Running Away

Chapter 1

"No way in hell am I letting you just run away like that!", my mom yells with all her effort while I pack what little I have into my backpack."Never in a million years!", she adds.

"Mom, I don't need your permission. Plus you've also got to understand that I have no choice.", I say bitterly.

My mom lets out an exasperated sigh. With an annoyed tone she says to me, "Well this would never have happened if you didn't behave like such an idiot and done such a stupid thing in the first place!".

"I'm sorry but it was my only choice! What else was I supposed to do? Just leave her lying there to die?! Ok, she needed a specific medication! A medication very expensive to buy legally."

"Very expensive illegally as well!", my mother points out. "If it wasn't, you wouldn't even owe them money!".

I pack my last item, a small knife with a smooth ridged handle and a sharp steel blade. I can see the reflection of the room as the light shines on the cold surface of the blade.

My eyes start to water, making my sight a blur. With a tiny stifle I tell my mom with desperation, "They're going to be here at midnight, in two hours. I have to leave, and you should too. They'll kill you. Please mom, I don't want you gone.".

I can feel a flood of tears running down my red cheeks now. Some tears slide down to my quivering lips and into my mouth, leaving a salty taste on my tongue. I can barely see with all the tears in my eyes. I close my wet, puffy eyes and the tears go away. When I open them again, my vision comes back into focus, only to find my mother sobbing with stifled, heavy breaths escaping from her mouth.

When she finally gains control of most of her breathing, she says with sudden, shaky breaths, "I'll be fine. It's you they want dead. Just promise me one thing, don't die.".

"I'll try my best, but you have to understand. They're heartless people, they'll kill you with no remorse.", I respond in desperation for I fear her death.

"Don't you tell me what to do. You're the one who caused this damn... predicament!", she says in anger and denial.

"Please! I beg you!"

The tears won't stop. They run down my red, puffy cheeks with a rapid pace. So many tears, my face a red soggy mess.

"Sorry.", is all my mom can manage to say.

With that, I put my bag over my shoulders and run. Run away with heavy, stuttering sobs, the running only making it heavier and harder to breathe. But I keep on running, my feet pounding across the hard, wet pavement below. The rain pouring down with such intensity, soaking me all over, my wet t-shirt sticking to my pounding chest. As I continue to run, everything's a blur. I can't see shit and I have no idea where I'm going. The only place I know I'm going is away, trying to avoid every single problem, big or small. But as I continue to run, my heart beating fiercely, my body a mess, I wonder to myself: will it really all go away?