:Ticci Toby:{A Rewrite}

23

Weeks passed since then though, rough weeks. Being pulled from school made life less stressful but he still hasn't gotten free from the constant physical fights. This night in particular finally made him finalize running away.

Toby blocked his room door with his chair again, letting that be the only thing keeping the angry man from bursting in.
Toby shoved all he could into his old school bag. It was mostly warm clothes. He didn't have any food or drinks to take, figuring he'd get that some other way. Denver was a pretty big city, he'd survive.

He didn't even tell Lyra where he was going. When the clock hit midnight, Toby left from his window. He slid down the roof to get down, landing with a huff.
He started to run down the sidewalk as fast as he could.
He crossed small streets, big streets, bridges and alleyways. Toby really didn't understand just how beautiful Denver was at night. He could see the lights of stores, buildings, cars racing down the highways. He watched from the high overpass bridge. Toby was careful not to go too close to the road, as he was just on the side of a bridge that carried heavy traffic.
Toby settled underneath a small overpass, listening to the cars trample above him. He took this moment to realize that he really did run away. Even if he wanted to go back home, he didn't know the way. He was lost in the city.

It wasn't until the next day when Connie and Lyra found out Toby was missing, and had run away. He left his room a mess and they almost had to break his door to get into his room. The chair was still being propped up to keep it closed.

Jacob was annoyed about this, considering the fact that his wife and daughter were freaked out. They called the police and Toby was considered a missing person.

He had been gone for about a week and half, still no luck with much food and water. A few generous store owners gave him a few things but it wasn't much.

Around every 30 seconds or so his stomach would growl. He became more tired than usual. Despite all of this, he still didn't want to go back. People were actually looking for him, even people he didn't know. Toby didn't know many people to begin with, but we were talking actual strangers.

Toby had problems with this. He was quite recognizable, so people would shout out to him when he was around them. A few even tried to grab at him.
Toby was beyond confused on how strangers knew his name, until he found one of his own missing posters.
He freaked out at first, realizing now almost everyone in Denver knew about him. He just wanted to be alone, he wanted to be left alone.

Warm food sounded so good, but he didn't want to go back, he couldn't go back even if he wanted to.

Toby glanced down at his hands again, the bandages that once covered them now completely fell off. This left him with only one solution..
Toby started to gnaw at the scarred skin on his fingers first, then worked his way down his palms and even gnawed into his arm.

He didn't stop, even when he tasted blood. He knew eventually he would, but it did savor the hunger he felt.

In fact, he could barely even feel hunger, only when he satisfies it is when he realized just how hungry he was.

Lyra had been driving around everyday, trying to look for her brother. She was both angry and worried. Toby always promised he wouldn't ever run off on her, or leave. But he did, he broke that promise. She understood anger and impulsive thoughts, but she never thought he'd run off for so long.
It had been weeks.

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