following Victoria's postcard were a whirlwind. Most nights I just remembered flashes. Like the night that I broke every picture in the house. The pain from the glass breaking in my hands was still fresh in my mind. My misery had turned into a burning anger. Due to the circumstances, I had been excused from my last week of classes and started winter vacation early.

Mrs. Hernandez was in and out of the apartment, bringing me food and making sure I was still alive. She worked most nights so I could sulk in peace. I spent my days avoiding her in the public library. I'd sit with my laptop and just watch the families come in and out. The kids who ran around frantically in the kids' section. I couldn't believe I was actually jealous of other people—strangers. They all seemed so happy and carefree.

On the first of July, the Officer who questioned me the first day Victoria went missing, showed up knocking at my bedroom door.

"Scarlett, it's Officer Yates. Can I come in?"

She must've taken my lack of response as a yes because she walked in anyway. She had the familiar look of pity on her face. "How've you been holding up?" Her eyes scanned the room as she asked.

I had piles of clothes spilling from the drawers of my dresser. My under eyes were hollow and dark, rimmed red. My red hair was matted on my head in what used to be a bun about a week ago. My skin was paler than I had ever seen, with an unhealthy gray tinge. My eyes, normally bright blue looked dull.

"Great, obviously," I mumbled sarcastically.

"I'm guessing you probably know why I'm here."

"Not exactly. Updates on Victoria?" I guessed lamely.

She looked grim. "You're seventeen, Scarlett. Underage with no adult supervision…"

Realization began to dawn on me. I felt like life had been sparked again inside of me all of a sudden. "Mrs. Hernandez is here! I have supervision."

"Yes, which is why you were allowed to stay here for the mean time. But she has a family of her own to care for."

I felt a fire inside me that I hadn't felt in a long time. It was panic and fear rolled into one. "There has to be something I can do!"

She shrugged. "You can try filing for emancipation but it's unlikely you'd qualify. In the meantime, we were able to get a hold of your father-"

"Scott?!" I interrupted. "I haven't seen him since I was eight! You guys are sending me to him?"

"You have no other family and he's willing to have you live with him until your mom shows up…"

Her sentence hung in the air between us. The fire died out and I felt myself become the cold shell of a person again. I knew I was out of options. Mrs. Hernandez couldn't afford to support me and her own family too. Even if she could, I wasn't behaving in a very grateful manner that would make her want to keep me.

"Your flight leaves tomorrow from La Guardia—10 AM, okay? Don't be late."

Officer Yates left paper work on my desk.

"You'll be back in the city in no time." She tried to look positive.

"Scott isn't in the city?" I always thought he was in New York, too busy to try and visit me. Maybe with a whole new family taking his time.

"No, he lives just outside Seattle, I believe—Washington," she continued as she waited for my comprehension.

"Okay—thanks I guess."

"Take care, Scarlett." She nodded and left the room quietly.

I bit my lower lip hard, fighting back tears. I breathed long and deep, trying to absorb everything I was just told. I had experienced more pain in the past few weeks than I ever had before. Being forced to move to middle-of-nowhere Washington was just another way Victoria screwed up my life.

Now I had to pack all my worldly belongings in one night and be ready to fly 6 hours to a home I didn't want to be in with a father who basically abandoned me. I wanted so badly to just sleep and pretend my life was normal again.

Eventually I knew I had to get it together and start packing so I did. I only had one ratty suitcase that probably used to belong to Scott. It was aged brown leather, missing a wheel and required a lot of strength to get the zipper closed. Sadly—luckily?—all my clothes managed to fit into the one suitcase. I didn't own much; most items were from thrift stores in the neighborhood and a lot of it probably wouldn't fare well in Washington's rainy weather. I tried shoving as many of my favorite books as I could fit into my carry on, along with my laptop. It was around 3 in the morning when I had finally combed through the entire apartment searching for lost belongings that I thought I might need or miss. For the most part I decided I didn't want anything because it would just bring back unnecessary memories of Victoria, and I didn't need that. I needed her as far from my mind as possible.

