The echoes of laughter filled the air as the rides continued to whiz past us. There were kids bouncing around as they tried to contain their energy from their cotton candy highs. Staton and I were holding hands as we walked through the crowds, as were Breygan and Aria, leaving poor Julia all on her own. She didn't seem to care as she looked around, dancing to all the music. Her eyes followed every roller coaster that we passed.

"This was such a good idea," I heard Aria whisper to Breygan, her voice lingering in the air as he turns and looks at her, kissing her gently. I look at Staton, pointing to our friends that have been so hot and cold throughout this whole journey. Things felt like they were finally starting to work out. Everything was starting to look up for once.

We walked past all the booths, looking at the games we could play, watching the rides as they continued to spin round and round. The thought of riding anything that was put up in less than three days made me nervous. I wasn't sure how anyone could feel safe on these rides.

We stopped at a game where you had to shoot water into the mouth of a clown, causing me to turn and give a look to Staton.

"Oh are these the evil clowns that we are going to have to kill?" He teases, taking a seat next to me as he hands the guy behind the counter enough cash for the both of us to play a game. I shook my head, rolling my eyes at his joke.

"You think you are so funny but I was serious." I slapped his arm. I looked at the game, watching the clown intently trying to remember back to when my dad would take me to carnivals. It was the one time I thought my parents actually liked me, well at least one of them. My mother would have never been caught dead somewhere like this.

A large countdown started on the side of the wall causing me to jump in my seat before I grabbed the trigger shooting a stream of water at the clown's mouth, trying to be the first one to fill him up. Aria and Julia were next to me, we were all playing the game. I couldn't focus on how they were doing.

The clown jumps back and forth moving in an awkward pattern making it harder to keep the water directly in its mouth. My hand was starting to ache as I held the handle way too tight.

A loud buzzer goes off pulling me out of my thoughts. Julia jumps up in the air as soon as she realizes she is the one that won. I shook my head letting out a sigh.

"You'll get them next time." The guy says from behind the counter as he directs her to pick out a prize.

"That's okay, I didn't want to carry around a dumb stuffed animal for the rest of the night anyways." I tried to play it off as if I wasn't a little upset.

After playing the game a few more times and grabbing our prizes we left the games and headed towards the food stands. My stomach lets out a large growl letting me know that it was time to eat or deal with the consequences.

"What do you guys want to eat?" I looked around, trying to pick a place that everyone would like. We were kind of a group of picky eaters so it was sometimes hard to pick something everyone would be happy with. I wasn't the biggest fan of carnival food, so I'd be lying if I didn't say I was a little discouraged while looking around at my options.

"Honestly I'm so ready to go on a ride, I'm not sure I really want to stop and get food," Breygan mutters, walking slowly beside us. He seemed to be taking in the park, a smile forming on his face for the first time in what felt like a long time.

Breygan was interesting, he always seemed like he hated his life, or hated everything that was going on around him. For some reason, this carnival seemed to be bringing out his inner child. Aria's fingers were wrapped tightly in between her and you could tell she was on cloud nine, finally getting some attention from Breygan that she had been looking for, for quite some time now.

"I don't think I can go on any rides without eating first, yet again I'm not sure If I should eat and then go on a bunch of rides either, especially with how greasy the food is around here." Julia looks around a little nervous. She was obviously deep in thought about if she should eat or not.

"You can't go on any rides anyways, you've got the biggest stuffed animal out of all of us. Don't you know that means you're the animal holder?" I teased, turning to look at the giant monkey she was holding.

"Wait what are you talking about? Is that a thing?" Julia started to panic, I guess the thought of not being to ride any of the rides was a little more than she wanted to deal with. She started to scan the area around her before dropping the monkey on the ground and walking as if nothing had happened.

"Ma'am, you dropped your monkey!" A man shouted, as he passed us, grabbing the monkey and running it over to Julia. Her face turned a bright fiery red as she grabbed it from him.

"Thank you," She muttered, her steps growing quicker as she tried to get out of the situation.

