She braked roughly and slammed the truck harshly into bark, yanking up the emergency brake. Her knuckles were white, holding onto the wheel with as much force as her thin hands could. Thick furry flakes floated down lightly dotting the windshield like spectators to a long awaited event.
      Amber pressed her face to the cold window blinking the tears back furiously. She tried to calm herself for a moment, trying to suppress the shivers that rippled down her body. She watched the flakes thicken on the glass as the world beyond dimmed to a mere haze.
      “This is absolutely ridiculous” She whispered wishing the icy stars before her would harness the voice of the wind and agree with her. Agree with her and tell her to go back home. But no words answered her aching question or called out to comfort her. Even if she did hear such a caring voice it wouldn’t matter, she didn’t have a home to go back to, not anymore.
      She glared out into the world for a moment longer before she pulled her face away from the cool glass, her face tingling with the chill of the day. Cradling her head in her hands she gives up the will to fight her tears and lets them fall quietly. She hears the high keening of a train whistle in the distance.
      “This is the only way” she says aloud as she turns and faces the man next to her. He isn’t exactly a man, not yet anyway, his eyes are still soft with youth. The same age as her, eighteen the year that leads them both across a bridge to adult hood and the reality of the real world.
      His thick black hair falls softly to his eyes, which glow a warm blue in the fading light. His light complexion is a sharp contrast to the intensity of his eyes and hair, his soft skin stretched flawlessly across high cheekbones.
      “Of course it is” He answers in a melodic voice as he intertwines his strong fingers with mine, giving her a winning smile.
      How she wishes she could give him a perfect name to match his perfect form. It seemed her time had run out and she had given up all hope of finding such a name. He continues to smile and stare at her adoringly, but the hand entwined with hers gives no warmth in the cold.
      “Stop it Amber!” she suddenly yelps as she tears her hand away from the perfect boy beside her “Your doing it again, it’s no wonder they don’t love you” she wraps her hands tightly around the wheel once again, as she hears the blare of the train whistle. Now closer.
      She knew she was right, she had alienated everyone around her this past few years. Just so she could fabricate her imaginary world and immerse herself in a place where everything was for her. She looks back into the seat besides her, empty as it had always been. A quick rapping from her driver side window causes her to jump slightly. Spooked by the sudden noise.
      She shakes her head roughly as she rolls down the window, she had to be imagining things again. But when her gaze locks on the boy outside the window she see’s the mistakes that prove he has no place in her imagination. He is so alike to her nameless love, with his thick shaggy black hair, only his falls above his eye brows lending no mystery to his blue eyes. His cloudy, almost too large blue eyes, set  into a face that still holds the faint marks of acne.
      No, this boy is to imperfect to be a dream, but maybe that’s was why Ambers heart skipped a beat as she met his gaze. He has his faults, his hidden impurities just like her own, and even more he is real. She glances at her side view mirror with dismay, her eyes have dark bags beneath them and her face is bare of make-up. Her hair hangs choppily below her jaw line, she had not gave it a second thought when she had chopped off her waist length blonde hair only a few nights before. Now she regretted the harsh jagged lines the small pocket knife had left behind in its frenzied wake.
      “Are you all right?” the boy asks worriedly as he locks his gaze upon ambers.
      “yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”  she asked forgetting everything that had lead up to this moment. The boy looked around himself for a moment before turning back.
       “Well your parked across the tracks and the trains only a few minutes away” he spoke quickly his eyes re-evaluating her own.
      “oh yeah” she stumbled over her words for a moment “My truck stalled” she recovered easily, lying was so easy for her these days.
      “Well try to start her up again, I wouldn’t want you getting squashed by the train” he said light heartedly with a crooked smile that Amber thought she could fall in love with. Some what grudgingly she turns the key and the truck rumbles easily to life.
      “Seems to be your luck day, now you better get off these tracks before the train gets any closer” He continues smiling as he backs away from her window the snow already beginning to mask him.
      “Thanks” She replies unfeelingly, such a nice smile but yet he has to ruin the only plan she had. She pulls the truck into drive and moves forward off the tracks. He watches her begin to move away and begins to turn back to his own car when she calls out to him.
      Wait!” she calls, waiting a moment while he jogs quickly back to her window “What’s your name?”
       “Ryan” he replies with another grin. Amber nods returning the smile and begins to move forward once again, rolling up her window. She watches him disappear in the haze of snow through her mirror, as he returns to his car. She follows the road for a few moments before she glances to her right.
       “There won’t be another train for hours, so maybe it wasn’t meant to end that way. I guess all we can do is follow the road and see where it takes us” She tries to sound solemn but she can’t help but allow the slightest smile. “How does that sound to you, Ryan?”
       “Perfect” Ryan replies from the passenger seat, his winning smile not as appealing as it was minutes before.