Mako's Message: Well, this is me officially throwing my hat into the ring of LMI fanfiction. It also seems to prove that I just can't write long chapters, so this is the last time you're ever going to hear me mention a chapter's lack of length...unless, it's, ya know, REALLY short...on purpose.

I really don't know what to say about this, since I haven't even read all that much LMI fanfiction, but if you're reading this because you're a fan of any of my other stuff, it shouldn't disappoint. Be sure to let me know what you liked and what you didn't.

I don't feel afraid very much. I don't really feel anything much anymore.

But when I saw those boys holding Owen underwater I was afraid. And angry. Very, very angry

I didn't eat. This wasn't about food. I just wanted them dead.

I ate a little.

When I dropped the last of the boy who'd been hurting Owen I wasn't angry anymore, but I was still scared.

Would Owen be mad at me for leaving? Would he hate me for what I did?

I was scared he'd be scared of me.

But when I saw him on the side of the pool I was too happy that he was alive to care. I flew to him. I just couldn't keep my feet on the ground.

I reached down to him and he looked up at me and his face was blank. The happiness started to fade, but then he smiled at me, and I was happier than I can remember being.

.oO1Oo.

When Owen looked up at Abby, it took him a moment to realize what he was seeing. Part of him wondered if he'd drowned in the pool and he was being welcomed into heaven. But he was cold, and his back hurt...and his head...and his lungs. And he was pretty sure angels weren't supposed to be covered in blood. So he was left with the amazing truth that this really was Abby in front of him, and that she really had come back, and she'd saved him.

He grinned as widely as he could.

"I can't stay," She said, and his smile disappeared.

She looked down at the floor then back at him and then back to the floor before she pushed a bit of hair, which was stuck together with blood, behind her ear, and finally met his eyes, an unsure but hopeful smile on her face "Do you want to come with me?"

.oO2Oo.

Abby dove into the pool to wash the blood from her hair and skin. Her clothes would be abandoned. Owen would lend her his gym clothes until they could get back to his apartment where she could steal another of his mother's dresses.

While Owen was drying off and getting dressed, he couldn't stop smiling. Abby had come back. She'd come back for him. And now they were going to run away together.

When he came out of the locker room he couldn't see Abby, and for one heart-sinkingly horrible moment he wondered if she'd changed her mind and left without him. But then she popped up from under the water and smiled at him as she pushed her hair out of her eyes. "I brought you clothes" he said holding up the bundle of his gym clothes. Then pointed towards the girls' locker room, "You can get changed in there."

She swam to the edge of the of the pool and took the clothes before saying, "Thank you" and walking to where Owen had directed and smiling over her shoulder.

Owen tried very hard not to blush or stare as she walked away with her clothes wet and clinging to her body.

Not too much anyway.

When she was out of sight he broke out in another excited grin. He was leaving this place. And with Abby. He couldn't remember being happier.

He did wish she'd hurry up though. The longer she was away the harder it got to ignore the bodies. And the smell.

He sat on the bleachers, rocking back and forth and playing with the zipper on his jacket as he waited. Wondering what was taking her so long. Wondering why nobody had come back to the pool yet. Wondering how much longer until somebody did.

He really didn't want to be here when someone did come back. And Abby couldn't be. She most definitely had to be gone before anyone came in and saw this.

"Owen?"

Owen startled and looked up. Abby was standing only a few feet away and he hadn't even noticed. She was so cool. He noticed that she'd combed her hair. That must've been what had taken so long.

"Ready to go?"

He smiled, barely able to contain his excitement, he said, "Yeah, definitely," then he got up and started toward door.

"Owen, wait, we can't go that way."

Owen's face scrunched up in confusion, "Then how're we getting out of here?"

Abby's smile was one of excitement, amusement, and smug superiority. The kind a person wears when they know something the another person wants to hear but they won't tell them, even though they can't wait to see the person's reaction to what they have to say.

"Come on Abby."

Of course she couldn't keep it to herself forever even if she wanted to, so she waited another few seconds before saying, "We're going to fly."

Owen's eyes widened in disbelieving amazement, "Really?"

"ah-huh"

Owen's face lit up, "You're so cool."

Abby blushed, "Thanks. Now give me your hands." Owen did so, and she wrapped them around her neck before putting her arm around his waist, "Now hold on tight." Owen didn't object, pressing his face tightly into her neck. He heard he giggle and then a second later they were in motion, the wind whipping through their clothes as they burst out into the night.

.oO3Oo.

Half terrified, half exhilarated, Owen wasn't able to open his eyes long enough to take in much of the flight, and what he did see was an indecipherable blur of darkness and light. The trip didn't seem to take long and they were back at the apartment complex before he could say, "Are we there yet?"

