Destination

The train cut through the silent night while most of America slept.

As it snaked through canyons and valleys and across plains and prairies, the mountains that dotted the horizon hours ago now loomed larger than anything *Kaitlyn had ever imagined. With each state that passed beneath the rails of the train, she was one step closer to her final destination. Her kids slept next to her while the moonlight framed her thoughts into a tale only written about others. But this was real; this was happening to her and her children and every bump of the track was a reminder that this was a book she couldn't shut and stop reading.

Indiana felt like an entire lifetime ago and it might as well have been. She was not the same woman who left the flat fields of the Hoosier state for Colorado Springs. She replayed life in Colorado even though it did no good. She tried to make a living as best she could but after seven months, it was time to leave and returning to Indiana was not an option. Her six year-old son stirred in his sleep and she snapped back to her present situation. Daydreaming would not accomplish anything and she needed a concrete reality. Montana had to offer solutions because her options were waning. She didn't notice her eight year-old daughter watching her from out the corner of her eye.

Colorado should have been it, the end of her journey. At the invitation of a good friend, she had moved there to create a viable and thriving life for herself and her two children. For the first three months, everything went well and Kaitlyn was enjoying the change in scenery new surroundings afforded her. Indiana faded away and came to her the way dreams appear to people who remember their past in pieces. Her kids were adjusting and she had no reason to suspect anything sinister was about to happen.

As time progressed, Kaitlyn noticed slight changes in her friend's behavior. It was not a sudden occurrence, or one single particular event, but her living situation slowly changed. Little by little, her friend began assuming a more controlling role. Kaitlyn and her children felt trapped because they knew no one else in Colorado Springs. Their daily lives began to deteriorate as they were held under the thumb of their host. A resounding drive to escape began burning inside her but Kaitlyn understood that would entail a clean break... starting over. Could she do that? Was it possible to break free from what was evolving into an abusive relationship?

A week later she took her kids and left for Denver.

(To be continued)


*Not her real name