The Outsider

Prologue

She still remembers this day like it was yesterday.

Her long, sunshine blonde hair flew behind her in the direction of the wind as she drove her roofless Audi, hoping to find a brighter future. She had her favourite ray bans on and sang to the loud pop music blasting out in the car.

She finally felt freedom.

She wanted to get away from her stressful life with her constantly arguing parents. It almost felt like she was growing wings on her back and was finally able to fly away.

Eliana found it a bit ironic how she found herself in Nevada on route 50 highway - the loneliest road in America. She felt like she fitted right in and was the loneliest woman on the planet.

"This is a new start"- she told herself.
"I'm changing the direction of my life and will finally be happy."

So that was her goal: to get away from every bad experience she had and to find true happiness that she deserved.

She didn't want anymore fake friends, or to date guys who would only flirt with her because of her looks, and not for her personality.

Eliana was looking for so much more, but she didn't know true love;
Love that could give her butterflies in her stomach, be with her through the good and the bad, and turn her life around.

But as she was lost in thought, things didn't go as perfect as she wanted.

The car was suddenly slowing down, confusing Eliana as she tried to stomp her foot harder on the pedal out of frustration.

"No, don't do this to me now. Not now, please."
She whispered pleadingly to the car that then suddenly stopped in the middle of the road.

Eliana panicked.
She wasn't the best at behaving calm in bad situations. Especially this bad.

She looked around for help, but there was nothing. All she could see in the horizon was the road and the empty fields. She stepped out of the car and started pacing around it.

She had no idea how to fix cars. There was no way she could go back on foot or even walk to any town. She knew there were too many miles to beat and it would take her days to go anywhere.

"I'm so stupid. Why do things like this always happen to me?" She muttered to herself, unsure what to do and wanted to cry out of frustration.

In fact, this was all her fault. She could have planned her escape better.
It was obvious from the start that her car wasn't in perfect condition, but she couldn't stand living in Manhattan any longer.

Being nineteen, meaning underage had its downsides. She was sure if she tried calling anywhere for help they would have to contact her parents, which was the last thing she would have wanted.

They were probably already searching for her.

Eliana took a deep breath and hoped she would see a car pass by. It was a slim chance, but thought perhaps she deserved to be lucky at least this once.

After a couple of minutes of staring and thinking, she finally noticed something far away.

It was strange, and she tried to squint to see what it was but couldn't make out what it was exactly.

She hoped there was a random modern house built in the middle of nowhere, but the smoke coming out of it told her a different story.
She had nothing to lose, but also there was this weird feeling that was pulling her towards it, so she walked.

It took her a while to get closer.

As Eliana got closer, she pinched herself and started rubbing her eyes to confirm whether what she saw was real.
She couldn't believe it.