In the wee hours of the morning, while the rest of her family slept, Jen was packing. A towel wedged under her door assured the light in her room would not be visible from the hallway and invite anyone to inquire if she was OK, she was not OK. An old military duffle bag found at a garage sale was being methodically packed with some of her belongings.

"Enough was enough," she said to herself. Barred from dances and all sporting events by her overly protective mother she had no social life to speak of. Even her invites to sleepovers stopped, when her Mother took to checking up on her despite the fact that the hostesses parents were home.

Kendra, her older brothers girlfriend attempted to champion her cause.

"As you are not a parent, I will ask you to keep your opinions to yourself," her mom snapped in response to her statement of a young girl's curiosity.

Her requests and pleas to attend some school functions went unheard and even her father's attempts to sway her mother's decisions were to no avail. It was a miracle she was allowed to hold a part time job at a local restaurant.

How she loved that job. The work wasn't too hard and it gave her a sliver of a social life. Her boss and the restaurant owner was a kind woman in her late twenties. Her name was Libby Masters and she became something of a big sister and always available to answer questions that she dared not pose to her mother.

Libby was pleased that Jen sought her wisdom. She had no little sister to share the wealth of knowledge she had acquired in college and being on her own since she was 17.

The topic of her desire to leave home was broached to Libby on a very slow night at the restaurant so they were able to sit and discuss it at length. Libby made her aware of all the negative results that this type of action would result in if intercepted while in transit. 

"You probably wouldn't t see the outside until you reach 18. Not to mention that all of your friends would be interviewed by the police, as your mother would be convinced that you were hiding at one of their houses," her boss commented.

"How many people have you discussed this with?"

"No one but you."

"Good, keep it that way."

Jen's 16th birthday arrived. Her family and friends gathered at her parents house for a party. Her Mom had invited many of her girl chums, but no boys her own age.

"You're too young to be thinking about boys," was her mothers standard response.

Then he arrived. He had recently made friends with her brothers and his name was Vlad. He was tall, dark with moderate good looks and a great personality and she had developed a crush on him on their first meeting. Her mistake was telling her mom about it.

Mom's response was to point out the fact that he was way to old for her, him being 21.She ended the discussion with her usual retort of, "Boys at that age only want one thing off a girl your age."

So she made no more comments about her attraction to him. Since speaking to him at length would be frowned upon, she began to write him many letters. In the dozens of pages she sent, she described her feelings, hopes and desires.

His responses were sent to her friend Helen's house, as she didn't trust her Mom not to go through her mail.

As her birthday was on a Friday night, the party was sure to go on for hours. Jen excused herself early saying she was very tired and retreated to her room. Leaving all the lights off in her room, she cracked open her door just a sliver so she could monitor the bathroom across the hall, as it was designated as the guest bathroom.

So in the darkened room she waited, she didn't have to wait long. She heard footsteps on the stairs and through the slightly opened door she saw Vlad enter the bathroom. When he exited about a minute later, she had her door wide open and she was the first thing he saw.

It was not the first time she had done this. It was shortly after she realized that she had a serious crush on him and it was not a case of puppy love that she had come up with the idea. She had gone upstairs early and waited in her room watching through her slightly opened door for Vlad to finish in the bathroom.

When he stepped into the hallway, she swung her door open wide and opened her arms. He stepped into them and they embraced and kissed deeply. Now it happened almost every time he visited and today was no exception..

"I need to talk to you, alone," she requested.

"Whenever and wherever you chose."

"You know where I work, tomorrow morning around 5:00 am."

"See you then."