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Donni Dakata's life was that of any other eighteen year old, just graduating from high school and ready to start their life. She had spent the last two years planning her three month trip around the world during the summer break before college started. She had already been accepted to NYU/Tisch for dancing, acting, and art. Though many had no problem telling her just how impossible it would be to major in all three areas at once, one of the advisors at NYU was willing to help plan out her schedule so that she could do just that. Donni would take two classes a day for each dancing, acting, and art on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Mondays and Wednesdays she would take a total of five required courses, and on Fridays she would only take one class for each major, plus two extra classes that were required so she could work ahead and get those credits quicker. She knew her four years of college were going to be excruciating and exhausting, but she was willing to suffer through all that to be able to claim her prize at the end of those four years. A set in stone, triple threat, career, one where she when she worked and who she worked for. It was perfect. And, although, NYU was on the complete opposite coast of Fresno, California, Donni knew she had to separate herself from the comfort of having her friends and family so close. Her classes started in the fall, which gave her a very short time to be wild and free of all responsibilities, which is exactly what this trip would grant her.

Donni had already packed and was all ready to head out right after the graduation ceremony. Her first destination was San Bernadino, where she would set out on Route sixty-six and discover the places that took her. Although the beginning, and majority of her trip, would be all around the United States, she had a few European destinations that would be a couple weeks out of the last part of her trip, and leading her almost to the end of her map. After that, she would eventually end up in New York, in her new apartment, the week before her classes started, giving her just enough time to get settled. That was if the graduation ceremony would ever end. It seemed to drag on forever, or rather all the speeches did.

As Donni waited and watched the principal and school staffs' speeches, which were supposed to eventually lead up to the senior class walking, she noticed her parents on the other side of the aisle and a few rows back from where she was.

Donni rarely saw or heard her parents together, much less saw them sit right next to each other and be civil. That was something that amazed her, even immediately following their divorce, when it came to their daughter they always managed to set their problems on the back burner and focus on her. After all she was their only child and they took great pride in her.

At that moment, Alice and Roger Dakata sat four rows back and across the aisle from Donni and her classmates, and showed their support with whoops and hollers whenever they had the chance. It got even worse when her name was finally called to walk across the stage where she got her tassel swept to the other side of her cap, and finally got handed her diploma just before stepping down, off the stage.

"Woo hoo, go Donna!" "Donni you rock!" She heard not only from her parent's, but from friends as well, though the shouts from mom and dad were heard more clearly over all the rest. Thankfully, she was able to get off stage in a matter of forty-five seconds and return to her seat where she waited for the rest of her classmate's names to be called off.

It was a short wait in that there were only eleven more senior graduates left to be called after Donni. She sank low in her chair–next to her friends–and waited patiently as two of her friends were amongst the last to be called.

Once the last name was read off and he went through the whole routine, Principal Garson came to the podium and introduced the senior graduating class once again.

More excited about the whole ceremony being over than actually excited about surviving high school and now graduating, the whole class stood to their feet, quickly removed their tassels, and threw their caps high in the air with a loud cheer. Most tried to jump and catch their own, but with the sun shining brightly down on the event, most weren't able to keep track of whose was whose through the blinding rays.

Donni put one hand into the hair and caught the first cap to reach her hand. Looking down at it she realized she had caught her own out of sheer dumb luck. She could tell from her initials that her mother had stamped on the inside tag, even against Donni's wishes.

Once the celebration had come to an end, graduates and family shuffled back down the center aisle as one large mass, all heading to the parking lot to gather in smaller groups.

Donni made sure to find her parents first and receive their congratulations first. They both embraced her in a tight hold that lasted for a good minute or two.

"Okay you guys, you have to let me go sometime." Donni spoke, her oxygen supply being depleted.

"Right, right." Her mother agreed, wiping at her eyes, both her and Rodger stepping back to allow Donni some air. There was a long moment of silence as Donni looked at her parents and they looked back at her with emotional scrutiny.

"I love you both," Donni said, stepping forward to hug them both again. "You don't have to worry either, I'm going to be just fine." She assured them, holding them, possibly tighter, than they had held her. "I gotta go, but I'll call in a couple days to check in." She promised before giving her mom and dad each a kiss on the cheek and backing away from them. She flashed them both a smile before turning away and heading for her car across the lot.

When she reached her car, she found it decorated with window paints and streamers tied to the back fender, her friends obvious way of saying bon voyage.

"Surprise!" They all yelled as Donni came in sight of her car.

"Thanks, I think." Donni said, coming to stand closer to examine all the little notes they all had made on her windows and back end of the 1967 Dodge Charger. It had been a project car she had helped her dad completely restore, which he then surprised her with on her seventeenth birthday.

