Four weeks before her 17th Birthday, Lia had disappeared from her foster home in Pennsylvania under the cover of night.
It was an impromptu decision, but not one that she believed that she would regret. The place wasn't one that she could call "home," and not one that she had significant emotional attachment to. Though the home, its caretakers, and her fellow denizens were far, far more kind then the last three she had endured for a sordid 6 years - and the abusive household she had lived in for the first decade of her life, her quiet, closeted demeanor stemming from years of substantial trauma kept her from forming a close relationship with anyone.
Listless, restless, anemic, and perpetually cold, Lia had wished one night that she would somehow, one day, be able to lie in peace on a warm and pleasant place as a fresh morning dew tickled her face, ears, and nostrils. Where that place was, or if anyone would be lying with her were not questions she could answer. It was only a sensation that she longed to feel, that strange warmth in one's stomach, chest, back, throat, and mind after waking up from a good dream with a good ending. A feeling of calm and serenity and content that Lia had yet to experience.
Lia eventually identified a probable location for this "pleasant place" - the beaches of Central California. Seeing it in a handful of films, on the back cover of a magazine, the setting of a news article, and described in a novel or two, soon she could not get image of the sand, the sky, and the wind out of her mind. She planned on traveling as soon as she reached adulthood, but the wait was grueling.
Until she decided to wait no more.
With her few possessions contained in her backpack, the girl drew her coat around her, zipping it up tight. Drawing its hood over her head and securing her gloves, scarf, and boots, Lia hopped on her bike and rode, with the cold wind at her back, westward into the night, without making a second glance back.
It was a risky decision, but she was not risking anything. She was chasing a dream, one that seemed tangible with each passing day as the Sun rose to warm her back and light her way as it set. Assuming everything went smoothly, and if she was able to put her resourcefulness to use, she would reach California somewhere between two and four months. There was no need to rush if she was certain of her ability to accomplish her goal.
Though she remained hopeful, Lia truly didn't know what to expect. She was riding off into the unknown, after all - calm and serenity would not be in much abundance for these months of travel. She would meet dangers along the way, this was a certainty. Regardless, at least she was happy.
Little did she expect, as no one else in the world did at the time, that she would arrive in Carpinteria, California just in time for the Fusion Wave.