Chapter 16

                                    

                                          
“Set Fire to the Rain”



                          
2011 © All Rights Reserved



                          
Chapter 16
                          

                          
Liam drove for two more hours before he dared to stop at a motel.  The interstate was void of most cars with the exception of an occasional trucker along the way.  After they crossed the Richmond City line, he figured that they had gone far enough for the night and that it was now okay to look for a room. 
                          

                          
“Keep your eyes peeled Hope, we’ll stop at the next decent place we see and hunker down for the night.”
                          

                          
“Okay,” Hope muttered, staring out the passenger side window, seemingly in deep thought.  She was now officially on the run.  On the run for something that she had no control over, something that she was born with.  She briefly wondered if the rest of her life would be like this.  Would she have to go from motel to motel, all just to elude the greedy Secret Service?  Is that all that she had to look forward to in the years to come?
                          

                          
Then she wondered about her mom and dad, not her birth parents but the ones that actually raised her.  What were they thinking right now?  Were they looking for her?  Would they be upset because she was gone?  She already knew the answer to all of those questions was yes.  They were probably worried sick about her but at this point there wasn’t much that she could about it.    
                          

                          
She also worried about Bethany.  Hope had been tempted to call her friend only to make sure that she made it out of the woods okay but realizing the time, she decided against it.  If Bethany was at home then she would be in the bed right now considering that it was two in the morning.  She would also not take kindly to being woken up this early either since they were supposed to have school tomorrow. 
                          

                          
Sighing, she told herself that tomorrow would come soon enough and then she will be able to put all of her qualms to rest.  She would call Bethany and maybe even call her parents too, as for the rest of her life she had no idea.  She was clueless as to what lay ahead for both her and Liam.  Only time would tell.
                          

                          
“Hey,” she broke out of reverie and pointed up to the red neon light up ahead, “What about there.”
                          

                          
Liam spotted the Motel 8 sign right about the same time that Hope had mentioned it.  “Yeah, that should work,” he agreed.  He flicked on the turn signal and pulled into the motel parking lot.  It wasn’t very extravagant and it looked pretty much empty which meant that it would suffice for the rest of the night. 
                          

                          
He pulled the car to a stop in front of the motel office and took the keys out of the ignition.  He looked over at Hope who was still looking out the passenger widow and told her, “I’m going to go on in and get us a room.  When I step out of the truck I want you to lock the door behind me, alright?”
                          

                          
Hope turned to Liam and her face softened when she noticed how tried he looked.  He had dark circles under his eyes; his face was paler than usual and he had worry lines etched deep in his face.  In a perfect world, she would have used her fingers to erase those worry lines from his face.  However, this world was far from perfect and it would take much more that a touch to rid him of those deeply etched lines.
                          

                          
Not even thinking about it, she lifted her hand and rested it on his cheek.  He leaned into her touch and closed his eyes, soaking up the feel of their combined energies swirling around the two of them.