"Well, take a good look guys. She's off on whirlwind adventure, that she knows we are all jealous of, and we will probably never see her again accept for on billboards and in the spotlight." Kasey, one of Donni's ultimate best friends since elementary school.

"Oh shut up, I'll be home for every Thanksgiving and Christmas." Donni said, giving her friend a hug. "And I promise to never forget all you little people." Which got her several slaps to the arm and back, and only made her laugh.

"We're gonna still miss you." Donovan, another good friend she had met back in freshman year.

"I know because I'm going to miss you all you twice as much. Especially all the crazy memories we've made together." Donni laughed, all of them reminiscing on at least one of the memorable times they had spent together and would remember for the rest of their lives.

Knowing that they had to let her go sometime, each of them stepped up to give Donni a hug and give her some kind of words of advice before she left them. After hugging through the line of friends, Donni got to the driver's side door and opened it, stripped off her cap and gown and threw them in the backseat–she would fold them neatly and store them away later. Underneath her gown she had on a pair of cut off shorts and a tank top to be comfortable. She reached over to the passenger side seat and grabbed her flip flops, now able to kick off her heels, with relief, and slip on a more comfortable choice of footwear.

All of her bags were already packed an in the trunk, the rest of her things were on their way to her apartment via her dad's moving company, and she was free.

Free for three months on a planned road trip that she had been waiting for since middle school.

Donni slipped into the driver's side, vintage leather bucket seat and closed the door after her. Donni fussed with her hair in the rear view mirror, letting it out of it's simple, yet formal, up do that her mother insisted on doing, and let it fall in golden waves over her shoulders and down her back. Only then did she stick the keys in the ignition and started the engine, letting it roar into life. Some of her friends still lingered and waved as she backed out of the parking slot, then shifted into gear and peeled out of the parking lot just for their satisfaction, and turned onto the road that led to her three months of freedom. Donni was more than ready for this trip. In fact she needed this trip, maybe even more than she realized at that point.

It was ten o'clock that night and Donni had made it most of the way to San Bernadino. In fact she was no more than an hour and a half away from the city limits, but she was beginning to feel drowsy and her eyelids, heavy, and even though she wanted to push on, she knew better than to keep going in her condition. To her right she caught sight of a sign that gave the location of a motel just off the highway and less than a mile away. In most cases it, it would not be that good of an idea to stop at some side of the road, out in the middle of nowhere motel, but it was a little different for Donni. Between her self-defense training that her parents had put her in when she was six-and had just finished three months ago-and natural agility, combined with her extensive, not to mention engraved, street smarts and knowledge, let's just say she knew how to take care of herself. Besides, she had been planning this trip for years, she had taken care to do extensive research on all the hotels and motels along the route she was taking, as well as all the restaurants, rest stops, and gas stations. After all, when you have planned a trip for close to five years, you want to know exactly where you're going.

Donni pulled into the parking lot of the motel and slowly, but surely, climbed out of her car, stretching all the way. She had been held up in that car for four and a half hours straight, only stopping once-a couple hours after leaving graduation-for a bathroom break and snack stop, that only took about twenty minutes tops.

After stretching, and letting out a deep yawn, Donni headed for the front office with only her purse to get a room. As she reached the glass double doors and was about to open one for herself, she drew her hand back as she noticed something strange in the reflection they held. She turned around quickly to get a better look at what she was sure she had seen in the reflection. There was a sort of suspicious looking man-baseball hat pulled low, over the top most of his face, and completely dressed in dark clothing-leaning against a black car, that she could only assume was his, across the parking lot and appeared to be looking in her general direction if not directly at her, even though his eyes were not visible. Donni didn't waste much time on the man. She was tired, achy, and not paranoid enough to call the man out on whatever he was looking at, whether it was, in fact, her or something else entirely. Donni immediately turned back around and headed through the front office door and directly to the front desk where a tired looking, scraggly young man sat, trying to make the time pass faster by flipping carelessly through a local newspaper of some kind.

"Good evening, do you have a room available?" Donni got the guy's attention as she approached the counter, already getting out her wallet, hoping to move things along.

"Just a single room for yourself?" He asked, setting the newspaper down and wheeling himself over to the computer at one end of the counter in the desk chair he sat in.

"Well, and my party of fifty. I don't know how you could miss them." Donni answered sarcastically, motioning to the empty space behind her.

"Right," The young man answered with a humorous laugh and a frigid glare as he looked up at her shortly, beginning to type something into the computer rapidly. "We have an available room on the far side, a one bed, bathroom, TV, and Wi-Fi, non-smoking." He read off the computer screen.

"I'll take it." Donni accepted, beginning to pull a couple twenties out of her wallet.

"How long will you be staying?"

"Just over night."

