S H A R E

C h a p t e r 1

  The chilly night time winds blew right through Avery as she shuffled through the streets. Her duffel bag firmly in her grasp and backpack safely strung on her back were the only possessions she had had. It had been three weeks since she'd run away. Two years of savings from babysitting and house sitting had led her to accumulate 2,000 dollars cash. Add another 1,000 from carefully stealing from her dead beat dads wallet her entire life.

Unfortunately, she had not realized how expensive staying in a motel would be and she's seen her money dwindle down to almost nothing in simply three weeks. She sat down on a park bench and took out her wallet slowly counting each and every bill.

"900" she said aloud. Not to shabby. She thought. Avery knew if she wanted to milk this money out for as long as possible she'd need to sleep outside not in a motel. And then she'd have to settle down at one location and eventually find a job. She sighed. Being homeless was sucky.

Avery shook her head back and forth realizing what she had just thought. Having an abusive and alcoholic dad is worse then being homeless. She was just as hungry where she was now  as she was at home and the bruises that once covered her body were finally able to start fading away. She was better off with no home then the old place she called "home".

The sun was slowly setting as she sat on the park bench watching the hues of orange, pink, purple, and blues emerge from above the park trees. Avery stood up. She wasn't dumb, if she slept tonight it wouldn't be in the park as a 18 year old girl that was dangerous, she never slept out in the open. And if she did it was during the day in a populated area. She began to walk away from the park. She had a small sleeping bag in her larger duffel bag meaning if she found a secluded and safe place she could get some rest that night.

Avery began to walk. She never knew where she was walking too she simply didn't look back. The sun had set about an hour ago from what she could tell. She was hoping to get some sleep tonight. She was in a more ghetto part of town the night before and didn't want to take her chances so passed on getting any rest.

After two hours of walking the houses started to get fewer and fewer and behind them she could see open fields. Avery debated turning back to find somewhere to sleep but that was just wasted time and energy to turn back now. So she continued on. After it was well into the night and the moon was shining high up in the sky the exhaustion started to weigh her down. It was just open fields now she couldn't see anything in front of her or behind her. The lack of sleep was causing her to be delirious and she only had one water bottle left and didn't want to waste it quite yet. Although these open fields were a great place to sleep she didn't know how far she had to walk to get to the next town and she'd rather get most of the walking done in the cold of the night then the heat of the day.

Hope spread through her as she saw a building in the far distance. It took her another 30 minutes to actually reach it but she soon came upon a farm ranch. It was beautiful, and very big clearly indicating wealthy people owned it.

Maybe they could spare some water? Avery thought to her self. She walked along the side of the ranch fence and sat down. I'll ask them in the morning and be on my way. Avery shivered and hugged herself for warmth. She wanted to sleep but she was so cold it seemed nearly impossible.

The moon was finally setting and Avery reveled in the fact that the sun would soon be up. She wasn't as cold anymore. Actually, it was quite the opposite. Her body felt hot. She felt sticky and gross and the cool night air wasn't helping her in any possible way. The exhaustion, dehydration, heat, and cold caused her to simply double over and collapse on the ground. She didn't comprehend the situation she was in but she didn't try to sit back up after all, sleep seemed so alluring who was she to deny it?

As the sun began to rise one of the horses on the ranch awoke going for a morning stroll in the fields. By chance or fate the horse went to the fence edge and walked alongside it until it saw a small figure hunched on the ground. Upon closer examination the horse became startled and jumped and neighed in fright and alarm.

Waking up all who resided in the ranch house.