They ran up to his apartment, Abby suddenly seeming far more nervous than excited. She waited in the hall looking around while he checked the apartment and found his mother safely asleep on the couch. He sighed at the empty bottle of wine sitting on the coffee table. She'd probably sat down to have a glass after work while he was still at school and of course one glass turned into one bottle.

He opened the door and said, "You can come in."

Abby slipped in quick as lightning and silent as a ghost and headed straight for his room.

Owen went into his mother's room and picked out a dress he thought would fit Abby before heading back to his room. Then he stopped in the hall and decided to go back for two more. Just in case.

When he opened the door to his room, Owen found Abby standing in the corner, almost seeming to fade away in the shadows and peering cautiously through the window. "I got you some dresses."

Abby took a moment to respond, but then smiled, "Thank you," and took the dresses. She selected a dress with a flower print than turned to Owen who was watching her closely. Each hesitated before they each turned their back on the other as Abby took off Owen's gym clothes and changed into the dress he'd brought her.

Trying not to think about the girl undressing a few feet behind his back, Owen asked, "So how are we leaving?"

"I was-" she stopped as she pulled the dress over her head, "I was going to buy a train ticket and just stay-" she hesitated before finishing, "just stay in my trunk."

Abby seemed to be waiting for a reaction so Owen said, "Will you be okay? In your trunk all night?"

Abby seemed happy with his response, "I have my books and puzzles, I'll be fine for one night, and I'll be asleep during the day."

"Oh. Right. Do you have enough money for me to get a ticket?"

Abby smiled at him, "I don't need to get you a ticket. You can just use the ticket that gets my trunk on the train."

"Oh, well, how're we getting there? Fly?"

Abby scrunched up her face, "I'd rather not. Flying that far is hard. We could take a cab, but all my money is in my trunk."

"I'll just get some from my mom's purse. Not like I'll be around to get in trouble for it"

"Okay." She looked around his room then asked, "Do you have a jacket or sweatshirt I could wear? Something with a hood?"

"I thought you didn't get cold?"

"I don't. I just—I want to be able to hide my face." Abby was very quiet after she said that, and Owen understood why. She'd killed people, a lot of people, a cop and children among them. It was only a matter of time before people started looking for who did it, so it was best for both of them to not be seen if they could avoid it.

Owen dug around in his dresser for a moment before pulling out a grey hooded sweatshirt that was obviously too big for him, "I borrowed it from my dad," he said by way of explanation.

Abby slipped it on and the sleeves came past her hands, and when she pulled the hood up it fell down so that Owen could only see the lower half of her face. She lifted the edge of the hood up with her hands still engulfed in the sleeve and smiled at him, "It's perfect. Now go get the money and pack a bag of clothes while I go call a cab.

.oO4Oo.

When the cab pulled up and the two got in, Owen with his own hood up, he was surprised by how withdrawn Abby was. She hunched in on herself, pulled the hood as far over her face as it would go, and stayed behind Owen the entire time. He didn't ask her why she acting like that. He knew she wanted to keep her face hidden, but he was still surprised by how far she was willing to go with it.

When they arrived the station where she had stored her trunk, after the fare had been paid and the cab had driven away Abby pulled her hood back a bit and, perhaps sensing his curiosity, said, "That was the same man who drove me last night."

They both looked at each other after she said that, and then began to laugh for no reason.

After their giggle fit, they wasted no more time in getting the trunk out of temporary storage, getting the trunk onto a cart, getting Abby into the trunk, and buying the ticket. Getting the trunk onto the train wasn't as much trouble as he'd worried it'd be. Even with Abby in it the trunk was still mostly empty and she didn't weigh much. In fact, one of the porters who helped him bring the trunk onboard asked him what he had such a big trunk for.

Owen sat on the train quite pleased with how smoothly everything had gone, though a few hours later Owen was wishing Abby could be sitting with him as he was getting pretty bored, not even being able to look at the landscapes they rode by, and felt guilty about taking the seat Abby could have had since he was going to fall asleep soon whether he wanted to or not while Abby was awake in the cramped trunk. Of course, the alternative was either to risk one of the conductors noticing an extra person on the train, or switching places with her(in which case someone might still notice that she hadn't been on the train before) and he really didn't want to spend the night in the trunk, so he just tried to not think about it. Too much.

It was when he was drifting off to sleep, listening to the click-clacking of the train on the tracks, the luggage knocking together, the car shuddering and shaking, he could talk to Abby. If he was careful about it.

