[center][color=teal][h2]Jessamyn "Jess" Bailey[/h2][/color][/center]

Looking over her shoulder, Jess watched Roxy leave, taking that feeling of discomfort with her. Trying not to dwell on how this could turn out, she placed her belongings into a suitcase and backpack.

A few sets of clothes, a few toiletries. Books given to her as gifts. A notebook she'd written her plans for the future in, easier to stick to if she had them right in front of her. A laptop she'd barely been able to use out here. A framed photograph that showed her as a child, accompanied by both her parents as they sat in the park. Everything had been so much simpler then.

[color=teal]"I won't disappoint you, Dad,"[/color] she whispered, looking at his smiling face in the picture, even though it was too late. He'd gone to his grave not knowing if things would improve for his daughter, his additional source of stress. [color=teal]"I'll be alright."[/color]

She didn't know if she would be alright, but all she could do was convince herself.

After packing away the photo, along with a wooden figurine of a bird her father had carved for her a long time ago - her reminder to "fly high", as he wanted - she checked around the rooms for other items to take.