RunNaway

Day 1:

(DEER PARK, VIC)

I've always dreamed of just packing up all my belongings without anyone noticing me in the process and just leaving, starting over with my life and who I am. So today I have decided to do just that. Whilst my siblings and parents are out tomorrow night, watching my sister act in an obviously not Oscar worthy school production, I will be packed and out the door before you could say 'and the Oscar goes to', simply to face the world on my own accord. By the time they come home I will be just getting off the train at Southern Cross Station.

From their I will wait on platform fifteen for the next train to Bairnsadle Station. It will take me about four and a half hours to arrive at the station but when I'm there it will be the final train which means there is no way for me to turn back and second guess this decision.

I will stay at a lodge which online looks fairly presentable and rather cheap (ninety dollars a night). I have pre-booked and paid for two nights there so I will have time to walk around and enjoy the town on my own. I have been there once before; I think about a year ago. I was on a school trip to a camp in Orbust, and Bairnsadle was the last toilet break stop on our way there. It looked like an old country town over run by the modern ways of life, although it was still trying to ensure that it kept itself in the past. It still had its old fashioned country town charm and beautiful limestone architecture to be proud of though.

I have decided to pack light as starting over doesn't require you to bring all of you belongings with you. I am taking a back pack and a medium suitcase. The suitcase for clothes and the back pack for other essential items.
Other than clothes I have packed a note book with a pen, my legal papers, a book called The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, a toothbrush and toothpaste, first aid kit, a one way train ticket, double print outs of my receipts for the hotel and train tickets, a disposable phone, condoms, deodorant and various long life lasting snacks. The reason why I am taking the book is not for entertainment, it is because I would like to have one thing that I will be able to look at and re-connect with the life I am about to let go of.

When I was fourteen I was told that in order to pass year eight I needed to read three books of my own choice since I didn't care to read the ones set by the school. So after a long and regretful argument with my parents, I wondered to our local book store. As I wondered through, I let my hand touch each book's spine one after another. After about three laps of the store I stopped at a book that felt soft though the spine was somewhat glossy in texture. It didn't feel like the rest, and of course you probably guessed it the book was The Glass Castle. So I brought it for about seventeen dollars and read it in a park close to the book store. I lapped up and devoured every last letter. I could not take my eyes off the pages. It's the only book I had read all the way through more than once. It holds a small place in my heart and that is why it is the only thing from my current life coming with me.

I keep checking my bank account several times, almost in a constant paranoia way. I keep telling myself that I've cancelled all my subscriptions that are in my name and that there will no money being taken out of my account. I have exactly three hundred dollars in that account. 'Only for emergencies' my mother's voice runs through my brain as I stare at the number every ten minutes. The only real way my family would track me down is probably through my bank account records. But I'm still considering writing them a Juliet letter to tell them not to come find me, but if I chose to do so, it put more stress and pushes my schedule back another hour or two. I'll worry about money and the letter in the morning. For now, I need sleep, although I guess I can sleep on the train. 

  I'll see you tomorrow self! Don't miss me to long... I know extremely cheesy right. Ok I'll see you tomorrow. GOODNIGHT!