It didn't need to be hard, since it'd be hard for her to not hear it, but it did need to be purposeful so that she'd pay attention to it and not think he'd just knocked against it by accident.

He knocked, as deliberately as possible, "Hi."

There was a few moments of silence before a soft knocking came back from inside the trunk, "Hi?"

They hadn't learned how to use punctuation in Morse code, if that was even possible, but the tentativeness of it made the question mark obvious and Owen smile.

"Bored."

"O"

"U OK"

"Rding."

"U can c"

"Yes"

"Cool"

"Pple"

It took Owen a moment to figure out what that meant, but then he tapped back, "yes" as he wished the car had been empty. Then Abby sitting with him wouldn't be nearly as risky.

"Sry"

"OK"

"Time."

Owen knocked ten times.

"Sleep."

"U sure"

"Yes u need rst"

"Wht bt u"

"Il b fine" a brief pause then, "books"

"OK"

"gdnite"

Owen was about to tap back the same, then realized it didn't really apply since she was going to be awake. He changed his mind again though, deciding that he could still wish her a good night.

He then curled up on the seat and, with his hand resting on the trunk, he fell asleep.

.oO5Oo.

Owen woke suddenly, sitting up and looking around confusedly. Movement drew his attention to Abby's trunk, where he saw her eyes peering brightly at him through the barest crack of an opening. She smiled at him as she opened the trunk just enough for him to see her entire smiling face. He quickly looked around and saw that everyone else in the car was asleep, he said, "Good morning." And then his eyes shot wide open as he looked out the window towards the horizon where the sun was just beginning appear, "Abby, the sun is almost up!" he whispered frantically.

She shut her eyes hard then, and blinked rapidly when she opened them again, "I know. I wont be able to stay awake much longer." She smiled at him and slipped a book out through the opening to him, "I thought you might like something to read since I won't be..." she trailed off as her head started to droop, then her head shot back up and her eyes were wide, "I wont be able to talk to you," she said smiling sheepishly.

Owen took the book, The Hound of The Baskervilles, then asked her, "Is this what you were reading?"

She nodded with her eyes closed and her head resting against the side of the trunk.

Owen smiled and said, "Thank you," but Abby didn't respond. He checked around the train car again before lifting the lid of the trunk and moving her hand from where it was propping up the lid. Then with nervous hands he reached in and moved her so that she was curled up on the bottom of the trunk with a bundle of clothes under her head. He looked around one more time before quickly leaning and, after a moments hesitation, kissing her on the cheek. He shut the trunk and sat back on the seat feeling immensely proud of himself.

They arrived at their station soon after where Owen received some help carrying Abby in her trunk. Unfortunately, Owen had to constantly stop the porter from tilting the trunk, or letting it bump into things or down the stairs and by the time he got to the platform where they would catch their next train he devoutly wished he'd had some "FRAGILE" and "This Side UP" stickers to put on the trunk.

As they waited, Owen sat on the end of the trunk where Abby's feet would be and read the book she'd given him. It was obviously very old and Owen wondered if it was one of original copies. It was also a bit easier to read than Romeo and Juliet but not by much. Still, Abby had wanted them to go as deep into the Rocky Mountains as possible, which unfortunately meant they had to wait for a train that didn't run very often so he stuck with it and had nearly finished it by the time their train came. Hopefully once they got where they were going Abby wouldn't want to go anywhere else for awhile. It hadn't even been a day and he was already getting tired of traveling.

Their next train was virtually empty, and Owen was eagerly looking forward to nightfall so that Abby could come out of the trunk. But as it was, the ride was boring and Owen fell asleep, only to be awakened sometime shortly after dark by the screeching of the trains breaks.

At first Owen assumed that they must be at their stop, but when he looked out the window he didn't see anything that looked like a train station, or even a town. He could make out what looked like flashing lights up ahead. Not knowing what else to do, he through open the lid of the trunk, causing Abby to look up at him in shock, "Owen, what's going on?"

"I don't know. The train stopped but we're not at a station and I think there are police up ahead."

Abby's eyes went wide and darted side to side, "Maybe...maybe there was an accident on the tracks?"

"Maybe." Owen said, feeling the panic start to leave him. He lowered the lid slightly and looked around to see if the other person in their car had noticed him talking to Abby. Fortunately, the other passenger showed no sign that he'd paid any attention to Owen. Unfortunately just when Owen was starting to think he'd panicked over nothing, two cops walked into their car.

One of them spotted Owen looking back at him in wide eyed horror almost immediately and pointed him out to his partner.

Owen looked down at Abby who seemed to already know what he was about to say, "We have to run. Now."