Prompt: Song Lyrics. Renegade by Big Red Machine Ft. Taylor Swift
This is a continuation (occurs several months in the future) of the Outdoor Activities prompt
APOV
It's been four months since Jasper found me in the woods. Four months in which I've completely upended his life.
I know who I am now, for better or worse. I remember the family I come from - perfect on the outside, rotten on the inside. I remember what I saw my father do and I remember being locked away in a psychiatric hospital to keep me quiet.
I am the only witness to his crime and I know my father will never stop looking for me. I will be on the run for the rest of my life, however long or short that life may be.
This is my punishment for being born into a family that never wanted me, my punishment for trying to rise above it. I can accept that this is what my life has become.
But this doesn't have to be Jasper's life. He was my savior when I needed him most, and the only way I can save him is to let him go.
Letting him go will be nearly impossible. I want to hide with him forever. Every time I've tried to tell him to leave over the last few weeks, I can't do it and just squeeze his hand to make him stay, instead.
But I can't avoid it any longer. So I am just waiting for him to return to this temporary house in this tiny little town where no one knows us.
JPOV
As I walk through the door and see the look on Alice's face, I know what's coming next.
She's been thinking about how to say it for weeks now. Alice thinks she has disrupted my happy life. She doesn't understand that before I met her, I was just existing with each day blending into the next.
I've never felt as complete as I have running away with Alice. I came alive when she appeared from those woods.
I took one look at her, so scared and disheveled from her escape, and knew I would help her for the rest of my life. She doesn't seem to understand that I need her as much as she needs me.
"Hi, Alice," I say, sounding a little wary.
"Hi, Jasper, we need to talk."
"No, we really don't, darlin'. I know what you're gonna say, and I refuse to hear it. I am not better off without you. You are not damaged. But even if you are, I won't let your damage, damage me. I won't let you leave and carry your baggage up the street. I want to be your future, not your future history."
Alice is staring at me, looking shocked by my refusal to hear her out. I can see in her eyes that she's trying to find a comeback to that. She's a stubborn little thing, but I can be even more stubborn.
"This may be insensitive, Alice, but you need to get your shit together so I can love you. Because, really, I already do. And there's nothing you can do about that. This is our life now, darlin'. And I wouldn't have it any other way."
I see the moment Alice finally gives in. It wasn't hard to change her mind, it's what she's wanted anyway.
I hold out my arms and she walks straight into them.
