August 4, 1968 (1:00 PM).

I had decided that my stay here was to be terminated. I couldn't stay where they experimented on helpless people and animals. I kept what I saw to myself and I had run through my head ways to save Derick, but I couldn't think of any. I had no key to open his caged domain.

I now prepared a plan.

I requested of Mark to have a sleep over at a friend's house in Raccoon City a.k.a. Skyler's home with her father and brother. After much pleading he finally caved in and was willing to take me. I packed everything I would need to survive on my own.

When I arrived Skyler questioned my appearance and I told her quietly to let me stay the night. As if sensing my turmoil her entire face shifted into happiness and she told dad I'd be fine for the night with her and Shiloh. Dad left after kissing my forehead.

Once he was gone I set my bag down on her front steps. They lived in a two-story white and green house next to the main street.

She asked me why I was here on such short notice. I told her I was running away, to which she stuttered a sharp 'why'.

I explained that I needed space from my overly protective father, a little white lie I had crafted. I told her that when he came to pick me up tomorrow to tell him I had been kidnapped while playing in the park.

I honestly didn't care how he would feel. Being a scientist that experimented on living creatures? I couldn't sympathize with how he'd feel. I was disgusted.

Skyler seemed to understand how I felt and smiled, motioning me inside. "Come in, we're about to eat."

I nodded and followed her inside, setting my bag down at the door.

An hour passed and we ate a typical meal of their household; dirty mash potatoes, corn, macaroni and chicken.

At the dinner table Shiloh was dead silent, eating and keeping to himself. He wore a similar outfit as the day at the park, but instead of a jacket he wore a t-shirt.

Their father was polite, kind and gentle. He also had a great sense of humor. I was happy they had a father in Kevin.

After our dinner Skyler took me up to her room. There we hung out and talked. I told her about my family back home (leaving out how poorly my uncle treated me), about my brother Nolan, about Derick.

I told her about my two best friends Adela and Dimitri.

She smiled as she asked questions here and there throughout my stories and even tossed in a few of her own tales.

She told me about how her and Shiloh had been at the hospital when their mother died, how he was talkative before and then quiet after. She mentioned that she knew it weighed heavily on his mind but he would not confide in her how he felt.

She told me about Virginia.. and I told her about my home, about the oak tree I had come to love.

When dark came around I decided to just stay the night fully. I would leave early in the morning. She asked where I would go, what I would do and if I would visit often. I told her I didn't know. I had no where to go and I had no intention of staying at the Spencer mansion. Night passed in a blur and I soon fell asleep listening to the soft music Skyler had decided to play.

I awoke in the morning to the sunlight streaming in through the window and an upset stomach.. and a strange sight that startled me.

Skyler's bedroom door was open (having been closed before we went to sleep) and Shiloh stood there in black pants, staring at me silently.

I shifted to sit up, holding the blanket up to cover my cold body clad in my simple pajamas.

"Shiloh?" I whispered, noticing how dead asleep his sister was.

He cocked his head to the side like I often did and moved closer, crouching as he did so. He held out a hand to me, wiggling his fingers for me to take it. I blinked, confused. Why would he want me to hold his hand?

I didn't understand.

"What?" I pressed.

He kept wiggling his fingers and after much staring I finally reached out and laid my hand in his.

His fingers locked around my wrist and he pulled me up and out of the room. My bare feet felt cool from the wood of the upstairs flooring.

He took me up to the attic and toward the window. When we reached it he let go of my hand and gestured to the foggy window.

I furrowed my brows, but moved to stand before the window, peering out into the rainy weather of the morning. I noticed nothing at first, just a wet street with a few cars, but as I watched I noticed something. The scene was actually beautiful. How the rain blanketed the city and the green tree tops beyond.

I turned to look at Shiloh and thank him for showing me this, but he was sitting in the flood, feet crossed.

He motioned for me to join him and I sat across from him, feet crossed as well. He licked his lips as if unsure and took a deep breath.

"I am.. sorry." He spoke slowly and softly, his very words a breath of air. Holy shit he spoke! This thought ran rapid in my mind and I frowned at his words.

"Sorry for what?"

He leaned forward, hand reaching up to brush strands of fallen hair from my face, folding them behind my ear.

"This.." Then he kissed me.

The only thing in my mind now was: What?! Why is he kissing me?!

He had seemed so cold, so distant. The fact that he spoke threw me off into a loop. Another thought that ravished my mind was: He stole my first kiss!

I had never kissed Toby. I had been much too scared to even think of it. His lips were gentle, a feathery touch that sent warmth through my body.

He pulled away after a few seconds and sat back down, tilting his head at how frozen I looked. My cheeks must have been burning red.

"W-why.. did you kiss me?" I stuttered, trying to understand.