"I mean it's true, but I guess I'll hold it for you if you really must go on the rides, no reason for you to abandon the monkey." I teased.

"Yeah what did that thing ever do to you too deserve to be dropped in the middle of a walkway?" Aria stammers, looking as if she was proud of herself.

Eventually, we found a ride that everyone wanted to go on. It looked like we were going to bypass the food for tonight. The group couldn't stop fighting over what to eat and who wanted what. The lines were long enough that we didn't really want to spend the time standing in them either.

Julie tosses her stuffed animal in my arms before hopping over to get in line with Aria and Breygan, I couldn't help but laugh for a moment. Her happiness, especially after the other night made things a little bit better.

"You going to be okay over here by yourself? Are you sure I can go ride the ride?" I nod my head, looking into Staton's green eyes. It was so sweet of him to take my feelings into consideration, but I really didn't need him to stay.

"Yes I'm sure, I want you to go and have fun, I'm not too fond of the rides, so I can sit out and hold the stuffed animals." I smiled, leaning forward to plant a kiss on his lips. He heads over to the rest of our group jumping in line. They were deep in conversation, their faces covered in wide smiles, that stretched as far as they could. Everyone looked so happy.

I took a seat on a bench that was near enough I could still see my friends in line. I pulled out my phone. I hadn't spent much time on it since running away, I definitely hadn't updated any of my friends that were still back home. They didn't seem to matter when the ones that were here were the ones that I really needed.

It didn't take me long to clear out a few old emails, and useless notifications for games that would be fine to wait another day. I opened up my messages to see if I had any that I had missed. My heart started pounding when the little one icon was lit up next to a name I never expected to see again.

'Where are you? Don't you know how this makes the family look? First your father's death and now you want to run away and act like an adult. If you are not home by the end of the week I'm shutting all of your stuff off. You are such an ungrateful little brat! I'm not paying for you to go party crazy on your credit cards.'

The text message from my mother sent me spiraling into a wave of emotions. First I was shocked that she had even noticed I was gone, then I was confused that she cared in the first place...at least cared enough to send me a text message about it. I looked at the timestamp, the message had been sent three hours earlier. I had somehow missed it. My finger aches from hovering over the screen. This didn't need a response, this is how she always was.

The message proves that she doesn't care that I'm gone, just that she cares about how it looks that I left her too. Except my father never left her, he was a good man that somehow put up with her and continued to stay in love with her through all of the bullshit she put our family through.

From when she stepped out on him with her friend's cousin, to when she went behind his back and maxed out her credit cards before my father's company really took off. She had acted like the was the perfect wife when my father was hit and killed in that car accident years ago. The truth is, if you would have asked me, it wouldn't have been much longer until he kicked her out and moved on to someone better. I missed my dad more than anything. He always acted like he cared, showed me that she wasn't the only person in the world. It may be hard to live with her, but I could make it through until I got out.

Now that I was out, the same feelings were still lingering.

I wish my dad was here to tell me it would be okay. I looked back at the message, reading it over once more. How could my mother be so heartless? All she cared about was her image and how this looked to the neighbors, and her friends. She was living off of a high from my father's insurance money, and his companies assets, but soon she would have that buried in the ground too.

I looked at the date on my phone realizing that tonight was the last night I would be able to use my cards, that way if my mother didn't get shitfaced and forget she had even messaged me at all. I needed to get to an atm so that I could pull out as much as it would let me.

A wild breeze whips through the air, tossing my red hair around my cheeks. Searching the line for my friends I couldn't see them anymore. I had been so invested in that text from my mother that I had forgotten to keep an eye on them. I looked around the place hoping to find any sign of them.

The line seemed to be moving somewhat quickly, but there was no way they should have been that close to the beginning yet. Pulling myself off the bench I searched the line a little harder. As the clock continued to tick away I started to panic, I couldn't waste too much time trying to find them. I needed to get the money out before my mother shut my cards off, that's if she hasn't already.

I made an executive decision, they all had their phones on them and my phone was pretty well charged. Turning on my heel, I start to head in the direction of an ATM.