"Alright then," He said, typing this information into the computer. "Checkout is by noon, there's fresh coffee and pastries here in the morning, and try not to make too much noise, some folks here don't like a lot of racket. And that will be forty-three fifty."

"Just for overnight?" Donni raised her voice in shock.

"Plus tax, and what did I say about the noise thing." Donni glared back in response. "Look, I don't make up the prices, I just work the nightshift."

Donni let out a highly irritated huff before she pulled out another twenty and handed over the money. The young man retrieved her key from the wall behind the counter and handed it to her along with her change and her receipt.

"Have a good night, number one twenty-five." He made sure to add before she walked back out the doors, even though the room number was stamped on the room key.

"Yeah," Donni answered with a sneer. Getting back to her car, she put her change back in her wallet, along with the receipt, and shoved her wallet back in her purse. As she got back into her car, she just barely noticed that the suspicious man wasn't there anymore when she looked over her shoulder as she backed the car up and spotted the black car still in the same spot. She easily shook this from her mind as she drove her car to the other side of the parking lot and parked in an open space just right outside the room labeled one twenty-five, the five about to fall off. She cut the engine and got back out of the car and went around to the trunk. She pulled out a change of clothes and her toilet tree bag before locking her car and heading to the room.

To be honest the room wasn't a Four Seasons, or even a Best Western for that matter, but it was clean and welcoming. After closing and locking the door behind her, Donni set her things down on the table by the window that looked out to the parking lot, and went straight to the bathroom with her toothbrush, toothpaste, and face wash. After getting ready for bed, Donni returned to the main room and kicked off her flip flops before climbing under the covers of the bed. After making herself comfortable, she reached over to the bedside table and grabbed the TV remote and began flipping through channels. Donni was tired and ready for a good night sleep, but she always slept better with the TV on, it had been that way since she was really young and she used to toss and turn. She remembered her dad moving the TV from her parent's room into her room when she was very young because it was the only way she could sleep soundly without them having to resort to medication.

After going through all the channels-twice-she finally settled on an old, black and white movie. It wasn't any one that she had ever seen before, or even recognized, but it was better than the two dozen infomercials and reruns of cheesy fifty's sitcoms. After setting the remote back on the table and tucking herself in, Donni was lights out in less than ten minutes.

It was early the next morning that Donni was woken up by a passing big rig on the highway, the driver apparently not being able to resist the urge to blow that horn for whatever reason. It was just before six am and the sun was just barely peeking up over the horizon. Though, irritated at first, Donni was also slightly grateful. For one, she hadn't set any alarm for herself-not that there was one to set-and it would have been extremely infuriating to wake up sometime in the afternoon and find herself with another day's bill and a later start than she wanted. She would much rather get an early start rather than a late and, no doubt, sluggish one.

Donni rolled over in the motel bed and turned her eyes to the TV, now playing Saturday morning cartoons. After a good stretch and a relieving yawn, Donni flung the blankets off of her, letting them fall to the other side of the bed, and got out of the bed, going to the bathroom first. Afterwards, she came back from the bathroom and started digging through her bag, eventually pulling out her shampoo conditioner, body wash, and razor for a shower. She also took the clothes from where she had set them down last night and laid them out on the bed neatly, then took out her blow dryer and lotion for after her shower.

By eight twenty, Donni was all ready to head out and get back on the road. She had a good few hundred miles to drive for the day before she made her next stop. She packed everything back into her one bag, then swung it and her purse over her shoulder and was out the door. Before heading across the parking lot to the front office, Donni tossed her bag back into the trunk of her car along with her old clothes from the day before.

On the way to the front entrance, Donni slowed her pace as she happened to notice the same black car, still parked in the same spot, from the night before. In the morning light though, Donni saw that it was a 1969 Chevy Camaro Chevelle. Ever since she was very young she had been very into cars and had a real eye for them. Even now, she began to feel a little impressed by the car, but very quickly shook it off and kept walking. Just like last night, the front office was completely empty accept for her and someone behind the counter. There was a different person working the desk, a young woman-no more than a couple years older than Donni-who was hurriedly organizing stacks of papers and things, trying to get ready for the day apparently.

"Checking in or out?" The young woman asked, just barely noticing Donni as she approached.

"Out," Donni answered, setting the room key on the counter and sliding it towards the woman.

"Thanks, and we have fresh coffee and pastries if you'd like some before you go." The woman replied, jerking her head in the direction of the goodies, her hands being full, as she released Donni.

Donni went to the small table just across from the desk and bypassed the not-so-appetizing pastries, and poured herself a cup of black coffee, only adding cream, and stirred it as she walked back to the front doors. Taking one sip of the coffee, Donni almost spit it back out. It was anything but fresh, and the coffee part was in question as well. She let the cup and its contents fall into the trash can by the front doors before she pushed through them again.

