Chapter 3

Chloe found a little beach beneath a high coast somewhere besides a long highway somewhere in Oregon somewhere in the USA. She drove more than an hour after they filled up the tank half a mile past the gas station and neither of them knew where they were. But the best thing about their escape was the fact that it didn't matter anymore. No one out there in the world would care for them and they would not care for anybody else in the world but themselves. Chloe parked at the edge of the cliffs and used the blankets she found at the junkyard to cover up the rusty truck bed. She also arranged their bags at the partition between truck bed and the driver's cab, so they would have a back rest and a somewhat comfortable pillow for the night.

"Should we lit a fire?", Rachel asked and took a look for some wood around. "We don't have something to cook anyway, so.."

"You think I would kidnap you on a trip to nowhere with me without making sure I have something to feed you with?", Rachel responded and opened her back. She took out two packs of cup noodles. "Where did you get that?"

"I didn't just buy gum at the gas station, dope.", she laughed and gave the noodles to Chloe while she rummaged for some camping dishes Chloe had no idea she brought along. Rachel starred her with an expecting face. "If you want something to eat you should lit a fire."

"Of course, My Lady, but beforehand-", she stopped mid sentence and dropped the cans, "I have another idea." She grabbed Rachel's hand and trailed her with her. They ran down the cliff a few metres besides the car. The stone was broken off, so it built erratic tiers good enough to work as stairs to reach the beach underneath. Just the second Chloe's foot hit the sand, her phone buzzed in her jeans. The girls stopped their run and Chloe grabbed her phone to read the text message.

Mum: "Will you come home tonight? We miss you. Will you accept David's request to start all over? Please. I love you." -

Chloe stared at her display rather mentally absent. Somehow she suppressed the thought so far that she just decided to not just leave Backwell and Arcadia Bay with Rachel for an infinitely long road trip, but also left her mother alone with that dickhead David. How should she tell her she was leaving for a long time, maybe forever?

"Chloe?", interrupted Rachel her thoughts. She felt her hand on her shoulder. "Is everything alright?" Chloe finally lifted her head, but she avoided Rachel's gaze. "It's my mom. I dunno what to tell her. She wants me to come home." She showed the message to Rachel. After a few seconds she answered: "Be honest."

"What do you mean?"

"Tell her, that you will be absent for a while. That you need some space and time to back away from the things that happened. That she should not search for you. That you are safe and she should not worry. She deserves that you tell her the truth."

"Don't you think that she would drive crazy if I told her I vanished to somewhere and asked her to stay calm about that?" Rachel shrugged and nodded. "Maybe. But you should answer something, really. That would be fair."

Chloe looked at her phone again and hesitantly typed a response.

"Hi Mum. I have to tell you something and please don't flip...I will be gone for a while. I need some time to think and so on. I am in good company, so please don't worry about me. I am fine. Love you, too." -

She hesitated a large moment until she typed "send", but she felt a huge weight falling of her mind when she did. A smile sneaked back on her face. Rachel exhaled in relief. "You okay?", she asked.

"I am feeling great!", she claimed and smirked teasingly at Rachel, "So are you going to swim with me?"

"You betcha!"

They got rid of their redundant clothes and ran hand in hand into the black, shiny water. The moon was almost full that night and shone silvern above their heads. The water was pleasantly warm; although Rachel shrieked when Chloe teasingly splashed water in her face. "Stop!", she screamed and held her arms up her face for protection, but Chloe was not willing to stop. Rachel took revenge soon and a few seconds later the girls had a heavy water splash fight at some sea somewhere in Oregon. It seemed to last forever as no one was willing to give up, but after a few minutes both of them gasped in exhaustment and wordless arranged a armistice. The water slowly settled down from the recent stir and both girls just drifted on the water on their backs, looking into the thousands of stars above them.

"Chloe", Rachel said and broke the silence.

"Yeah?"

"Could you forgive my parents in my place?", she asked and turned her head as far as the water allowed to watch Chloe's reaction. It took a while until she received a response:

"I mean...you were old enough to know the truth for years. And they decided to continue lying to you instead. So it`s your turn to decide how you react to that. And taking a timeout now to think about how you will deal with this is okay."

"I know. But how would you decide in my situation? Should I forgive them?"

"Not now.", Chloe said and thought immediately of her own situation. And how she still did not forgive her father for leaving her, although it was not even his fault. So how could Rachel forgive her father, who was actually to blame for it? At first she thought it was sea water on her face and not a tear running down her cheek. She closed her eyes to prevent more tears from falling. How did it happen that she became so emotional recently? Although she had decided to just don`t care anymore to protect herself. Nothing seemed to work anymore. Everything seemed to to break apart. And yet she had the chance to start all over now. Deep in her thoughts she didn't notice that Rachel, who had seen that tear, crossed the few feet distance between them, stood up behind her and gave her a kiss on the forehead. Chloe felt like her head would explode from endorphins. How did she do that? Mess her head so much? Nevertheless she couldn't prevent the tears from running down her face and she stood up and wiped them away hastily.

"Chloe...", Rachel said in a soft voice and reached out for her friend's shoulder. She swam around her and lifted her chin up with her other hand. She saw the pain in her eyes. She was intending to hug her but it was Chloe who was faster with pulling her into a tight hug, hiding her face at Rachel's shoulder. Rachel embrace her back and couldn't resist to also start crying.

It was this moment that connected their broken souls forever.