Character Invention - Lainey

It was July 15, 1995. Lainey stood tall as she stretched herself towards the clouds. Today was the day. She could hardly contain her excitement. Her blue eyes shone with a brightness like no other. Her wispy blonde hair flowing with the breeze. Today she left for Tennessee. She had turned sixteen less than a month ago and this was going to be her first road trip. It was a solo one though, but she still wanted to make it fun. Her lightly tanned skin glowed under the rays of the sun as she stood in the field of flowers. As allergic as she was to flowers (to stop sneezing was impossible) she could not seem to stay away from them. The petals silky soft in her hands. Pulling each petal out one by one and watching it float to ground. It mesmerized her. This was her happy place, away from the hectic scene of her family's home. She would finally be getting away, if only for a weekend. Her aunt lives in Tennessee and had invited her to stay the weekend for a quick visit. She knew her aunt would never come to her house. Aunt Mary was not a fan of children. She heard her mother yelling for her in the distance. Pausing for just a moment she looked at the flowers, sneezed, and then twirled towards the house. She rushed up the steps and through the large brown wooden door. She stepped inside and was instantly greeted by her three youngest siblings. Her mom threw a bag of clothes at her in the rushed atmosphere and then quickly apologized for throwing them maybe a bit too hard.
"You better get going or your aunt Mary may have a heart attack," her mother stated, "I may have told her that you left already."
"Thanks a lot mom," she shot back.
"It's not my fault you slept in this morning," her mother argued.
"Well, whatever. Bye mom," she said as I rushed out the door.
"Love you sweetie," she yelled after her.
"Love you too mom," she shouted back.
She climbed into the pickup truck's driver side and slid easily into the seat. She turned the key and felt the engine rev up a bit. She slowly reversed the car until she was safely on the dirt road at the end of our driveway. She put the truck into to drive and drove past all her siblings waving her off. She breathed in deeply to calm her mind. She was going on her first adventure. Maybe she would figure out what she wanted to do with her life, where she wanted to go, what her purpose was. So many things to learn about in so little time. She pressed the gas harder as she drove for the next five hours straight. As she approached the fifth hour she was only an hour and a half away from aunt Mary's house. She could make it. No problem. Boom. BUMP. Bump. Bump. The truck suddenly stopped. Anyone staring at the truck from any direction could see that it was lopsided now. Lainey climbed out of the truck and went to investigate. The front right tire had popped. She was suddenly frightened. She had never learned to replace a tire. What was she going to do. She was on a road in the middle of nowhere and she had no way of letting any one know this. How was she supposed to do anything. Calm. She needed to be calm. She told herself to settle down many times. A car passed and slowed to a stop in front of her truck. She saw the man getting out of the car. Calm. She told herself he just wanted to help. No need to worry she would be at her aunt's in no time. He looked drunk. Crap. Her instincts told her to run away, but then she came to realize that she didn't have anywhere to run to.