The cold night air felt wonderful on her bare skin, the smells alien, yet familiar and comforting.

Looking over her shoulder, the Gate was gone, hidden away. But she knew it had been there, she knew what was on the other side of it. The endless hours spent running and hiding in the Hedge, running for her life.

The area she emerged from was familiar, in a way. Though time had obviously changed somethings, buildings gone, new ones put up, parking lots where fields used to be, but it was home. Or what home had once been. How long had she been gone?

After a few days of wandering aimlessly, she asked around, as quietly as she could. And finally found herself standing outside it. Where her Fetch, lived. She watched from the shadows with her dark hoodie concealing her face.

Then she saw her, older, but it was her…the fetch. Smiling, laughing, living the girl’s life. The life she had been groomed for, the life her mother wanted her to have. Big house with the white picket fence, kids running around outside, the perfect trophy wife. Smiling when asked, not speaking unless spoken to. The life the girl didn’t want. She stepped back further into the shadows shaking her head. Not the life she wanted; it was always about what someone else wanted. Both sides of the hedge had always been what others wanted.

So, while part of her heart had longed for the normalcy that life would provide, a larger part was relieved. She was free now. Free from her mother, free from her Keeper and free to make her own future. Where her life went now would be her choice. There would be no one telling her what to do, what to eat, what to wear, when to talk.

I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly
I'll do what it takes til I touch the sky
And I'll make a wish, take a chance, make a change
And breakaway

But that was also terrifying. She had never been allowed to make any of those decisions. Her mother always made them, or her ex or her Keeper. Where would she go? What would she do?

Scared eyes look around the neighborhood, with its perfect lawns and expensive cars. This wasn’t where she should be. She didn’t want any of this. It all came with a cost more than money. The cost was the loss of freedom. The loss of who she wanted to be.

But where did she want to go? Maybe somewhere warm? Somewhere she had never been?
Her heart beat a little harder, faster, as the possibilities filled her mind. Excitement built inside her.

Buildings with a hundred floors
Swinging 'round revolving doors
Maybe I don't know where they'll take me but
Gotta keep moving on, moving on
Fly away, breakaway

A single tear slid down her cheek. But it wasn't one of sadness, no. It was one of happiness. One of knowing her life was her own now.