Shane sat in the car, smoking a cigarette that she hoped would have calmed her nerves. No luck, she looked at the house in front of her, it was still there. She thought that maybe it would look different, that maybe her friends wouldn’t be there. She was tempted to just leave, but she already ran away and she had to grow up sometime. She learnt that while in her little three month absence.

She walked across the street and decided to go in the back, she had to duck behind Max’s truck when Tina walked by her kitchen window. She was fumbling with her keys when she heard a noise behind her.

“Okay put your mother fucking hands in the air you pervy, creepy fucker.” Alice shouted at the top of her lungs, she was walked up behind Shane ready to knock her out with a baseball bat.

“Jesus Christ, Al. you fucking scared the shit out of me.” Shane lent over to pick up her keys that she dropped when Alice tried to attack her.

“Shane?” that came from inside the house, she looked up to see Max and Jenny standing there. Max was holding a frying pan and Jenny had for some reason a spoon.

“Yeah, what the hell is going on?” she kept looking back between Alice and Max and Jenny.

All of a sudden Alice threw down the bat and hugged Shane.

“Thank god, we thought we would never see you again.” then she pulled away and slapped Shane across the arm. “Where the hell have you been you fucker?”

“Ow, that hurt Al, jeez.” Shane held her arm trying to see if Al left a bruise, Jenny walked out and hugged Shane as soon as Alice stopped attacking her.

“How are you doing?” she rubbed her back and just held her.

“I’m good; you know I could be better. So are you guys going to tell me what the hell is going on or what?”

“Oh, well we say some weird car parked across the street and there was someone in it. They were just sitting in there for like an hour so we kinda got freaked out, then all of a sudden we noticed that the person was gone and we heard a noise out here so. Um, we decided to try and um you know stop him.”

“It never occurred to you that it could’ve been me?”

“Well no cause it wasn’t your car, who’s car is that any way’s?”

“Uh hey Al, Jenny do you guys still need me to call the police. Cuz I never heard the signal.” Tina came walking over to the gate that joined the two houses.

“Um no false alarm it was just Shane.”

“Oh my god Shane your home.” Tina ran over and grabbed Shane in great big hug, squeezing a little too tightly for Shane’s liking.

“Uh yeah, you know I think next time I’ll call before coming over here.” Shane said sorta laughing.

“Yeah that would be great, or you could have called any time over the past three months. That would’ve been great too.” Alice said playfully punching Shane, who winced due to Alice hitting her in the same spot as before.

“Hey, what’s going on? Why is everyone standing out here?”

Carmen came walking in holding a grocery bag, she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Shane.

“Hey good news Shane’s back.” Alice said hoping it would lighten the mood.

“Car…. Huuuh…” words seemed to be failing Shane at the moment. She just kept muttering, “I’m …sorry I’ve gotta go.”

Shane left; tears were running down her cheeks.

Carmen, who had her hands rolled into fist, was ready to hit her. She wanted to hit her, she wanted to scream or cry or do something but she couldn’t. She froze as soon as she saw her, and she felt nothing. Then she felt all the anger, all the pain from the past few months ready to come out. She wanted to hurt her as much as she had hurt her, but she saw her. She may have wanted to kill her but, what she felt the most was relieve, knowing that she was alive.

“What did she have to say?” Carmen said quietly.

“She didn’t say anything; we didn’t give her much of a chance.”