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Mom appeared in the doorway as I zipped the suitcase. \u201cYou\u2019re being ridiculous. Sleep on it and we\u2019ll discuss this in the morning.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing to discuss,\u201d I replied, surprised by my own calm. \u201cYou\u2019ve made your position clear. I\u2019m making mine clear, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
I wheeled my suitcase past her, grabbed my backpack from the hook by the front door, and stepped out into the night. No one called after me. No one tried to stop me.<\/p>\n
That night, I slept in my car in the Walmart parking lot, using my work uniform as a pillow. For two weeks I kept that routine\u2014working my three jobs, sleeping in my car, showering at the gym where I had a discount membership. I told no one.<\/p>\n
On the fifteenth day, Professor Diane Reynolds, my computer science teacher, noticed me dozing in the library. She gently woke me and asked if everything was all right. Something in her kind eyes broke my carefully maintained composure, and I told her everything. That evening, she drove me to her house and showed me her guest room.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s yours until you figure things out,\u201d she said simply. \u201cNo one should face this alone.\u201d<\/p>\n