Author's note: Hello, everyone. I know it's been a while. And I'm really sorry for that, as always. Ok, anyway, thanks to all of your reviews, really love to receive them. Hope you will like the new chapter.

Chapter 4

When nothing is sure, everything is possible.

Margaret Drabble

Sometimes the road helps you a lot to clear your thoughts. Everything seems very easy while you are driving. You are safe in your shelf- in your car, nothing can ruin this calmness, you can just drive forward without thinking about anything, but for the road. Of course, this seeming peacefulness is mostly just an illusion. It won't help you solve your problems, though it helps you to run away from them, but for how long can you escape them? Will there be a good end in this road or another dead-end? Where should you make another turn or you should drive forward? How do you know that you chose the right road? Or you can't know that until you reach the end of it?

Troy was driving already for several hours, and though he was extremely tired and wanted to fall asleep, he couldn't. He wanted to put up between him, Cameron and his father as much distance as possible. However, he knew that no matter how many miles would be between them, he still wouldn't feel safe. But he doubted he could ever feel safe at all, not after everything that happened.

How many times he wanted to give up, to send everything to hell!? If it weren't for Cam he would have died. Several years ago the bare thought of death scared the hell out of him, but during these last two years he started to believe that maybe death was an escape. And sometimes he really wished he would die, but Cam… Cam was the only thing that was stopping him.

Troy looked at his little sister who was sleeping next to him. The events of the day really got to her. But in spite of her still red eyes, she seemed so peaceful and so fragile. His little sister… She would kill him if she heard him calling her "little sister". Cameron always complained that this fifteen-minute difference didn't really make him older, but that wasn't the way Troy felt, and she could do nothing about it, noone could. She was his LITTLE sister.

Troy couldn't help but yawn again. He's been driving for three hours and his eyes were already closing, and monotonous road definitely wasn't making it any easier to stay awake, not speaking about the pain he was still in. Finally he understood that if he didn't pull up soon, he would fall asleep right at the wheel, and all this escape thing wouldn't mean anything as they would crash in the nearest tree.

So as soon as he saw a little road he turned there and having driven a little to the forest, so that the car wasn't seen from the highway, he stopped. He turned off the engine and closed his eyes. He thought he would immediately plunge into dream, but he didn't. All these worries and thoughts kept nagging him not giving an opportunity to relax. How will Danforths meet them? Will they let them live there? Will everything be ok with school? Will he find job on the new place? Will their father find them? Will he even look for them? He wished so much he knew the answers, but, of course, he didn't, all he could do was wait and hope for the best, even though he didn't really believe in this "best". That never worked in their case, why would it now? With this thought he finally subsided to an uneasy dream.

They were driving for several hours, but no matter where they turned, all the roads led back to their house and to Jack. He was waiting for them saying that he promised they would regret they had left and now it was a payback time. Then suddenly the car disappeared and Troy and Cameron came face to face with their father. Jack just threw Cam away sending her crashing into the wall and went after Troy. He grabbed his neck and raised him in the air. Though Troy tried to get free from this firm hold, he couldn't break out quickly losing strength.

"Dad, please…" Troy pleaded, but his father didn't listen to these weak attempts and kept strangling the boy. He looked Jack in the eyes trying to find the man that used to be his dad, but he didn't see anything but coldness and emptiness. Troy knew it was the end, one more second and he would die…

"Troy, Troy, wake up!"

Troy started from his dream trying to catch his breath. Panting heavily he looked around not understanding where he was. It took him some time to realize his father wasn't there. Troy breathed out in relief. It was just a dream, just a frigging dream. He didn't even notice how Cameron gently embraced him. She just held him in her hands trying to make him relax.

"Shhh, it's ok, it was just a nightmare, everything's fine." She kept soothing him. "It's ok." She hugged her brother tightly until he stopped being tense.

"Cam, Cam, I'm fine, thank you." Troy said when he finally managed to shake off the last pieces of his nightmare. He felt a little embarrassed his sister saw him this way. So, when she kept holding him, he added trying to enlighten the atmosphere. "Hey, you're going to strangle me."

"I didn't know you can strangle someone by embracing waist with one hand." Cameron said with a smile letting go off Troy. "By the way, you look much better."

Troy looked in the mirror silently agreeing with his sister. He did look better, his bruises were barely noticeable, the one on his face almost faded away, but his father's prints on his neck clearly stood out on his skin. However, the second he moved he immediately was reminded that appearance can be deceiving. Maybe he looked better- he still felt like crap. Comparing with yesterday it became less painful, but he definitely saw better days.

"I'm fine." He tried to reassure Cameron seeing her frowning. But she just raised her brow unbelievingly. "I'm not lying; I haven't told everything's perfect, but not bad. Stop glaring at me! Sis, just give me something to eat."

