Donika drove into the night, her heart pounding. She kept looking over her shoulder at every suspicious vehicle that drove near her on the road. Her phone had been ringing off the hook, so she finally turned it off. When she stopped in North Carolina, she ditched her cellphone and bought a new one with cash.

She didn't want Shyster and Shyster to be able to track her. With their resources, she knew that they could. The most logical place for her to go was home. She knew that they knew that already, but at least they wouldn't be able to track her every movement.

Her new phone was a cheap disposable. The kind drug dealers used. It didn't have any smart phone features except texting or particularly good cell reception. But it was better than the paranoia of her boss tracking her.

She still couldn't remember what had happened for him to want to destroy her life. It had to be more than just a punch in the face. The further she drove, the more terrified she became. At about midnight, she pulled into a hotel and booked a room with cash.

It was a crappy little room, with stained blankets and grimy rugs. She had limited funds until she got her resources back. She had to make it last. Donika took her pistol and all her valuables into the hotel for the night, stowing them under the bed. She slid her pistol under the pillow beside her.

Donika had a pizza delivered but could only eat a few bites as she sat nervously watching television. The pizza was greasy and tasted like plastic. It wasn’t the kind of food that would help her get her appetite back. Donika left the box on the table and turned off the TV. She climbed into bed, unable to fall asleep for another several hours. When she finally passed out in a delirium, late in the night, she had fitful dreams about being followed by dangerous men.

Donika woke the next morning, feeling like she hadn't slept at all. It was a sensation she’d become all too familiar with over the last two years. She pulled herself out of bed and took a long, hot shower. Wrapping herself in one of the thin, crusty towels, she hurried out into the bedroom to dress.

Pulling on her jeans, sweater and sneakers, she took a deep inhalation of the scent of brewing coffee in the tiny hotel room pot. When she poured herself a cup and tasted it, she spat it out. The flavor was horrendous. As much as she needed coffee, she just couldn't drink that. She looked at her watch. It was already almost eleven, checkout time. She groaned and left the hotel room, taking all her valuables with her.

Climbing back into the car, she let out a long sigh and turned on the motor. Sitting in the parking lot for several long minutes, she contemplated her life. How had things gotten so out of hand? She still couldn't remember what had happened at the office, and she had to come to terms with the fact that she may never remember.

She pulled out of the parking lot and headed through the small town, looking for somewhere she could get a decent cup of coffee—she would die for a Starbucks—but came up empty-handed. So, she drove through McDonald's and got a cup from there.

With the hot coffee in her cup holder, she pulled out onto the freeway. Low clouds hung gray and cold in the sky above. The air was heavy and dense, full of frozen moisture. It gave her a claustrophobic sense of being crushed as she drove down the road. Donika looked over her shoulder every few minutes, scanning the road for a sign that she was being followed. But she didn't see anything.

“You're just being paranoid,” she told herself.

The sky finally cleared as she turned onto the highway headed west, late in the afternoon. The landscape changed from coastal to mountainous as she drove through Ohio.

Late in the night, Donika found a place to stay right on the border into Illinois. She sprang for a nicer hotel, still feeling grimy and itchy from the place she'd stayed the night before. It was luxurious compared to her previous night's accommodations. With her gun and valuables stowed in the room, she ordered Chinese takeout and ate most of it.

As she sat watching TV in her room, she suddenly realized that she hadn't contacted her family to let them know she was coming. She looked at her watch and it was well after midnight. Grumbling, she picked up her laptop and typed out an email.

“Dear mom,” she started. “I'm going to be visiting Fate Valley tomorrow. I'll be staying for an indefinite period. I do hope you have room for me.”

She growled at herself and rolled her eyes. She knew her family would be happy to see her. But this was the worst possible circumstance. Arriving with short notice and no plan of leaving anytime soon? She felt like the rudest person in the history of the world.

“Love Donika,” she finished and then pressed “send”.

She slapped her laptop closed and collapsed on the bed, passing out soon after, the TV still on low and her stomach full of sweet-and-sour chicken. When she woke the next morning, she made herself all the coffee in the room, and found more with the complimentary breakfast down in the dining room.

She had a bagel with cream cheese and several more cups of coffee before packing up her car and driving out of town. When she finally made it to Missouri, her heart started to beat faster and sweat formed on her brow. She was almost home. She was going to see her family again for the first time in years. What would happen? Could she tell them she'd been fired? How would she ever live this down? What would they think of her?

She drove under the big blue sky, the big puffy white clouds gliding overhead, trying to get her heart under control. She changed the music channel several times, attempting to find something she wanted to listen to on the radio.

In an instant, her entire world went black. She gasped, waking up on the side of the road. A tapping noise came from her left window.

“Ma'am, roll down your window,” a male voice said.

Donika blinked hard and rolled down her window. The highway patrolman on the other side did not look pleased.

“What seems to be the problem, ma'am?”

“I must've fallen asleep,” she said. “I've been driving for two days. I'm on my way home to Fate Valley.”

“I'm gonna have to ask you to step out of the car, ma’am. Have you been drinking?”

“No, not at all.”

“Please step out of the car ma’am,” he repeated.

She took a deep breath and opened the door, stepping out onto the road. He made her do a sobriety test, which she easily passed, and then wrote her a ticket for being parked on the side of the road.

“I suggest you pull into town and rest for a few hours before you continue your trip,” he said. “Fatigued driving is as dangerous as drunk driving.”

“I'll do that, officer,” she said, taking the ticket.

Donika drove away, watching the patrol car in her rearview mirror. She felt like such an idiot. She’d never had a blackout while driving before. Anything could have happened. She could have driven into oncoming traffic and killed an entire family. She couldn't believe how lucky she was that the car had simply coasted into an embankment and stalled there.

It was only another hour home, so she kept driving. At least she remembered everything that had happened before this blackout. She felt lucid, but maybe she'd forget all this tomorrow.

Soon she saw the sign that read “Welcome to Fate Valley. She was finally home. Now the real drama was about to begin.