My Own Destiny

A New Friend

I had walked for hours. Since I had left earlier than originally planned, I had made it to the train station earlier than expected. I bought both sets of train tickets, one with my card, the other with cash. The one with cash was only a partial ticket for my trip, just in case anyone came by asking about me.

'You watch too many TV shows. It’s not like your father would just show up asking around if you purchased a ticket. He is not that savvy.’ Mia tried to keep my nerves calm.

‘Lucian might.’ I responded. I did not want Lucian out looking for me or, even worse, for him to find me. Surely if Lucian did find me, Jullian would think it was planned for him to meet up with me.

‘What if Lucian is my mate?’ I asked Mia.

I could see Mia looking thoughtfully before shaking her head, ‘I don’t think he is.’

‘What about Brutus?’

Again, Mia sat thinking, ‘I am not sure, but that was a nice kiss.’ She gave a wolfish smile.

I had tried not to think about our kiss, but it was really nice.

When his lips touched mine, I felt excitement run through my body. For a few brief seconds, I did not want to leave.

It actually scared me, the thought that if I stayed, after that kiss, would I fall for him? Even without knowing for sure if he were my mate. Then what if he was not?

‘Ugh, I felt like I needed to go lock myself up in a convent or something for the next six months. My hormones felt like they were in overdrive and now two pack members are saying they may be my mate.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous, a convent? They would make you wear one of those black moo moo style dresses. No make-up, cover our long beautiful hair.’

I rolled my eyes at her, ‘It’s called a habit and I was just exaggerating, these last few days have just been very confusing for me.’

‘

Yeah? Trying being in your head.’ Mia started another laughing fit, making me block her so I could concentrate on the matter at hand.

I had to wait until the banks opened before I could withdraw money. Once I did so, I got on the train that my ticket to Canada was for, but would get off at an earlier stop, then would use the ticket I had purchased in cash. The ticket bought with cash was to go further inland. From there I would buy a bus ticket that I had no plans on using.

At the last minute, I had an idea. I put the receipt of the bus ticket tucked in my phone case. My phone had been turned off so no one could track it. I slid my phone into the bag of an unsuspected passenger, waiting for their bus or train.

Then I saw someone in line for a bus ticket.

“Excuse me.” I said to the young girl, probably close to my age. “Are you buying a bus ticket to Buffalo?”

I had seen her earlier asking a few people for money. She gave me a weary look, like she was not sure she should answer me.

“I ask because my plans have changed, and I have a ticket for the bus leaving in fourty-five minutes.” I tried giving her a warm smile.

“Really?”

“Yes, and there are no refunds, so you can just have my ticket.”

Her face twisted in thought, “I have the money.” She looked at the money fisted in her hand, “Well, most of it.”

I tried to keep my sad sympathetic look off my face, “Its okay, use the money when you get there.” I handed her my ticket.

She hesitated, clearly not used to seeing kindness from others.

“Thank you.” She said softly, as she took the ticket from me.

“You have at least another twenty minutes before they will start boarding. Would you like to grab something to eat?” Again, she looked hesitant, glancing around.

“Do you know my parents?” This question surprised me.

I shook my head, “No, I know nothing about you, except I saw you asking for money for your train ticket.”

I motioned for her to follow me, “Come, my name is Aurora, let's go to the donut shop.”

There was a small donut shop in the station along with some other places with food, but I figured the donut shop would be quicker to get her on her way.

Once in line, she introduced herself. “My name is Tammy.”

“Well, its good to meet you, Tammy.” I realized Tammy was probably younger than I had realized. “How old are you, Tammy?”

I could see her stiffen, then she gave me a defiant smile, one I have seen on my sister's face a thousand times. “Look, I appreciate your ticket but…”

I cut her off, “I am not here to judge you Tammy, I just saw someone that looked like they could use a little help.” I was pretty certain she was running away from home, and I was tempted to ask her to come along with me.

‘You know that would not be safe, she is human, you eventually will need to go to other packs in search of our mate.’ Mia reminded me.

“I am twenty but was in a bad relationship. My parents don’t understand. I was supposed to be mat…ah.... married in about six months but I found out he had been with another female a couple of days ago. I was expected to still marry him, so I left.”

Her eyes were big listening to my story.

It was time for us to order Tammy was torn between getting a breakfast sandwich or a donut.

“Get both, save the donut for later.” I said smiling. "That is what I am doing."

We ordered two breakfast sandwiches, one for each of us. I ended up getting us each two donuts for the road. She got a bottle of soda, I got a hot tea and a couple bottles of water for my journey.

We sat at a table set back from the tables that had people sitting chatting.

She tore into her sandwich like she hadn’t eaten in a while.

“Are you from around here?” I asked, hoping she would not close up on me again.

She watched me again, like she was searching for some hint that I was here to betray her.

“I’ll let you in on a little secret. I had bought that bus ticket with my credit card so that if my family comes looking they may think I went in that direction but I am going somewhere else, so I never planned on using it but, then I saw you and figured why let it go to waste.”