"If you leave.. I might not.. get the chance to." His words caused my cheeks to warm even further.

"Why?" I repeated, noticing how he had skirted the question.

His lips tilted down and he looked to his feet. "You have.. an air about you.. that I am drawn to." He then looked back up at me, his lips pulled back to expose his white teeth. "I tried to brush it aside, I did. The more you spent around me.. the more the air pushed against my will. I cannot fight it." He looked away in defiance, growling to himself.

I didn't know how to respond to that. So I decided to just go back to Skyler's room and sleep. Sleep forever, perhaps. Just kidding.

As I rose to leave his hand shot out and he pulled me down into his lap, wrapping his arms around my waist. I blinked and went stiff as he held me to his chest.

"Uhh.. Shiloh.." I muttered, trying to find the right words to express how confused I felt.

I felt his chest shaking and I turned my head slightly to see his head leaning on my shoulder. I could feel something cool graze my arm and I realized he was crying.

He was shaking with tears. He held me close to him, my back vibrating from his trembling.

"Why are you crying?" I asked.

He said through his tears, "I don't want.. to lose anyone else."

I relaxed after he said this and I felt a darkness crawl over me. "I understand how you feel.." I watched his oceanic orbs raise to mine in a questioning gaze. "I lost someone close to me, who was my best friend.. Toby.. I lost my cousin who was like a brother to me.. James. I'm losing my family.. once I leave I can't go back, not after what my father has done. I can't.. live with his deeds." I whispered, taking a deep breath.

"What do you.. mean?" He peered at me with a stare of bafflement.

I took a breath, thinking carefully before answering.

"I can't explain the situation fully. Just know that it's.. unsafe for me to stay." I said softly, as if scared my words would cause some pain though they didn't.

"Will you.. come by often?" He mumbled. He had stopped crying, but I could see the trails his tears had made down his cheeks.

I smiled. "Yeah. You two are my friends, right?" He nodded. "Then of course. I don't know where I'll go or where I'll stay.. or when I'll be back, but I'll be fine."

He sat in contemplation, thinking hard on whatever was on his mind. After a few minutes of silence he searched my similar eyes and frowned. "I know a place.. you can stay at."

I blinked. He was offering me a place to stay? "Huh?"

"At the old Coot's house." I heard a female voice say. I looked up to it as Shiloh turned around and we both stared at his sister, who we hadn't heard approach. She was standing blank faced in her pajamas, arms folded as she leaned against the sloping wall.

"Thank you, but I can't."

"And just why not?" I noticed how Skyler's expression turned dark and she was now scowling. "You're just going to what, run away? Leave us behind like used toys?" I had never seem this dark before and she was glaring at me. "I allowed you to be our friend. I allowed you to spend the night. I will not allow you to just leave us behind. Our mother said the same thing. She would visit us even while in the hospital. We waited for months. We had to go see her. She left us behind.. to go to some place in the sky."

She was crying now, though she remained composed even while tears streamed down her cheeks. Even her voice was steady. "I don't want to go through that again. I don't want to wait in anticipation for someone who isn't coming back." Her tone was low and I could tell it was taking a lot of effort to say this calmly.

I stared at my feet before standing and walking towards her. I held up my hand and she studied it. I then folded my fingers inward until all but the pinkie were closed.

"Let's make a pinkie promise." I said and she stared at me like I had lost my mind.

Finally her expression eased and she linked her pinkie with mine.

"I promise not to leave you behind, that I will visit as much as I can. I promise that even though we might not see each other for awhile we'll still be good friends." At my words her face softened into a sad smile.

"I promise to keep your secret safe. No one will know from me that you've run away." She said.

We released the other's pinkie after laughing.

"So what are you two doing up here aside from talking about Saria's situation?" She asked with an arched brow.

I shrugged, deciding to be calm. "Chatting."

She snorted. "Chatting. Yeah. I'll believe that completely." She said sarcastically. "I won't press." She rolled her knuckles to pop them.

I smiled shyly.

A few hours rolled by and we devoured our breakfast in a cheerful mood. Soon it was time for me to leave as 11:00 AM rolled in.

I hugged all of them goodbye, even Kevin, and thanked them for the time I had spent with them. Kevin told me I could stay whenever so I happily said I would sometime. Bag over my shoulder I walked down the street after saying my goodbye.

I still remembered Shiloh's icy stare as I walked in silence. I forgot to mention that I'd taken some money I'd found laying around in one of the bedroom's. There had been a stack of money in an envelops titled 'Exploration' and I'd taken around an eighth of it, a total of three hundred dollars (not to forgot the hundred I had saved from my birthday).

I flagged a taxi and made my way east through various means of transportation I could find.

That is how I ended up in Kentucky, a state of interest I had always wanted to go to.