Free The Lost Days by Rob Reger Page B

got to this overpass where a bunch of scruffy-looking kids were hanging out and as we walked up, sure enough, they were all like “MOLLY!” and “Where have you been?” and stuff, but then, when I got into the light from the trash-can fires, they kind of got silent and were all staring at me, maybe because I still hadn’t said a word, and then this one girl was like, “Hey, Molly—you seem…different?” and I told them I was Molly’s cousin and I was trying to find her, and then everyone had their story to tell:
Molly had, like, MAJOR problems with how boring her parents were.
Molly ran away, like, all the time.
Her parents never even freaked out when she left, as long as her grades were good.
Molly and I look SOOOOOOO much alike omigod!!!!! 5. Molly was, like, the BEST at making up her own funny lyrics to popular songs.
Everyone had an AKA that Molly gave them, but she would never let anyone give her a nickname.
But she would always invent a new, like, identity for herself whenever she bailed town.
Molly often handed out the big wads of cash her parents gave her.
Molly had these awesome ponies that she trained herself.
Molly (and everyone else in Zigzag) would say “pop” not “soda.”
Molly was tight friends with this kid Ripper who had been running away since he was, like, six months old or something, and was a total pro at it, and the two of them knew runaways in just about every town in the country by now.
Molly was pretty much the most popular girl anyone knew.
No one knew where Molly was this time around, but this one girl said Molly always used to bust a gut over towns with funny names, so if SHE were looking for Molly, that’s where she’d look.

    It appears as though I was a rich, popular, well-dressed girl who kept a neat bedroom and hung out under the overpass at night with a bunch of runaways. Oh. Except I WASN’T.
    Later
    Went down to the local bus depot and searched the departure list for the town with the funniest name. Am now scheduled to leave for Monkey’s Eyebrow, Arizona, in twenty-three minutes. Fingers crossed that my instinct is correct, and I find Molly under the first overpass I check.
    Am reeeeeeeally hoping that I will soon know for sure whether A) I am not (and never have been) Molly Merriweather, or B) I used to be Molly Merriweather, but have lost all trace of my original personality due to pesky amnesia. [Shudder.]
    Day 16
    No Molly in Monkey’s Eyebrow, though she (or I?) was here (going by “Tigra”) about a year ago. After searching all the overpasses and talking to all the runaways (most of whom had stories to tell about the legendary Ripper), I took the next funny-town-name bus out of there, and am now on my way to Pflugerville, Texas. I can only hope that the runaway network there knows something. Anything.

    Day 17
    Nothing in Pflugerville. Have moved on. Am on the bus now to Willacoochee, Georgia. Wish me luck.
    Day 18
    All this travel and meeting strangers is crushing my spirit. Really miss those times in Blackrock when I would do a lot of silent communing with the cats as therapy. Am extremely sorry I don’t have the cats with me.
    Anyway, this kid in Willacoochee thought I was “Bunny,” but had not seen me (Molly?) in about two years. Am on the busagain, about an hour away from Sopchoppy, Florida. Could use a lucky break.

    Later
    Am sick to death of hitting one random town after another looking for Molly. Was “recognized” as “Squid” in Sopchoppy. I guess Molly was there about six months ago. Or I was. Hard to say who is who at this point. Maybe Tigra, Bunny, and Squid are separate people. Maybe there are even more of us. GAHHHH.
    Later
    Finally, a lead. Some kids on the bus recognized me (as “Yodi”) and said they saw me in a town called Blandindulle just two weeks ago. Am on my way there now. Fingers crossed.

    Day 20
    HEY, AMNESIA GIRL!
    YOU ARE NOT MOLLY MERRIWEATHER!
     
    I had to tear out the stuff I wrote about what’s going on. I CAN’T