Giving one last stare Cameron found some cookies in the backpack and threw them to Troy. While he was eating, she kept watching her brother. She was so worried for him, why couldn't he understand. He always was trying to seem stronger to make her feel better, as if she couldn't see his real emotions? He couldn't stop pretending even now!? Cameron kept wondering if all guys were THAT crazy about not showing their pain or just her brother?

"Cam, ok, let's sort it out. It's almost twelve now. So, I suggest, we keep driving for several more hours, then, when we almost reach Albuquerque, we find some motel and stay there for some time. You know, we really can use a shower, and we need to cover my bruises. And by the evening we will be on the place. What do you think?"

"As long as we keep going, I like it."

Four hours later, when they got in the motel, Cameron went to take shower. It always was her favorite way of escaping reality. Standing under hot water, letting it soothe you, letting every muscle in your body relax and your brain to get far away from all the hell that life had for you. At such moments you just don't want to think about anything, like the whole world freezes for this time. But the thing is … you still have to return to real world. Nothing good lasts forever, there's always a bucket of cold water waiting for you to be dropped on.

With a sigh Cameron left the bathroom motioning to Troy that he could go. Now when she was back in the room, she fell the weight of all their problems immediately returning. Looking around she suddenly got so unsure, so vulnerable and she was hating herself for this. She hated it so much! They lived through so many things, things that many people never have to go through in their entire life. Then why would she feel so terrible now? Now, when things were finally looking up for them? And were they really? Well, they would find out really soon.

Cameron shook her head. She should think positively, that's what their mother always told them. And so Cam tried to do that, even though she failed a lot during the last couple of years. To stay on the positive wave she decided to choose her outfit for the meeting with Danforths. After all, it was really important to make the right first impression. Surely she didn't have much of a choice, since her wardrobe did leave much to desire for. But what made Cameron extremely happy was that she took her lucky skirt with her. And they would need all the luck today. Of course, it was difficult to imagine that life could get worse, but… You never know. Honestly, Cameron was more afraid everything would become really great, that they would be happy and then their father would appear and pull them back another nightmare. Just the bare thought made her cringe. She wasn't sure she could live through this again. It was difficult enough the first time, but going through this … for the second time… That would be too much for her to handle. This time she wasn't so sure they would survive.

"Cam, are you ok?" Troy asked making his sister jump because of his unexpected appearance.

"You scared me!" She accused him, but inside she relaxed: her big brother was with her. So now everything would be ok, he always made things ok. "So, let me deal with your bruises."

"Now I'm scared." Troy said in a mocking tone making Cam smile.

"Sit down, tough guy, I'll bring the make-up."

By this time Cameron became a real professional in covering bruises. However, it would be strange if she didn't; after all, she did it almost every day. When everything just started, they believed their dad could become normal again, that maybe, just maybe, one day everything will return back to normal. They were just kids, stupid and naive kids. But time passed and things didn't change for better, if anything, they changed for worse. And it made them grow up, it made them realize that nothing would change if you do nothing about it, but they had already been given another reason to not try anything. And so, they kept covering up their bruises, hiding the truth about what was going on in their house, pretending to be normal.

"Thanks." Troy said when Cameron was finished. He didn't need a mirror to know that now if you didn't know there were handprints on his neck, or bruises on his cheek or upper arms, then you would never notice that. "So, what about having some snack, before we hit the road?"

"I've done breakfast, so it's your turn to serve the table." Cameron challenged Troy to have a little argument.

"If I'm not mistaken, the breakfast you made consisted of a PACK of COOKIES, that's not a real breakfast!" Troy protested accepting the challenge.

"Yeah, so? An apple and canned fruits is not a real dinner!" Cam answered smirking.

"But still, I'm a guy, you're a girl, you are supposed to do such things."

"Says who?" Cameron inquired already knowing she won the argument. Troy tried to find the answer to this tricky question but couldn't. So he raised his arms in surrender, leaving Cam beaming with happiness. "What's wrong, smartass? Getting old?" Cameron mocked her brother.

"Oh, shut up, sarcastic."

"You ready?" Troy looked at his sister trying to hide trembling from his voice.

They had arrived to Albuquerque and now were standing in front of the house which belonged to Danforths. It wasn't very big, but it seemed very friendly and warm. Sometimes when you look at the house, you just want to go in there, to look what it is inside. And this was one of such houses.

Cameron looked at her brother her heart pounding in her chest. Troy looked peaceful and strong just like he always did. But she saw this uncertainty in his eyes. So it was her turn to be strong.

"Everything's gonna be fine." She stated firmly and knocked at the door.

That was it, the end… or the beginning. They didn't know what was waiting for them behind these doors. They didn't know if they would be accepted in the house. But they also didn't know otherwise. So that gave them hope.

So, what you think? Please, review. And I have a huge favor. I really need something for my "Real life". So can you, please, name two songs a guy can strip dance to? Really appreciate your help.