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Four Months Earlier

~Prologue~

Apov

"Are you sure I can't park closer to the door, sweetheart?" He asks me as he pulls over, a few blocks away from my destination.

It's quite the walk, and it is freezing outside, but there are cameras. It wouldn't be a good idea to get his plates on camera.

"Here is fine." I assure him.

"Call us," He tells me, giving my hand a reassuring squeeze. "We want to know you're safe."

"I will." I promise.

I have to gather every once of strength I have left just to open the door of his Audi SUV. It was a gift from their youngest grandson.

Before I get out, I turn and kiss the old man on his cheek and thank him for everything he and his wife have done for me. Not just for tonight, but over the past few months I've known them.

With one last goodbye, I begin my journey alone.

Detroit winters are brutal, and tonight is no better especially with the blizzard warning in place. We always seem to get a lot of snow in January. It's falling down fast, the wind is blowing hard, and the temperature is freezing. No end of winter in sight. I'm cold, wet and uncomfortable, and the wind slapping and stinging my wet face as it blows is nearly brutal.

I pull my winter coat tighter to keep warm and as dry as I can, but with my bag of what little I packed tucked under my shirt to appear as though I'm larger, or pregnant, is in the way. It's keeping my midsection warmer, though.

The walk is taking longer than I'd like. He could show up at any second but there are still a few blocks left before I reach the bus station. I'm walking as fast as I can in the snow, but I don't want it to appear noticeable that I'm in a hurry so it's taking all my self-control to walk and not run. I'm trying to blend in so if anyone asks about a runaway, nobody will have saw anything suspicious.

Finally inside the bus station, I look back out through the large windows and watch as he waits for me to be safely on a bus before he returns home.

Making sure the borrowed blonde bob wig is still in place from the wind, and my hood for extra coverage is up, I make my way to the ticket windows.

It feels as if everyone I pass is looking at me. The blood is no longer on me, I've cleaned up, but it feels as if it is. It's like they know what I did and know exactly what I'm doing here.

At the window, I chose a woman instead of a man to help me. I'm not naïve, and I'm not conceded either, but men notice women far more than women notice other women. Unless they are a lesbian. Gosh, I hope she's not. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but it would be bad for me if he somehow found where I went and asked around, only to be told exactly where I went by someone who thought I was pretty. Hopefully the blonde wig and the false pregnant belly are enough of a disguise.

I try to act as naturally and normal as I can, not to draw any unnecessary attention to myself as I purchase a bus ticket. Anywhere away from here, it doesn't matter where, but with it being winter up north, I choose somewhere south to start. I decide on a city that has another large bus terminal; an easy way to hop on another bus, then another, getting further and further way from the danger that is lurking here.

Once I have my one-way ticket, I hide in the women's bathroom the few minutes I need to wait until it's time to board.

When I hear my bus being called, I keep my head down and make my way back outside.

The white Audi SUV is still sitting in the spot I left it, thankfully camouflaged with the snow. From the distance I can no longer see the elderly man inside. I would wave, one last thank you and goodbye, but I don't want any attention on him or in the direction he's in. He doesn't need to be in trouble because of me.

Boarding the bus going south, to warmer weather, I get a few questioning looks that make my heart speed up a million miles per minute. The feeling is worse than when people were looking at me inside the bus station.

I choose a sit in the back and the furthest away from others, only a few people are sitting near me, nothing like the front of the bus.

Sirens being heard coming closer cause me to panic. Shit! But as I glance in that direction, the squad car speeds off down the road, slushing dirty snow aside as it goes.

Calm once again, though I think I'll only be calm once this bus moves, I settle in for the long trip. I discreetly move my bag out from inside my shirt and hold it to me.

Finally finished boarding, the doors close and the bus begins to move. I breath a sigh of relief that I made it this far, but I've made it this far before...

Looking back, one last time, I see the Audi pull away and go back in the direction we came from.

As the bus drives through the city, all I can think about is how I have no idea how I will survive.

I may not know where I'm going to end up, and I wont have shelter or a job, but I do know... I am never going back.

A/N: So here is the start of my new story... As I've said in my summary, this story IS inspired by Safe Haven.
Just like with the 50 fics, I'm not claiming to own anything I just didn't have enough room in my summary to add all the disclaimer stuff that I usually put there, and I'm not going to add a disclaimer to every update when it's obvious I don't own Safe Haven OR Fifty Shades of Grey. No profit is being made by writing fanfiction.
Since this story is inspired by Safe Haven, it WILL be similar, but like all my other fics, with a twist.

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