Runaway [l.h.]

prologue

"Because even a white rose, has a black shadow." -Unknown

I don't fancy flowers much. Yes, some breeds are beautiful, but I think they give people a sense of false hope. The problem with flowers is that they're seasonal. They come and go, remaining in just certain conditions. It can't be too hot or too cold, too sunny or too dark, they can't be over or under-watered.

No matter what some argue, they're completely not like humans. Because, you see, individuals will always be around until The End, capitalized, and there is only one end. We will never be gone entirely and then suddenly perk back up from the depths of the soil. When we are gone and buried, we will fertilize the earth with our bodies and that's it for our story. As much as we might like to believe it, we mere common people will not have a legacy. We must accept this.

For the majority of us, we are blondes or brunettes or red heads or some other exotic, unnatural salon color with blue or green or hazel or brown eyes and functioning organs and approximately 270 bones at birth to 206 as of a full grown state. We are not extraordinary. We are simple and easy to understand as an anatomy, but difficult to understand as a character or a society.

When we are dead, nobody will riot in the streets with flags and posters of our faces. We will simply be gone. The world will carry on without us. Bakers will continue to bake, writers will continue to write, teachers will continue to teach, so on and so forth.

Of course, there will always be a select few that are directly effected by our non-existance. Family, friends, and the like.

99 percent of me wouldn't mind disappearing- not dying exactly, but just leaving on the hunt for another life. But, there's always that one percent. That's the part that gets me every single time. That's why I never leave.

Staying put is a tedious effort for me, because I've always been a mobile person. My life gets boring, and it's mainly because I'm bored of the city I inhabit. I can't remain still for long periods of time; I refuse to sit through movies longer than an hour and a half or so, school is an absolute disaster because of the seemingly never-ending classes, I'm always up to go somewhere, especially if I can leave my house. I like being in someone or something's companionship- there are exceptions of course- but mostly I just enjoy listening to conversations and people-watching. I resorted to these simple activities after my brother, Porter, who is 3 years my senior, informed me as of last year that whiskey wasn't the best company. I still beg to differ.

After he had assumed he made a breakthrough with me, busting my habit of binge drinking by my lonesome, I snuck out to my first high school party.

I slid open the glass and removed the screen from my bedroom window, hopping down the three or so foot drop to land on the ground and walked four blocks through the dimly lit streets of the under-developed part in Floral City, Florida at just past midnight. I arrived at the address I'd overheard a group of girls at school mention, where the party would be held, and noticed maybe fifty plus people in the front yard chugging upside-down from kegs and playing all sorts of drinking games that included ping pong equipment and laying on tables. The remaining party-goers were clumped inside the old two-story home playing similar games and smoking from joints, bongs, bowls, and bubblers.

Music pumped throughout the entire property, and I had to push my way through swarms of sweaty bodies dancing in severely close proximity to one another. I didn't know many people because it was a senior party and I was only a freshman of fourteen, so locating familiar faces was tiring.

After some serious investigating, I eventually recognized a sophomore from my geometry class (I was a year ahead in math) and we made some small talk.

He later refreshed my memory, stating his name was Oliver. Oliver was lanky, about six feet tall, no bigger than I was in width. His shaggy, dark brown hair falling to his shoulders covered his large-brimmed glasses that were clearly out of date and I befriended that dork quite quickly.