I struggled trying to sleep that night—tossing and turning thinking of what was to come. Mrs. Hernandez woke me up around 7 with a coffee in hand. I got dressed quickly, preparing myself for the Washington weather. Mrs. Hernandez helped me with my things. We hailed a cab and shared an awkward goodbye. And then I was off.

I couldn't decide if I wanted to look back or not… It was my home for seventeen years and now I was leaving for the first time. Every good and special memory I had was spent in that apartment—but Victoria didn't care. So, why should I? I kept my face forward, determined to not be weak. There was no memory worth being sad over in that apartment anymore.

La Guardia was a large airport and I made my flight just on time, despite arriving an hour early. I was lucky enough to get a window seat on the flight. It was my first time flying, or even leaving the state yet I didn't feel nervous. The cold feeling, I was becoming so familiar with, was back. It felt like everything going on around me was just noise and I was going through the motions with no real purpose. It wasn't a bad feeling, in fact, it made me feel strong—numb to the pain.

The flight was long and I was exhausted, yet I still couldn't make myself sleep. When the flight landed, I could feel the inkling of nerves trying to seep through but I shut it down. I didn't want to feel anything but the numbness to my surroundings.

I walked through the large Seattle airport wondering how I was going to find Scott. I had no idea what he looked like now or if he was even the one picking me up. I spent ages at baggage claim waiting for my old tattered suitcase. I'd be amazed if it survived the trip.

"Victoria?" I heard a deep voice say next to me in amazement.

I looked up with extreme confusion, immediately recognizing the man looking back at me. Scott looked almost exactly the same. He was wearing a baseball cap and boots with faded jeans and a Go Army t-shirt. He was tall and burly with a thick mustache and salt and pepper hair. His familiar warm eyes Victoria had fallen in love with were staring at me with complete and utter shock.

"I'm Scarlett—your daughter," I muttered. I hated that I looked like the spitting image of Victoria. She was beautiful in a way I never would be and now every time I had to look in a mirror I was going to see her staring back at me.

He blinked a few times trying to get himself together. "I'm sorry. You look exactly like her it's frightening. I can't believe how much you've grown."

"That tends to happen when nine years' pass, Scott." I patronized as I spotted my suitcase finally coming my way on the baggage wheel.

"How was the flight?" He asked, trying to act casual.

I could tell he was far from his element.

"Long."

We walked through the terminal and out into the misty Seattle afternoon. Because of the time change it was barely 1 here in Washington.

Scott walked over to an old Ford F-150 truck. It was tall and red, in very good condition. He helped me put my suitcase into the truck bed and I jumped into the passenger side. The interior smelled like aged leather and pine cone air freshener.

"Where exactly is it that you live?" I asked, curiosity getting the best of me. We were driving through Seattle now and it was breathtaking. If I got to live here then maybe it wouldn't be so bad. The city was sprawling and filled with life. There was probably a lot to distract me with around here.

"I live in Redwood Valley, between here and Port Angeles. It's about an hour and a half away."

Great, a place I had never heard of probably meant it was a tiny speck of a town. And sure enough, I was right. After finally making it out of Seattle traffic and down the long, seemingly never ending highway, we made it to Redwood Valley, "Population 723" the welcome sign read.

I groaned internally. It might as well have read "Welcome to Hell, Scarlett." The highway was surrounded by thick walls of Redwood trees so the town name made sense. Thick moss covered the ground off the road. It was all very beautiful and so different from the concrete jungle I grew up in. I don't think I had every seen so much nature in my entire life.

We passed through the tiny town quickly. Everything was…quaint I guess. Almost like a story book town. We turned down a small side street and up a steep hill side then onto a cracked concrete driveway. Scott's house was a tall, faded white cottage style home with a big front patio. An old green Jeep was parked in the driveway of the home. The house ooked pretty run down like most of the homes up the hill—except one. At the very top of the hill I could see a grand gate and the top of what must've been a very grand house. I couldn't actually see the home because it looked like it was surrounded by redwoods.

