"Oh, and by the way…" the woman said, finally putting out her last cigarette. "I called the police about you stealing the car… Given their normal response time, they should be here in about half an hour…"

Sandy looked her in eye, trying to decipher whether or not this was just another one of her bluffs. "I don't believe you…" he said.

The woman shrugged her shoulders. "Fine…" she said. "Whatever. I just thought that I would give you a heads up in case you wanted to leave. God knows you wouldn't last your first night in prison…"

"Alice wouldn't let you…"

"DAMN IT LITTLE BOY, DON'T YOU GET IT??? ALICE DOESN'T HAVE A SAY!" Her eyes flashed with rage, and Sandy took a big step back in response.

"You'd better hurry up and pack your bags, Sandy… Because I am dead serious…"

Sandy threw a few things into his backpack. "All right fine…" he said. "This is the way that you want it? I'm not gonna feel guilty over this anymore… You are making it impossible for me to be here, so I'm gone."

"Sandy!" A childish voice called out. "Sandy, where you going?"

Sandy sighed and stopped dead in his tracks. Oh no. He didn't think that he could handle this right now. "Sally…" he said. "I… Umm… You know that I love you, right?"

"You're not leaving are you? You're not leaving like he did?" Tears welled up in her eyes as she spoke. "Sandy, you can't leave me…"

The police would be here soon. They would see that she couldn't take care of herself. They would put her into a facility. They would help her to heal. She would get better. Or, at least, that is what he wanted so desperately to believe. That is what he had to tell himself to make it out the door. But he wasn't even at the door yet. "Sally… Umm… Why don't you go watch Pokemon? Some nice men will be here soon… They're going to take you on a vacation…"

"A vacation?" She asked, her eyes lighting up at the thought. "To Disneyworld?"

"Well… Umm… No… But somewhere else nice…"

"You're never coming back, are you Sandy?"

"I… I honestly don't know…"

"I'll miss you Sandy…"

"I'll miss you too Sally… Do you… Do you think that you could try to get Alice out here so that I could say goodbye…"

"She doesn't want to…"

Sandy was fighting back tears. "Sally, please… I really need to say goodbye to Alice… Please…"

"Just listen to the little girl… The bitch doesn't wanna come out… She's so stupid… She thinks that if she doesn't come out you won't leave… She doesn't realize that you're just like your father…"

"I'm nothing like him!" Sandy growled.

"Yeah…" she said. "You just keep telling yourself that…"

Sandy pulled his backpack over his shoulder. "You know what, Lisa? If anyone wrecked my mother's life by coming into it, it was you, not me!"

"Oh, please…" She spat. "I've been here since before you were born. I've protected her more times than you can count…"

"Yeah, well… You better protect her now… Or else you're going to have to answer to me…"

"Come on now, Sandy… You and I both know that the moment you walk out that door, you're never going to set foot in this house again."

Sandy knew that she was right, but he didn't know how exactly to respond to it.

"Fifteen minutes and ticking, Sandy… Then again, maybe they're ahead of schedule… Maybe they're right outside the door, just waiting to bust you…"

Sandy opened the door and looked around.

"Bye bye Sandy…" she said, her voice almost sing-songish. "And don't you ever come back…"

Sandy walked outside and slammed the door shut. He didn't have a whole lot of money... Where in the hell was he supposed to go? He made his way from the house and just walked. He didn't know where exactly he was headed or even what direction he was going in. By the time that he reached the highway his legs were sore. It was getting dark. The atmosphere around him finally in tune with his mood. He watched as the cars whizzed by him and momentarily contemplated jumping in front of one. Why shouldn't he? What was the point to his life now? He'd had one reason to live these past two years. Jonathan. No matter how bad Jonathan treated him, he always went back for more…. Because, quite simply, he was all that he had… But now… He didn't even have that much. He had absolutely nothing. Not even the proper drive to kill himself. So he just continued to walk, somewhere along the stretch of highway coming to realize that he wasn't going to get very far on foot. He held his thumb out and waited until a black Jaguar pulled up in front of him.

The man inside rolled down the window. "Hey kid…" he said. "Need a ride?"