Harper Brown✔ [ Sequel to Being McKenzie Prince]

Dear Diary

WARNING: ADULT THEMES ARE PRESENT IN THIS CHAPTER

The beginning of this year I made up my mind to run away.

I lied to my father and I told him that I needed money for a new laptop for my school work. I backed up everything that was on the laptop and then I spilled water on it on purpose so that the motherboard ended up burning out.

I bought a really cheap one with the money my father gave me and I hid the rest. It would be enough to help me to survive for a few days until I could get a job somewhere.

I did not have everything planned out. I just needed to get away. I could no longer survive living in that house.

I packed everything and then I hid it in the back of my walk-in closet.

The morning I planned to run away I went to school as if though everything was normal. I knew that if I did not show up at school that they would immediately call my mother or my father.

It was a Monday.

After school I rushed home. I waited until Chrissie locked herself in her room which she did every afternoon if she was home. I took my bags and I left. I went to the nearest buss stop and I waited.

I clearly remember how nervous I was. It felt like ten hours even though it was probably only ten minutes before the buss showed up. I climbed onto the buss, paid and then I went to go sit way in the back. The whole time it felt like my throat was closing up because of the nerves.

The buss could have been on its way to Kimberley as far as I knew, I did not really care. I just wanted to get out of town as soon as possible.

We reached the end of the city and I started to believe that maybe I succeeded. That I was free. I allowed myself to hope and then the buss stopped.

It was a few kilometers out of the city when it was pulled over. I did not need to see who it was inside of the police car. I knew without a doubt that it was my dad's friend who was a cop. He and my father used to play Rugby together in High School. They used to control the whole school. My father grew up in Johannesburg and from there the family business started to expand from there across the country.

The police man climbed onto the buss and I did not even try to fight. I climbed out of the buss and climbed into the police car with Charlie. He did not even say a single word as he drove me home.

I still have no idea how my parents found out. Sometimes I think that they have people spying on me twenty four seven, just so that they can see when I mess up.

They knew about everything.

As I walked into the house it was my mother waiting for me and not my father.

Charlie left and I put down my things and waited for the lecture to start.

"Do you know what happens to children like you who run away? They always end up on the street Harper and you could not possibly imagine what they are forced to do to survive." I swallowed and my legs felt like they were going to fall under my weight.

"I had a friend once. His name was Michael. He was two years younger than you when he decided to run away from home. Do you want to know what happened to him? The first day he was robbed and left for dead. He was found by someone he thought was a friendly stranger who turned out to be nothing but a handler. By handler, I mean a pimp Harper. He owned and sold both women and men to other people for sex. Michael was forced into being a male prostitute. He was not used to that way of living and he ended up starting to take drugs to numb the pain. Two years after he ran away, at the age of sixteen, Michael was found raped and murdered in an alley. You have no idea what it means to truly suffer Harper and if you think that you would be able to survive anywhere else you are mistaken. You have led a sheltered life and you are not equipped to handle those types of circumstances. There are people who have it allot worse than you do Harper, you should be pleased with what you do have."

She walked closer to me and held onto my neck in a tight grip. My mother has always been a really tall woman. She was even taller than my father. She looked down at me.

"I presume your death would be a better outcome than to have a son who does not further your father's image. If you are of no use Harper, I am sure your father will find a way to eliminate you. Now be a good boy and throw me a glass of wine." She let go of me and I just stood in the same place.

In that moment I realized that if I was not the perfect son, if I did not portray the perfect image and reputation of who and what my father was, that there was no doubt that my father would get rid of me.