"Have a nice day and come back soon." She just barely herd the woman shout from the other side of the glass doors.

As soon as she stepped out of the front office, Donni noticed the black Camaro was gone, which she couldn't help feel a little weird about considering she hadn't heard or seen anything from the front office, and the car was parked right across from it. Donni shook her head and laughed at herself as she continued on her way back to her car. She couldn't believe she was getting so worried about this whole thing. Sure, it was a little weird, but she still had a whole, amazing trip to think about, and nothing was going to stop her from getting back to it. Her mood was suddenly lighter and happier as she pulled out of the parking lot and got back on the highway.

A couple miles down the road, Donni spotted a quaint little diner by the side of the highway and turned off the highway again to pull in for a nice, home cooked breakfast before moving on. Since the divorce, her mother's idea of a home cooked meal was something that came in a box with preparation instructions on the back. If she waited to stop at the next restaurant, more than an hour, down the road, her stomach would be growling at her in no time. As Donni got out of her car and headed for the front entrance of the diner, she noticed, what looked a lot like, the same black Camaro parked around the other side of the parking lot. This was becoming something Donni couldn't simply brush off anymore, and something was telling her that this couldn't be any kind of coincidence either. However, against her better judgment, Donni shook off her paranoia and continued into the diner with an empty stomach that needed to be filled. When she stepped in the front door, a friendly atmosphere and the most wonderful aroma of breakfast meats, buttermilk batter, and maple syrup greeted her. It had been a long time since she had smelled something so delightful coming from a kitchen.

Donni took a seat at the counter, following the sign that requested her to seat herself, and swiped a menu from the holder beside it. As she opened the menu and looked it over, she was glad to see that they made orders to go. The quicker she could get out of there, the better.

"Whatcha havin darlin?" Came a woman's voice from the other side of Donni's menu. Donni lowered it to see an older lady, red brown hair, kind, green eyes, and a sort of comforting grandma essence about her. She flashed Donni a smile that matched her eyes as she readied her pen and pad to take Donni's order.

"Can I get coffee and a breakfast sandwich to go?" Donni asked, setting her menu aside.

"Will that be bacon or sausage?"

"Can I get both?"

"Girl with a hearty appetite, that's good, and hash browns or home fries darlin?"

"Home fries."

"Be out in a jiffy." The woman replied, taking Donni's menu away before flashing her another kind smile that Donni couldn't resist returning before the woman walked away.

While Donni waited, she pulled out her phone, which she hadn't checked since earlier the day before, and saw that there was a new voicemail. It was from her mother.

"Hey sweetie, just calling to see how you're doing. You're probably sleeping or still driving so I don't want to disturb you. Just give me a call when you get the chance. I love you baby and I hope you're having a great time. Talk to you later." There was a beep to signal the end of the message and Donni removed the phone from her ear and slipped it back in her pocket. She could call her mom back when she stopped again for gas. Just as soon as she had put her phone away, the same waitress was on her way back with Donni's food in a to-go box and her coffee.

"There ya go, and that'll be ten dollars even." She said, handing Donni her order as she pulled out her wallet and handed the woman a ten and a five dollar bill for a tip.

"Thanks hun," The woman said, gratefully, as she took the money. "Oh, and this," She said just about to walk away again, but began to dig in her pockets for something. "Is from the gentleman in the booth over there." She said, handing over a folded napkin with something scrawled on it in pen ink. "We usually don't do that sort of thing, but he said that he knows you." She added with a shrug.

"Thanks," Donni said unsure, taking the napkin as the waitress smiled one last time before leaving to go tend to her other customers. Donni unfolded the napkin and read the short message on it.

"Meet me outside in five minutes. We need to talk." Was all it said. Donni looked up from the napkin and began to search in the direction the waitress had said the note had come from. It didn't take her long to spot the man the waitress meant. He was sitting alone in the corner booth by the window, looking down into his cup of coffee. He wore the same dark clothes and hat, pulled down low over his eyes, and he didn't seem to notice when Donni spotted him.

Donni didn't know what this guy's game was, but she wasn't going to let herself become a part of it. She slid off the stool she was sitting on and headed for the door, wadding up the napkin and throwing it in the trash on the way out, not bothering to check if the man was watching her or not. She flung the door open as she left, only wanting to put this place in her rearview real quick.

As Donni shifted her car into gear and began to pull out of the parking lot, she looked up to see the man looking out the window from his booth at her as she left. Donni shot him a disgusted look back in his direction as she put her foot farther down on the gas and sped out of the parking lot.

As Donni got back on the highway, she pushed the speed limit, continuously checking her rearview and side view mirrors for the black Camaro, but the road in back and in front of her remained clear of any vehicles. About another mile down the highway, Donni let up on the gas and relaxed. That was the last time she made an unplanned stop for any reason.

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