It was a relief to get off the bus – I'd spent most of the night alternating between nodding off with my mouth agape, and staring off into the distance with bleary eyes. I was exhausted, and the only thing on my mind was getting in touch with my aunt and hopefully finding a way back home. Unfortunately, I had no idea what my aunt's number was (darn you, crippling reliance on technology to store that for me) and had to raid a nearby post office for their copy of the phone book. Torres had refused to go in with me – said it smelled (which was incredibly rude, and she said it quite loudly right as someone walked by as well) – so I left her outside and cast an apologetic smile to whoever I thought might've heard. I was, to be completely honest, quite tired of bringing her with me; she's always in such a sour mood. I figured getting out of prison would fix that, but apparently its her natural state. Its just… very hard to be friends with her.
In the end, however, I managed to get a hold of my aunt using a pay phone and some change I got from the post office cashier. There was a lot of "My dears!" And "Where have you beens?" I tried to keep the conversation short, and promised to explain everything once I got there. I thanked my lucky stars that my family was so overbearingly sweet and helpful – she insisted on coming down to pick Torres and I up, and refused to hear anything to the contrary. We piled into her car two hours later (I told Torres to behave just before we got in, to which she just smirked) and headed off to my aunt's home.
I later realized how much I should have cherished those few hours on the bus and with my aunt – they were the last peaceful moments when I truly believed that I was free. The calm before the storm so to speak. The problem is, you never know it's the calm before the storm until after the storm is over; and unfortunately for me, this shitstorm had barely even started.
END PART ONE
A/N: Okay, this chapter is less of a chapter and more of a transition point. I've been struggling to come up with more story for this, and I realized it was because I was thinking of this as a whole thing instead of a single part of many. It's easier, IMO, to think of it as a part two that sorta requires you to read part one, but not totally. The second part of this story is obviously going to cover Cambell and Torres's fun ride outside of the penitentiary. Expect vague computer jargon, high speed chases, criminal stuff, and finally some Avenger action. They've been too quiet.