The house I grew up in is gone now, and in it's place, is a small store looking so dilapidated as to if the wind blew to hard, it would give out and fall. My house was there first, there was nothing wrong with it until the next family moved in after we left. My siblings and I didn't want to move, Mom didn't want to move, it seems to me that Dad forced us to. Just because Dad is in trouble doesn't mean we should just walk out the door, does it? Well, in this case, it did, and no one was expecting it, not even himself.
I was at school sitting at my desk, listening to the teacher go on and on about what part we had in the War of 1812. One after another, people's phones start going off, consuming the last bit of silence left in the room. It seems, all at once, everyone looks down at their phones to see what's going on. "ALERT", it read "ALERT!". Child Abduction, I thought, and I was right. I read on, "BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR A WHITE VAN TRAVELING NORTHBOUND ON I75. LICENSE PLATE NUMBER TRU7819. THE MAN LAST SEEN DRIVING THE VEHICLE WAS A WHITE MALE IN HIS LATE 20'S TO EARLY 30'S WEARING A SUIT WITH A BLUE TIE AND A FEDORA WITH A BLUE FEATHER..." There was more to the story, but I didn't read on, this was my chance to see what else the news had to offer. Scrolling through the page nothing catches me eye, some of the stories weren't even news worthy in my opinion. Stories like "Local boy out at 3 in the morning riding his bike, got attacked by a bear", his problem, "Bank get robbed by 3 white females, females found two hours later", stupid people, I think to myself. " Drug bust in the downtown area" I click on the link which takes me to a page filled with pictures, captions, and a few articles. I scroll quickly, scanning the pictures to see if I can recognize anyone, which I do. In the seventh picture, I see the one person that has yelled at me my entire life to do good, my Dad.
I was shocked. How was he going to do this to me? I feel myself standing and I have every eye in the classroom on me now. I feel like crying, I go to lower myself into what I thought was my chair, but ended up on the floor. Everyone laughed at me, as I look to the teacher to see, even he, was trying to hide the laughter behind his hand. I grabbed my backpack, phone, and my headphones and proceeded to walk out the classroom.
I open the door and a burst of warm air hits me. I hesitate for a moment but then continue on. I pass a kid in the hall, we didn't exchange words, but I felt something as they walked by. I felt a sense of safety and comfort in this person, even though I don't know them. I turn around to get another look at the person, but they had somehow vanished. Confused, I turn, and start back on my way, heading towards the door which seems so far away. I can hear my heartbeat in my ears, every breath I take in, then let go, every move I make seems to ring through the halls of this old school, taunting me. Just a few more steps, the door is right at my fingertips. I'm almost gone, almost home.