"The Yearwood's live up there," Scott mentioned, noticing my distraction. "Very wealthy, private people."

I nodded, uninterested. In New York I was surrounded by kids whose parents were millionaires so money wouldn't impress me like it probably impressed everyone else here.

"Scott!" Someone shouted from behind the house.

I looked over and saw a tall tanned skin boy with wiry muscles and bright white teeth coming from behind the house. His sandy blonde hair flopped into his eyes as he bounded over towards us. His eyes scanned me over.

"Wow," he said after a minute. "You're new here." I probably stuck out like a sore thumb with my bright scarlet hair and disheveled appearance.

"Don't even think about it," Scott warned. "Chase this is my daughter Scarlett, Scarlett—Chase." Scott introduced.

I nodded as a greeting and kept walking up the driveway to the front door.

"Pleasant, isn't she?" Scott said with dry humor, referring to me.

He unlocked the door and let Chase and I into the house.

"Chase, take her things upstairs for her please. She's the first bedroom to the left."

Chase kept his big smile as he took my carry on and suitcase from Scott and headed up the stairs.

I looked around the house, trying not to be judgmental. It was small but you could tell he had been doing some updates. Every room flowed right into the next. Lots of light filtered in through the windows, making it feel bright and airy. To my left was the living room that had a leather sofa and loveseat set with a small flat screen. An old, scuffed dining table was in the front of the door and to my right was the kitchen. It was decent sized, definitely more space than my apartment at home. The cabinets were dark wood with white counters. It all had a very masculine look. Natural wood floors went across the entire bottom floor. The stairs were tucked towards the back with what looked like a restroom underneath them and a laundry room behind the kitchen.

"Chase helps me around the house when I'm gone. I've been renovating, as you can see, but my job requires me to go out of town a lot so it's been slow going." He looked a little embarrassed.

Chase made his way back downstairs and sat at the dining table, like he was in his own home.

"They asked me only a few days ago if I was able to take you in so I didn't have a lot of time to prepare but I was able to get some furniture delivered from Port Angeles for you. It's all upstairs already. Movers should be packing up your old place now and moving it to storage but if there's anything you're missing let me know and we can have it brought over."

I nodded, wishing I could just go upstairs already. I needed sleep. I could tell Chase and Scott were waiting for me to say something but I saw no point.

Scott took a deep nervous breath. "Look Scarlett, I know you don't want to be here but I'm happy you are. It'll be nice having company and you'll learn to love the town. It's quiet…peaceful. It'll be a good break from the city. I'm trying to get some time off work so I can be home more too. Chase can show you around and help out when I'm gone in the mean time."

I stared at him blankly.

He looked disheartened by my silence. "Want me to show you your room?"

"I'm sure it won't be hard to find on my own." I moved quickly towards the stairs before he could find another awkward topic of discussion.

"The room straight from the stairs is yours."

"Well she definitely has your chatty personality, Scott." Chase chuckled with sarcastic humor, when he probably thought I was out of ear shot.

The bedroom was really large. The walls were bare and pale blue. A very large bay window dominated one wall with a window seat looking out to the front street. It wasn't a bad view. Across the street was actually a forest of redwoods. The misty grey day mirrored my mood. A big fluffy bed was against one wall, it looked brand new with all white covers. A natural wood stump sat beside the bed like a bedside table, it looked like Scott had made it himself. He had even sprung for a desk and bookcase. It must've cost a lot to furnish this entire room with what looked like entirely new furniture.

Did Scott have money? The house was dingy on the outside but the inside was nicely renovated, like a professional had done it. And this furniture must've cost a fortune. I never knew what he did for work, I never cared to ask. I guess he must've been doing all right after all these years.

I kicked off my boots and curled up on the bed under the covers. It felt like all the sleep I hadn't gotten in the past two weeks was just now wanting to catch up. The bed felt amazing, like a cloud. Even though everything here felt and smelled so unfamiliar, I let the fatigue finally take