You owe yourself the love that you so freely give

 Hope hadn't meant to be so stupid. She should have figured this out early on with Kenny. Maybe he wasn't as smart as she imagined. Maybe he was a fool to do foolish things with.

When he left with the baby, he said he'd be right back. "Just stay put." Of course, he was in a bad mood so she didn't want to fuss. She supposed she could suffice in the woods in the little RV. She didn't want to think she was scared, but she'd never been left alone on her own like this. Especially, in such a majestic quiet setting.

Yet, she managed to be brave at least the first day. After all, he said he would be back. And she found herself daydreaming of pioneer times of how women were let on their own while men braved the snow and brought back enough food for the winter.

Of course, then she woke herself up to a grizzly moment fighting in the snow, getting away from bears and mountain men. Naturally, she thought some stray brave would come along just in time to save her. If only she could have written it all down.

Now it felt like rottening shit in her brain. It was just something to pass the time away. After all, there wasn't enough food. Another snowfall came. And there was the baby to think about.

Kenny, hadn't said much about the baby. He said, "You're not showing." He made it sound as if it were all in her head. And it hurt that he was so unkind. Naturally, she went through a crying phase the next few days that he didn't love her. Maybe she even hated him for taking her out in this wilderness. She was sure of it now. Not a word from him.

So she mustered up the notion to head down the mountain. She knew she couldn't survive here much longer. Hope wore as many clothes as she could manage and stuffed anything she could eat inside the coats she wore. She didn't look back. She feared she would be sad and it would only bring her down. She moved forward listening for any human contact along the way. But of course, there was none.

Hope couldn't tell how many days it actually took. She was marching toward hope. Even if she did make it toward the highway. Her luck, she'd meet the first serial killer of Colorado, but he was an old fart with a bushy beard who was more interested in raising his own marijuana than buying it from a millennial. 

She heard about it for at least an hour or so. But she kept quiet and once she got to the truckstop she stayed in the bathroom a good hour or so just resting and then she let Megan know where she was, and hoped they could find her.