Escaping Reality

Chapter 3: Obsessive Planning

So many precautionary steps had been taken to ensure that everything went smoothly. I thought back to the initial idea that had popped into my head a few short months back - to escape from my life completely unnoticed, not leaving a single trace behind. My biggest obstacle had been to not raise any suspicion from my parents. They were helicopter parents and constantly checked up on my bank statements, internet usage, and more. Not only did I have to remain under the radar but I had to come up with a large sum of cash in a relatively short period of time.

Ironically enough I had bumped into one of the most popular local drug dealers at a church camp the previous summer. He had been in the game since middle school, selling primarily marijuana, and had his operation down to an art form. He had approached me a couple of times in the past couple of months to see if I wanted to sell, telling me I looked too innocent to ever get caught. I had consistently turned him down but with a need for quick cash, I had been desperate and decided to reach out.

When I told him I wanted to start selling and I needed roughly two grand in three months he was skeptical. Eventually, I persuaded him that it was for an important cause and he floated me a little something to start. Because of the nature of his business, he didn't ask many questions which meant my plan was safe. To him, I was just a kid in need of a little extra cash to upgrade my car or buy a new gaming console or something. The first couple of weeks went slowly but after I got my name out in the right circles' things started picking. It only took about two and a half months for me to reach my goal. With the grand I had saved from tips at my job serving I was at three grand total, all in cold hard cash.

When I wasn't working on homework or shuffling drugs I was at the library doing research. Unfortunately, my dad knew how to operate a computer and was familiar with all the parental computer software out there. Thus, the library was a safer option if I wanted to keep my research on the down-low. I purchased a small flash drive that could be worn around my neck as a necklace and used that to store any information I collected at the library. Once I had identified a destination I threw up an advertisement on craigslist. I needed someone to purchase my airline ticket using my name and their credit card. By offering a little extra cash incentive I managed to convince a recent college grad who was in need of some extra booze money. From there everything else was downhill. I looked up car rental places, local high schools, and attractions. If I was going to disappear for a week I was going to live it up.

From there all I had to do was carefully observe. I obsessed over my family's schedules, trying to figure out how much time I could buy before they realized that I was missing. Countless hours were spent recording average commute times, the average time my parents left the house each day, and the longest intervals of time the house was left empty. Furthermore, I made myself a copy of the family calendar and used upcoming mandatory high school activities to inquire about future events not yet listed on the calendar. I had everything figured out down to the minute.

Once I had everything planned out and had pulled the necessary money together all I had left to do was wait. It was painstaking to go through each day resisting the urge to tell those around me what I had planned. At the same time, it was what got me through every day, having that one thing to look forward to. It had become a motivation for me to get myself out of bed.