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I shuffled up to the "Office" building, hunched over to try and retain some warmth in the blizzard that had hit earlier in the morning. The snow had already accumulated past my ankles, and I was thankful to not have to trudge through it once I finally got inside.

The office was well heated, unlike most of the other shacks on the compound. It wasn't a rare thing to be able to see our breath before the lights would shut off for bedtime. I glanced around the small room, but I was alone. The clock on the wall read '3:00.' I was on time; just as requested.

A gust of wind hit my back, and I turned around to see the portly skunk hobble in, wrapped in what must have been every scarf she had ever owned.

"Oh, Darrick, you're early!" She said, moving over to the desk, shedding the scarves. "Have a seat."

I sat down on the familiar old chairs. I had been called in to the office several times by this point, and I always got a little tense because being in that office was usually the start of something very bad. But, today I knew why I was called in, and it wasn't bad at all.

"First off, let me wish you a happy birthday, Darrick," the skunk said, her eyes focused on shuffling a stack of papers in front of her.

"Thank you." I replied. Her attempt at kindness was only a façade usually reserved for visiting parents; she wanted something from me.

"Now," she looked up and laid her arms on the table. "As you probably are aware, once you are eighteen, your parents are no longer legally in control of your choices."

I nodded.

"This means," she continued, "that you are entitled to choose your own education. You've been with us now..." She looked down at the file in front of her. "For about a year and a half. It doesn't seem like that long, does it?"

I shook my head. It seemed longer.

"Now, Darrick," she said leaning in. "You have a choice to make today. You can either stay here, at Dunhill Academy, and finish up the semester, or you can leave our happy little community and try to fend on your own. You're one of our best students, Darrick. Both in grades and in controlling those... urges that you arrived with. I don't think I've ever had a student come in and make such an improvement. It would be a shame to lose you prematurely. You're an example of what the other students can become."

I nodded.

"Now, I did have a conversation with your father today earlier on the phone. Oh! He wishes you a happy birthday as well, by the way," she quickly added in. "We both agree that your best option is to stay here until Spring."

Of course he agreed. He had left me there all summer, and every holiday. I hadn't seen him since he dropped me off. I didn't even get one call or letter. The only reason I knew he was even still alive was that my tuition was paid every quarter. He didn't want me around.

"Your father also pre-paid for your remaining time here, so it would be a shame for him to lose that money, as we do not offer refunds." She looked down at her stack of paper, and turned it around on the desk, pushing it closer to me. "Darrick, you have to make a choice. If you sign this paper, you will be released from our care, and you can go home. But, I have to warn you, the world will not be as kind to you as we have been here. It is full of evil people who will try to tempt you and force you back to your old ways. Back to the days of pain and regret. Do you remember those days?"

I nodded. I did.

"But, Darrick, you have a home with us here. You have food, and an education handed to you. You will not find that outside of here, I can guarantee you that." She held out a pen. "Do you want to sign?"

I stared at the pen in her paw, and shook my head.

"I'm very glad you made the right choice," she said, pulling back the file and quickly putting it away in a cabinet.

It wasn't the right choice, it was my only choice. I had nothing outside of this compound. I had a father who didn't want me, no car, no phone, and my wallet with my ID had turned up missing almost a year ago. If I left, I'd be a drifter. That is what kept me stuck before, and that is what would keep me stuck until the end.

"Now, I have something more exciting for you to sign," she said enthusiastically, shoving a different pile of paper towards me. "As per your fathers request, this is an application to McGunden University, which as I understand it, is where your father got his degree, and his father before that. I was looking it up online, and it's an extremely prestigious college. If we- I mean you, get in, you'd be our biggest success story!"

I looked at the application. My name had already been cleanly written in, along with some other information she had pulled from my file.

"I've already printed out a transcript and my letter of recommendation, all you need to do is finish filling out the application!" She was practically bouncing in her seat." She offered me the pen again. I took it this time.

I flipped through the pages, filling in the occasional empty spot, while she anxiously watched on. I reached the page with the essay information, and looked up at her. "Can I work on this in the commons?"

She tilted her head. "No, why would you want that? You've got all you need right here without the distraction from those other boys. Now get writing!"

I returned my gaze back to the packet. There were several sheets of paper for me to write on. I sighed and began. About two paragraphs in, Ms. Gump pulled out a packet of stamps and fidgeted with them. I could feel her eyes on my hand as I wrote out each word cleanly. This was more like the world's worst test than a college application. But, a good school might be my only chance at a future, so I persisted and wrote one hell of an essay.

By the time I left, the sky was dark, and I had to shove the door open to push tough the snow that had built up on the stoop. The snow was halfway to my knee as I stomped through it, feeling the bitter air slowly soak in. As I walked up to the Commons building, I could see a scarf swaddled skunk trying to make her way through the snow to her truck. A thick envelope with my application was tucked carefully in her arms. I'm not sure how far the post office was from where we were, but she was going to get that in the mail if it killed her.

