It all came rushing back to her in that moment. She might have thought she’d finally escaped from her life, but she was wrong. It had managed to follow her all those miles. And now, here she was with the one guy who was nice to her in months, the only one who’d treated her like a real person, like someone who deserved his love. But she couldn’t look at him, worried he could see everything that was wrong with her, everything she had done, written in her eyes.

“Rachel…what happened? Did he do something to you?” Chris asked, putting his hand on her shoulder, and trying to turn her so he could see her face.

“I can’t…I just can’t- Look…just leave me alone, ok? I don’t deserve any of this…any of the stuff you’ve done. Just let me go, ” she whispered, shaking off his hand and walking away.

She ran down the stairs and out into the street, walking away from her last chance to start over.