Chapter 2
Hailea was not having a good day.
The disease was spreading around her small town of Leo-Cedarville, Indiana so quickly the doctors had completely stopped trying to quarantine it. It wasn't jut in her town however. It was all over Canada, North America, and Mexico. No one knew the cause of the disease yet, but the stupid thing, whatever it was, wasn't helping Hailea in any way. It only seemed to be making everything worse.
Her only friend, Colleen, had caught the sickness about a month or so ago. She had been sent to the hospital, and had died about two weeks after arrival. This was back when the quarantine was still in place around about half of the country.
After Colleen died, her parents abuse only seemed to get worse. Her mom went back to constantly being drunk, and her dad had gotten arrested at least once for hanging out with his drug buddies in Fort Wayne and constantly getting high.
When they were in the house with her, high and drunk, they would beat her black and blue, force her to clean the house from top to bottom like Cinderella, and pretty much turn her into their slave so they could do whatever they wanted.
She didn't have anywhere to hide where she felt safe unless she left the house and went to the playground in the middle of town with Colleen. That was her only safe place, but it felt weird and lonely without her, even when the place was full to capacity.
But now Colleen was gone, she didn't have any friends, and her parents had pushed her to the end of her rope. She needed to get out of town at the best opportunity.
Everything was really looking down for Hailea. But she didn't know what was going to happen to her only the next day.
oOo
Kurt felt the distinct sensation of his teleportation, except that one he had the time machine strapped to him, it was magnified so much it was painful. He couldn't think through the haze of pain, much less breathe.
Kurt gasped, falling to a blue carpeted floor, taking longs breaths of the sweet air. He tried to stand up against the bookshelf closest to him, before collapsing against the shelf in front of him, hearing a chorus of shushing sounds directed at him.
He stood up completely for a minute or so before falling unconscious to the floor.
No one payed any attention to the person that had come to life that supposedly didn't exist.
oOo
I've had enough, Hailea thought, slamming the alarm off before it could wake up her very hungover mother. I can't live like this anymore. I'm leaving. There's nothing left for me in this godforsaken town. I'll find somewhere to say in Fort Wayne.
With this thought, she stood up quickly, getting a bit dizzy for a few seconds. This made her remember the hit her father gave her to the head the night before. She grimaced at the memory, hating the fact her parents always did that to her when she tried to leave when they weren't there or asleep.
Hailea worked quickly, grabbing food, clothes, her laptop, and her favorite books. She packed everything in a small, roll along suitcase with Spider-Man on it. When she got to the frond door, she heard the faint sounds of her mom getting out of bed upstairs.
Hailea quickly and quietly left the house, taking her dad's old bike and bike lock from the backyard. She fashioned a quick rig out of bent sticks, yarn that she grabbed on her way out the door, and ropes to pull her case along behind her. This took about two or three minutes because she had done it before and knew how, but the idea of one or both of her parents catching her made it really scary.
When she finished, she went to the front of the house, checking the porch to see if her parents were there. They weren't there.
At least they won't catch me, she thought, letting out a quiet sigh of relief.
She wheeled the bike and suitcase to the bottom of the driveway, turning around and bidding a welcome farewell to the misery she was leaving behind. She swung her leg over the bar onto the pedal on the other side, and rode away from the people, town, and house that had given her so much misery.
Hailea was unspeakably glad to leave. She just didn't know what adventures awaited her when she got to the next town.