-runaway Love - Alexis Love- Veronique Vega- Lindsey: Meadows- Kis-

Alexis didn’t look back. She grabbed Veronique’s arm and pulled her up the steps.

Kis stood up, stretching. “We’re here.” Alexis didn’t look back

Alexis dug into her duffel bag and pulled out a crumpled photograph. It was of a woman who looked like her, but older, sadder. Her mother, before the drugs, before the disappearances. Alexis kissed the photo and tucked it back. “We’re here

Kis was last. She turned her head, just enough for Meadows to see the hard set of her jaw. Then she dropped a single, folded piece of paper onto the wet pavement. It was a list of every violation, every skimmed dollar, every “accidental” lock-in of the basement. A copy was already in an envelope addressed to the state licensing board, sitting in a mailbox two blocks away. Alexis kissed the photo and tucked it back

Through the rain-streaked window, Alexis watched Lindsey Meadows shrink into a furious, pink speck. The bus pulled out of the station, past the strip malls and the pawn shops, toward the dark, open highway.