1The sun rose at 4:30 a.m. over the hills in the gentle countryside near the border of Nevada. Birds chirped their thanks to the sun and gossiped to one another. In a small house a couple of miles from the main town, a tall man sat in the window, letting the moment seep through him. Who knew when the next time he would be able to watch the sun rise from his favorite spot again?
Randy Peterson looked at Amanda, his wife, and sighed. This may be the last time he ever saw her, and the last words she said to him were, "Good night, I love you, dear." They still rang in his memory and echoed in his heart. He knew it wouldn't go away for a long time.
Randy had delayed leaving long enough. When Teri, his sister, came with the warning that he had to leave the town, she had wanted him to leave immediately, that she would stall the police long enough for him to get a head-start. Randy had refused and said that he wanted to spend the night with his wife and twelve-year-old son, Jeff.
Randy couldn't have told Amanda about this. She would have wanted to protect him, or would have wanted to come along. But Randy would never let her come with him. With the harshness of the desert and the merciless torture that came with it, plus having to be on the lookout for someone who would have a reason to ruin his life. Randy would rather be away from Jeff and try to find the culprit than be in jail and have his family visit him with disappointed looks on their faces.
Randy was framed. The reason why he was running was because he was out on a hike when the robbery took place, Amanda was at work and Jeff was at baseball practice, so nobody could clarify that he was out hiking instead of robbing the liquor store.
He didn't have a choice about leaving, mind you, he had to go. He had to find whoever framed him and get back here as soon as possible. He knew once morning came the police would be after him, never thinking once that they might be wrong. Not a thought occurring to them that he might have been innocent, that he didn't rob the liquor store, and that somebody else might have.
Randy kissed his Amanda's forehead and whispered, "I love you, darling." She smiled and turned onto her side. Swallowing a lump in his throat, he slipped a backpack with a full change of clothes and an extra pair of hiking boots and left the room. He looked in on Jeff, who was lightly snoring, and swallowed the even bigger lump.
Heading into the kitchen and grabbing his pocketknife, the portable water filter, canned food, and his wallet. He added them to his backpack. Taking one last took at the house, he hitched the backpack over his shoulder and ran off towards the sun.
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(A/N)If you review, I'll write more!
~Maddie~