Not to be found

Chapter 3 - the afternoon of the escape

It's nearly 12:30pm and I still haven't retrieved my phone out of the glove compartment. No one should know of my disappearance just yet; besides Monica and my professors. She surely wouldn't have told my parents already that I hadn't shown up, would she?

She surely wouldn't have already tattled? She's Monica for crying out loud. The girl that lies to teachers about assignments that are due in, claiming that she's done them but secretly she hasn't, she's the girl that bunks classes and somehow never gets caught. But if I did it I'd be sent to the doghouse immediately.

To be honest, I've always been borderline jealous of her. She has always had the better body, the one that looks good and gets the boys.  The one with the better hair, clothes and even had better stuff than me. The bottom line is I shouldn't be jealous my best friend, but I can't help it, I just am. Throughout our entire time together I've never had single boyfriend, I've never even kissed anyone. Monica is like a pro when it comes to relationships; always knowing what to say and wear. Whereas when it comes to me I'm a goofball and have no idea as to what to say or even do. I'm just waiting for something to happen, for someone to like me just for me.

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I'm about to initiate the next stage of my getaway plan by stopping at the next service station. As I pull into the car park I once again park towards the back and begin to walk towards the building in search of an ATM. I look around all the outside walls of the building to see if I can see one but there is nothing, so I decide to take my search inside the building.

This service station seems more friendly, with more women in this one making me feel a little less intimidated. I scan the place for an ATM and find it in the far corner of the room. I slowly walk towards it and notice a small clothing shop, I take note of it and choose to go in there afterwards.

I step up to the machine and insert my card into the slot, I then enter my pin number and look at the overall balance in my debit account; £10,070

I remembered that mum and dad paid in some money so that I could get a few essentials but I never knew that I had that much money in there, I just hope this machine has the ten grand. I press the withdraw button and wait anxiously for the machine to dispense my large sum of cash. Where will I keep this amount of money? I could get mugged!

Once the machine has given me everything that its got, I stuff the money into my jacket pocket and zip it up tight. I then hurry into the clothing shop to search for some different clothes, I suppose I'll have to burn these ones at some point.

I search the rails for something decent, but the taste of the clothing found in this shop is terrible and quite frankly makes me want to vomit at the sight of some of these outfits.

I get to the last rail in the store and find one last pair of ripped black skinny jeans which I bundle into my arms, I also find a dark blue jumper that is knitted so at least that will keep me warm when I sleep in my car tonight. I then find a few t-shirts and this white lace wrap that goes perfectly around my body so I also grab that too. Finally I get a pair of sunglasses to cover my face and take my bundle to the checkout.

The woman gives me a strange look, but I choose to ignore it and give her the money quickly and leave the store before she can say anything. I then head into the toilets one last time before leaving, on my way out I notice that there is a book store so I also go in there and pick up a few books that interest me.

When I get back to my car , I put the clothes in the boot and the books on the backseat and leave the service station choosing to not carry along the motorway, I drive off into the countryside so that if anyone were trying to find me already I couldn't be tracked by CCTV cameras.

The sun begins to shine, so I pull out the sunglasses that I brought and put them on, I then put some music on. It feels so good to be free; no more expectations, no more responsibility and no more human contact for a while at least I hope.

As I stare down at my textbooks that I will probably no longer need I feel the need to burn them, I never want to see them again. Haunting me, reminding me what I've left behind and what I could have had if I chose to stay. I should buy a lighter in the next place that I stop at, and get rid of them once and for all.

As I focus my eyes back up on the road, I can see the waves of heat in the distance lining across the road, causing a smile to spread across my face. I'm then reminded that its lunchtime by my growling stomach and decide to pull over to eat some of the packet food I picked up from the first service station.

I choose a quiet place, a place where I cannot be seen. Its secluded and surrounded by trees making it a perfect place for me to hide and take a break. I reach across to the back seat and pull out the carrier bag that is storing my food for now and get a crunchy bar to eat, I then stand at the front of the car with my back resting on the bonnet with the bag of food at my feet.

I throw my head backwards, letting my hair fall back so that I can feel it against my skin, its cooler. I look up between the trees to see the blue sky that is above, it is so beautiful and there isn't a cloud in the sky making it even more perfect. I take a drink from my water bottle and begin to walk back towards the passenger side of the car to retrieve my bag that has my debit card in it along with the pair of scissors.

I stare at the card for a moment, do I dare cut this thing up? If I ditch it it'll only be handed in and then they'll know where I am. I can't risk it.

I look at the card one last time and see by name embossed on it; Miss L. Grey is written in shining silver. I was surprised it wasn't in gold to be honest with you, seeing that my parents believe that I'm so god damned golden.

"Oh don't worry our Lacey will do that for you, she's such an angel. We couldn't ask for a better daughter." My mother would boast to her house guests where they asked they should put their coats and bags.

On the inside I was screaming, I'm not some kind of slave. I'm pretty sure they could use their own two hands and feet to put their belongings in the right place. No one ever realises that I have my own things to be getting on with, that I actually have things that I'd rather be doing.

"Good riddance," I say as I use the scissors to cut the card into four strips.

I then walk away from my car and throw the small pieces into a nearby hedge, nobody should find it there. At least I don't think they would.

I walk back to my car and pick up my bag of food and toss it back onto the backseat. I then decide stupidly to pull my phone out of the glove compartment and sit in the drivers seat reading several text messages from Monica asking where I am and if I'm okay. She says that she'll call my parents later if she hasn't heard from me.

She can go ahead and call them for all I care. I will do everything in my power to make sure that I am not found and dragged back to that house and university where I'm no longer happy and can't see a future for myself.

I throw the phone back into the glove compartment and turn my cars engine on, in all fairness I should have told them that I wasn't happy with what I'm doing. Like they'd listen though. I'd be brain washed with some rubbish claiming that I just have to 'hang in there' and 'keep going because you can do it!'. No chance.

This is why I have to do this. I have to do this for the sake of my sanity, for the sake of me finally getting what I want for myself.

I pull out of the small wooded area and carry on driving down the road that looks like it could stretch around the entire planet.