She sat thinking, “That’s smart. I wonder if they would be able to tell if the bus ticket you bought was used.”

“Hmmm, I don’t know. It would be awesome if they could.” I smiled, making her smile in return.

“Seventeen.” She said, making me look at her questioningly.

“I’m seventeen. I lived with my father for years after my mom died, then he remarried a couple of years ago. I have a step sister who is ok, and a step brother.” She stopped, but I could see the pained expression on her face.

“What is wrong Tammy?” I asked.

My stepmother is mean. I do all the chores, cooking, cleaning, but I can deal with that….” Again, she hesitated.

“About five months ago my stepbrother, who is nineteen…. He started making me do things, things I did not want to do.”

“Oh Tammy, did you tell anyone?”

She was looking down at her hands, “Not at first, but after a while I tried to tell my dad, but he didn’t want to hear it, then he must have said something to my stepmother. We got into a fight, she hit me.” She looked up at me with her pained eyes.

“My stepbrother stopped my stepmother from doing anything else. He told her to leave me alone, that I was his girlfriend, which made her even angrier. I was so confused, he isn’t my boyfriend. He threatened that we would run away together if she was mean to me. It almost made me feel safe, but then it came back to me, he was forcing me to do things….”

She had unshed tears in her eyes.

“I have a cousin that lives in Upper State NY near Buffalo, that is where I plan on going.”

“Will they help you?”

She shook her head, yes. “They know I’m coming; they were going to arrange a ticket for me next week, but I could not wait. They decided, since I was his girlfriend, that we could share a room and a bed and it was bad enough being with him a few times a week but to have to sleep beside him every….”

“Shh, its okay, I get it.”

I sighed, “I am so glad I stopped to give you my ticket.”

“I probably should get going.” She said sadly.

“Hold on, I need to get a couple things.” We went into the small store nearby. We didn’t have much time left. I told her to pick out some snacks.

I grabbed a few prepaid VISA cards. I also needed a new phone, one that could not be traced.

“Excuse me.” I said to the man behind the counter.

“Can I help you?” The man said with a heavy accent.

“Yes, I need a new phone. Which ones are burner phones?” I asked.

He gave me a blank look, then looked at the phones he had on the wall and shelves behind him.

He grabbed one, “This very good phone.”

“But is it a burner phone? I asked. I knew I needed a burner phone that could not be traced.

The man looked down at the phone in his hand, then back at the phones behind him. “Phone no burn.”

I could see he didn’t understand what I was talking about.

“I cannot have people trace my phone, I need a burner phone.”

He picked up another phone, “This also good phone.”

I could tell he was at as much of a loss as I was.

He held up his hand, “One minute.” He nodded, like asking okay.

I just nodded back.

The man came back out with a young boy probably not yet in his teens. They were speaking another language. Then the boy came to the counter.

“What kind of phone do you need?” The boy asked.

“I was looking for a burner phone.” The boy just looked at me at first.

“Burner phone?”

“Yes, I want one that cannot be traced to me.” I sighed, this young boy probably wouldn’t understand. Maybe I can just go without a phone.

The boy laughed a little, “They only call them that on TV. There is no ’burner’ phone. It's just a phone that is a pay by month phone that doesn’t have to be registered to a person, well it kind of does but its not like tied to you like a phone you buy at a phone company.

You still make an online account to pay or by the prepaid cards like here.” He grabbed a couple cards, then a phone in a package from behind him.

“This is our best prepaid phone. You scratch this here and use the code to enter into the phone so you can use it and you do that every month or there is a 3 month or 6 month card.”

“But no one can trace this phone back to me?” I asked, hesitantly.

“Only if you give them the number. Once they have the number and know its yours they can try and track you. You can disable the GPS.”

I was looking down at the phone, then back up at the kid. “You can do that?”

He just shook his head. “If you buy it, set it up and I can turn it off for you. If someone really knew what they were doing, they would still be able to figure out what cell tower you were using, but not the exact location.”

“Okay.”

I bought the prepaid phone and two 3 month cards.

I gave Tammy my new number, I also gave her 3 prepaid VISA cards and most of the cash I had left on me.

She didn’t want to take it at first, but I insisted. “I will be able to get more money once the bank opens, please take it." I had used the credit card my parents had given me for most of it, they had plenty of money, so I was not concerned.

Tammy and I exchanged phone numbers. I was not worried about her having my number, no one would ever be able to connect her with me.

I saw Tammy to her bus and we hugged, then waved good-bye as they departed. I was sad to see her leave, but it felt good to have helped her. I had never had an opportunity to help someone on this level before and it felt good.

After that, I went back and took that little boy up on his offer to help me turn the GPS off on the phone I had bought. He was a smart little boy. He showed me all sorts of things I could turn on and off on the phone.

The bank was opening shortly, then after that it would need to make it back to the train station to board.