The moonlight shone through the bars of her prison as she finally began to sneak away.Her duffel bag was lying heavily on her shoulder as she took one last look around her room.Then she was down the stairs and creeping across the floor of the family room,when her mother suddenly stopped snoring.Rachel froze,staring at her mother, passed out on the couch as usual, and prayed for the heavy breathing to begin again.Instead she heard “Rachel…”

She straightened up,trying to tuck the duffel bag behind her back.If she was lucky,her mom would still be drunk enough not to notice it.”Hi mom….I was just…coming to get a drink before I went to sleep,”she said,thinking quickly.

“Oh…alright,”she said,already drifting back into her near-comatose state.

As soon as her mom stopped twitching(which took less than 5 minutes),Rachel crept those last 5 steps to the front door.It opened with a creak, but she kept walking.Finally, she was out.And she kept on walking down the dusty path, refusing to look back.