I walked into the building and nodded to Patrick, who was perched on his stool as usual. The room hadn't changed much since I had first arrived. A few of the faces had been swapped. David had graduated last year, which I was glad about. Him, and the three other boys' spots had been filled with other troubled youth. The Labrador had taken David's place as leader of the pack, and was too busy tormenting the new meat to pay much attention to me.

I had learned how to defend myself. After breaking the nose of someone who tried to come at me in a fight, I hadn't suffered anymore nighttime attacks. I had also found a hobby in lifting a set of weights which had appeared in the Commons building at the start of this school year. With nothing much else to do, I ended up bulking up a bit more than I had intended. I wasn't the skinny, starved, worrying kid I was a year ago. My time in the box had taught me well what was important in life, and it wasn't my past.

The rest of the semester went fairly quickly. When my acceptance letter arrived, Ms. Gump made an enormous deal about it, including a steak dinner for everyone that night. I was fairly popular for the week, before the resentment settled in at being the school pet and raising the expectations for the others, but even that faded with time.

When Spring rolled around, I was ready to be done and over with the place once and for all. I turned in my worn out uniforms, put on a set of street clothes they gave me that still had the thrift store tags, and waited outside in the hot, humid air.

A large black truck pulled up and my heart stopped. I hadn't seen my family is almost two years. I didn't know what to expect. Memories of my father beating me still haunted my dreams, but I had no one else. The window rolled down, and I stared back at the older deer behind the door.

He did not look well. He had lost weight in his face, and his fur had dulled a bit. Or maybe he had always been that color. It was hard to tell. But, he was not the same man that beat me on an apartment floor two years ago. He eyed me over.

"Darrick?" he asked.

I nodded.

He motioned with his chin to get in the truck. I walked to the other side, and opened the door. I was disappointed to not see my sister there. I got in and closed the door, and the truck was off again on the dirt road.

We sat in silence for a while; just two strangers in a truck.

"We, uh," he finally said. "We've got a lot of catching up to do."

I nodded. I had a thousand questions trying to burst through my mouth, but I couldn't get myself to actually ask a single one.

"I see you've gotten a lot bigger," he said. "I barely even recognize you."

I nodded again. There was silence.

"Congratulations on getting into McGunden. The skunk called me with the news last month. She said you wrote an amazing essay. Of course, you were a shoo-in with it being the alma mater. You'll really like it there, it's a fine school, and you'll get a fine education."

There was silence again.

"Look," he said with a sigh. "I'm sorry about all of this. I never wanted to hurt you. But, you're better now, and that's what matters."

My mind went blank. This man who was responsible for putting my life through hell just tried to apologize like he had accidentally eaten the last slice of someone else's pizza. I had nothing to say anymore. I just kept staring forward, watching the dull rural scenery roll by.

He would occasionally look over at me, but we both sat in silence for an uncomfortably long time.

"Do... Do you have any questions about me? About what I've been up to? Or your sister?"

I didn't want to talk to him. But I could not deny my curiosity. "Where is Maggie?"

"She is on a school camping trip. It's apparently a tradition at her school."

"How is she?"

"She is doing well. Smart. Quiet. Just like you."

He didn't even know me, how could he say that? He was absent, at best, in my childhood, and he sent me to a prison for the last two years. I turned my head and looked out the window again.

"Are you mad at me?" I heard him ask.

I couldn't get myself to turn around. My eyes just continued to follow the undulating line on the edge of the barely paved highway.

"I gave you the best that I could give." He continued to say to the back of my head. "When Joan left, I lost everything. You have to understand. I couldn't take care of you. Not with... everything. I couldn't make you become the man I know you are when I wasn't able to be the man I used to be. When Sheevana offered to get you into this school, I made the sacrifice to use what little money we had so that you could become someone in this world. And, from seeing you now, and knowing you got into college, I cannot say that I am sorry for making that choice. Who knows what bridge you'd be sleeping under if I hadn't have si-"

"She didn't leave."

"What?"

"She didn't leave, Dad. Mom died. She killed herself. She jumped off of a bridge two years ago. Because of me. You said so yourself."

He didn't respond, so I turned my head. He was just faced forward, watching the road.

"Didn't she?" I asked.

His eyes stayed on the road.

"DIDN'T SHE?" My body shook as I yelled out the words.

"Darrick," he said, softly. "Being an adult is hard. Sometimes, we make up lies because they are less painful than the truth."

I felt my breath push my chest up and down as my vision started to get dark. It felt like the car was starting to spin. I grabbed onto the door handle to try and settle myself. I could hear my dad's voice but I couldn't make out what he was saying. Everything that had happened to me in the past two years had happened because of a lie. Every beating, every night locked in a dark box with a starving stomach, every ounce of guilt that had torn my insides apart on sleepless nights, it was all because of a lie.

