Ash hadn’t wanted to go home tonight. She had left the house without permission, against her father’s wishes. She had planned to be out and back again before he returned, but the day’s events had progressed so rapidly that hours flew by before she realized it. Now, the sun had almost set, and she knew she would have to face the consequences. Ironically, facing a stern lecture should be nothing compared to what she and her friends were going up against in less than an hour, but she felt her stomach twist into a knot regardless. She entered the house to see him sitting in the drawing room, sitting perfectly straight of course, not a hair out of place.

            “Have anything to say for yourself?” he asked in his standard condescending tone. They didn’t have a T.V. in their home; her father considered it a distraction. Ash thought she could use something to distract her right now. Arnold sighed after hearing no answer. “It hasn’t even been a full day, and yet you seem determined to disobey me at every opportunity,” he sighed.

            “You can’t just keep me locked up here,” she muttered.

            “And what reason would you have to leave? You have everything you need in this house. What, you want to waste more time with your so-called ‘friends’? Do you really think they have anything to offer you?”

            “They don’t need to offer me anything! They like me, and I like them. I can be myself around them!” she said. The tone of her voice surprised her. She rarely raised her voice around anyone, much less her father, who usually immediately shut down any voice of protest she would make. In fact, his eyebrows rose slightly as she said this.

            “Oh? And where do you think that will get you? You may think those friends of yours are the most important thing in the world right now, but mark my words, there will come a day when they leave you, and what will you have to show for all the time you wasted with them? The world doesn’t care about who you are, Ashlynn. All that matters is your value to society. You were lucky enough to be born into a position that most young women would envy. You haven’t forgotten the apprenticeship I set up for you, have you? I’ve practically handed you your future on a silver platter, and yet you seem intent on wasting it.”

            Ash gritted her teeth. She had gotten used to shrugging off disparaging comments about herself, her worth, her future. She had learned to take them in stride, but tonight her father’s words seemed to cut her down to the bone. Was it because he had said those things about her friends? Was that why she could feel this fury rising in her chest? Or was it because deep down she feared he might be right? No, she thought. Not them. And yet what could she say? Sooner or later, she would have to face reality and go down the path that had been laid out for her.

            Or not. What if she refused, sacrificing a guaranteed successful, comfortable life? Would they try to convince her to take that path, knowing it was for her own good? Would they fight to try to keep her from leaving? Which was the more selfish option? What did she want?

            They’d let you decide for yourself. You have to decide for yourself.

            “I… I want to be a historian!” she blurted out.

            “What?” Arnold sputtered incredulously.

            “I want to be a historian, and I want to teach people things! I want to have my own museum, and… and people from all over will come to listen to me and learn about… well, all sorts of things. I’ll have to go to school somewhere — I’ll pay for it myself, I don’t care, and —”

             “Now listen, Ashlynn —”

            “No, shut the hell up! I’m not going to live some bullshit life trapped in a pretty cage! I want to live my own future, and I want you to be proud of me so freaking badly, but if I have to sacrifice my dreams for that, then I’d rather you hate me!”

            Where the heck did that all come from? Ash’s heart was pounding. She’d never been so open or aggressive with her feelings before, not even to her friends. Saying all that had been… terrifying, but it had also been strangely relieving. It was like a massive weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

            Arnold continued to stand in front of her. He seemed like he was at a complete loss for words. After a few seconds of stunned silence, he quickly cleared his throat and wet his lips.

            “Well, it, ah, seems we have a lot to discuss. I… promised some gentlemen from the office that we would go drinking tonight. The cab will be here soon. Perhaps tomorrow, we can… well, I should be going.”

            As if on cue, there was a honk from outside. Arnold left to greet him. Ash was still too shocked to move. We’re going to talk tomorrow? And he’s going — wait, he couldn’t go out! Not tonight! It was too dangerous. Ash snapped back to reality and rushed out of the house after him.

            “Dad, wait!” she yelled.

            He was already getting in the car. Ash began to get a funny feeling in her stomach. It wasn’t unlike her father to go out with work friends from time to time, but something didn’t feel right. As the car pulled out of their driveway, the driver caught her eye, smiled, and winked. That was strange. Ash didn’t think they had ever met except in passing, much less spoken.

            That was when she noticed the direction he had turned. There were only three bars in town, all of them towards the business district in the center. In the opposite direction. Her father was heading toward the outskirts of town. Directly towards the hill on which sat Jefferson Memorial Hospital.

            Oh my God. She ran after them.