ENJOY! :)

"BELLA! WAKE UP ALREADY!" Emmett laughed as he jumped onto my bed.

Jolting awake and nearly falling off the bed, I glanced at my brother who looked about reading to burst from excitement. "Is it Christmas already, Emmett?" I asked stretching.

"Haha," he laughed sarcastically, "No Bella, Christmas is still 177 days away. Don't you know what's special about today?"

"Hmm...I'm sure you'll just blurt it out before I even get the chance to guess, so go ahead Em. Enlighten me."

"It's your 18th birthday Bells! DUH!" He gave me a huge smile but I felt my eyes bulge and my jaw drop. His smile slowly faded.

"Bell? Bells? Bella breathe!" He said shaking me. I sucked in a shaky breathe. "You ok?"

I finally looked at him. "OH MY GOD! Emmie, we're free!" I jumped up and wrapped my arms around him, tackling us to the ground. I felt his chest shaking with laughter beneath me and I looked up at his dimply smile. Jumping up, I helped my brother to his feet just as Mom walked into the room.

"Morning Bella! Happy Birthday! Phil left early for work today, so I was wondering if you two wanted to go shopping? Just the three of us, one last time." Mom knew that Emmett and I were mostly moving away just to get away from Phil, and he thought it was just for college. She didn't take it personally, she understood. I remember how heartbroken she was when we told her…

Back when it was time for me to pick a college, Em and I got together and decided to go to the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. Mom was torn between being sad that we were moving, and relieved that we were getting away from our abusive step-father.

We were able find a cute little town house a block from Green Lake for a reasonable price. Emmett has spent the last year at community college working non-stop to save up enough for us to go to college and pay for housing. In between high school, graduation preparation, a part-time job, and sleep, I was able to save quite a bit of money too. Fortunately for us, Phil wanted us out of the house bad enough that he said he'd match whatever we make before we moved no catch.

When we called our dad who lives in Forks that we were moving up there for college, he was so excited that he started mailing letters to us every other day. The contents of these letters included how he's informed most of the town about our arrival and that he's already prepared a "surprise welcome gift".

"So Bella? What do you say?" Mom said pulling me out of my trance.

"Sure Mom. Shopping sounds great. Just give me a minute to get dressed and I'll be right down."

The two closed the door behind them as they left and I began to get ready for the day.

The next day, we were standing at the airport with Mom. Phil had decided to sit in the car. When the attendants called our flight number, Mom began to sob quietly and hugged us both. "I'm going to miss you both so much!" She whispered, studying our faces to imprint our images in her mind.

It was hard to walk through the gate with a smile plastered on my face, but I wanted to show Mom that I was ready for this. I wasn't going to start crying and asked to be taken home. Emmett and I waved our final goodbyes before stepping onto the plane

However, once we were up in the air, I let the tears fall. Emmett put his arm over my shoulders and pulled me into his chest.

"Hey, it's okay Bells. It's not like we're never gonna see her again." I nodded and drew a shaky breath.

"Ya, you're right Em. We'll see Mom, but I never want to see that monster again." Even just the thought of Phil made me shiver. Emmett squeezed me slightly and smiled.

"Exactly. We're free from him!"

We're free. That sentence repeated over and over in our heads for the duration of the plane trip and had us smiling for the rest of the day. Finally, we were free. After so long spent in that hell hole, Emmett and I were now on our way to a real home. A home without Phil. We were headed to safety.

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