The wind whipped my fur as the door opened. The road was rough and painful as it skinned my shoulder when I hit it. My body rolled along the hot cement, and I found myself laying face up in a patch of tall gasses. I could hear tires screeching on the highway.

'Run.'

My legs ached and my lungs burned as I bolted. I didn't know where I was going; I just knew I couldn't stop. The world felt like a dream as I ran through a field of corn that stretched just above my head. The humidity of the green jungle made my fatigue worse. I felt my hoof catch on a root, and I landed hard into the cold, damp earth. My palms stung as the dirt mixed with the blood from my scrapes, but I kept running.

I ran until my legs refused to move anymore. I collapsed in a field of soy, and laid down, facing the sky. The sun was beginning to set, and the heavens were turning a magnificent magenta above me. My body pulsed and the cool earth pushed against me. The wind made the small soy leaves tickle my arms as they stretched around me. I cried. I cried long, and I cried hard. The pain was unbearable as I let emotions flood my mind for the first time in a year. I had nothing in this world anymore.

I woke up the next morning to something nudging my foot. I jumped awake and scrambled back as I saw two cops looking down at me. They jumped too, and one reached for his gun. I threw up my hands in front of my head and closed my eyes. "Please don't shoot me!"

I didn't feel a bullet pass through any part of me, so I looked up again. The cop lowered his hand.

"What are you doing in this field, son?"

I looked around. I was still in the soy field. A tractor was not too far off. I had apparently only narrowly avoided being squished under its big wheels.

"I... I don't know."

"Have you been drinking?" the other cop asked.

I shook my head.

"Drugs?"

I shook my head again.

"Why are you all banged up? Were you in a fight?"

I looked down. My fur and clothes were dark and stained with blood and dirt. My shoulder was one black scab. "No,"

"Then what the heck happened?"

"I... Just started running."

"From what?"

My mind raced. They'd take me back to my dad if they knew. "Nothing. Just running."

"Are you sure about the drugs?"

"Yes."

"How old are you?"

"Eighteen."

"What is your name?"

"Darrick... Fennet."

"Darrick, do you have an ID on you?"

I shook my head. "No, I lost it a long time ago."

The other officer sighed.

"Well, come with us, Darrick. Let's get you cleaned up, and we can figure out the details later."

The officers picked me up and got me on my feet. They were still wobbly from yesterday. Everything ached as I moved. They led me to the cop car and drove me to the doctor in town, who wiped me down with something that stung enough to make my eyes water, and wrapped me in bandages. He wrote me a prescription for some antibiotics, but since I didn't have any money to pay, he just gave them to me. I stared at the bottle. It was the first nice thing someone had done for me, expecting nothing in return, since my old life. I started crying, and he quickly hurried me out of the office and back to the police in the lobby.

I sat in the police station while they figured out what to do with me. I gently rolled the pills around in the bottle. 'Darrick Fennet' it said on the bottle. 'Fennet.' The name just popped into my head. I must have heard it from somewhere before. As I tried to dig through my memories, I listened to the faint voices of the officers behind a large wall with a big window in the middle of it.

"What are we supposed to do with him? He says he's an adult, but he doesn't have an ID."

"Well, he's sober, right?"

"Yes, but I think he's a little... off. Ya know?"

"Well, being a little off isn't a crime. We can't keep him here."

"So, should we just let him go?"

"There aren't any reports of any fights are there?"

"Not from the last I checked."

"Then maybe he really was just running."

"So, should I send him home?"

"Yeah."

"Hey, guys" a new voice entered in. "Just got someone calling in looking for a missing kid. A deer."

I looked up. All three of the officers were looking back at me from behind the glass wall. My eyes darted to the door, and when I looked back, one of the officers was standing in front of me.

"Darrick... Helm?"

I reluctantly nodded.

The officer looked back and nodded to the others. I saw one of them pick up the phone.

"We are going to take you back to your father's now."

My eyes closed as I felt the hope vanish from me again. I knew I couldn't run. He'd always find me.

"Can you believe he ran twenty miles?" I heard the officer whisper to his partner as I sat in the back of the cop car again.

"I didn't even know that was possible."

"Well, he looks like he's in pretty good shape."

"Does it really count as running away from home if you're eighteen?"

"Well, no. But his dad said he had nowhere else to go, and I'd rather have him back home then on the streets."

I saw him look at me from the corner of his eye, and he turned his head quickly.

It was a long drive back to my dad's. We hadn't made it very far when I jumped from the truck, and if I had indeed ran 20 miles, I was even further away than the school was. It was a lot of time to think about how I was entering back into the world I so desperately had tried to escape from. With nothing else to occupy my mind from the dark thoughts in the back of the car, I returned to rolling my pills around in the bottle. My eyes stared at the false name I had given as it turned in my hands. 'Fennet.' Where had I heard that before?