I was having a long and treacherous day. I felt like everyone was yelling at me and I was doing everything wrong, so I didn’t want to get yelled at more than I did at school. I trudged off the bus with my sister, Abby. She could tell something was wrong, but she didn’t care. She never did. We had argued on the bus about who was checking the mail. Normally, I would check it, but she dashed off the bus before I could even grasp my heavy backpack.

We got to the house, and silently I swung the door open, I didn’t bother to hold it for Abby. We entered the house; the dogs were barking with surprise at us finally being home. I headed straight for my room because I wanted to get started on my pile of homework, but Abby beat me to the cramped room we shared. She wouldn’t let me in because she had homework and couldn’t focus with me in there. I really had nowhere else I could do my homework because I refused to go into my parents’ room, and the living room of course had my obnoxiously loud dogs, and ,at times, talkative mother in it. I started complaining to my mom. She told me exactly what I didn’t want to hear.

“Why don’t you just go to our room?” she advised, still keeping her eyes on her computer.
I argued “But mom, I need to do my homework! I had a rough day, and I just want to go to my room and have peace and quiet!”
“Well you can get that perfectly fine in our room Dez!” she yelled. I could hear her voice, anger seeping through her words.
“I’m done! No one ever listens to me!” I cried.

I stormed out of the house, slammed the door out of anger and disappointment, and just walked. I didn’t grab a coat or anything, and I didn’t say goodbye. I had no destination or place I wanted to go. I had one thing on my mind, and that was that I didn’t want to go back until I was calm, collected, and happier. I was in one of the worst states of mind I had ever been in during this walk. I cried all the way to North Park. I never cried in public. My mind was full of anger at my mom and Abby for not listening to me, and not showing any form of caring about me. Sorrow because I missed everyone in my home town, Maplewood. I felt a lot of depression, I felt like no one cared about me. I didn’t feel like I fit into my new school well at all, especially since high school started.

I sluggishly strolled my way down the hill of Wisconsin Avenue, past the bog, past the VFW, and towards North Park. My eyes were filled with tears the whole way.

When I finally arrived at North Park, I realized I needed someone to talk to me. I wasn’t getting any better. My feet were getting heavier to pick up. My shoulders were feeling as if a thousand cement blocks were on them. I felt like jumping out into the busy highway, and I needed someone to be there for me. I felt like I was going to make the horrible mistake of suicide if I didn’t talk to someone. I called my best friend, who was almost like my sister, Sam. I always went to Sam about my problems, and she came to me, it’s what we did. I face timed her and I ranted about how I missed Maplewood, I missed when I felt listened to and cared for, the cities, my old apartment, and most of all, I missed how my family was, happy and close. Since we’d moved from the cities last year, I felt like our family had drifted apart. We didn’t eat dinner together anymore. No one talked nearly as much. I also lost contact with some of my best friends from the cities too, and I missed them.

“Dez, you need to go back home, imagine how worried your mom is,” Sam suggested.
“She doesn’t care about me. She hasn’t even texted me asking where I am or anything. Why should I go back?” I snapped, keeping my eyes around me and refusing to look at my phone.
“She’s your mother Dez, she’s worried. Your mom probably hasn’t texted you because she knows you’re mad,” Sam argued, then I realized she was starting to sound right.
“Whatever I’m just going to wait until my dad is off work. I know he’ll pick me up and care,” I grumbled, trudging on the trail, my face becoming red with anger and the feeling of betrayal coming through.
“Okay Dez, as long as you go home okay?” she ordered, her face and voice filled with concern and sternness. As if she was trying to calm me down, it was working.
“Yeah Yeah, I will. . .” I mumbled, rolling my eyes.
“Okay, when you need me you know I’m here Dez!” She beamed, looking at me through her phone.
“Okay, bye Sam love you,” I mumbled, keeping my eyes where I was walking. I felt shame a regret of running away over such a stupid situation now.
“Bye Dez, love you too!” Sam smiled, blew a kiss at the camera like we always did, and hung up.
After Sam and I hung up, I had walked through North Park and I was now heading towards town. I texted my other best friend Mary and asked what she was doing, then explained how I ran away and was just on the phone with Sam and asked if I could stop by her house while I was away. She said sure, but only for a couple minutes because she had ballet.

Next stop, Mary’s house, I told myself as I struggled into town. I still hadn’t heard from anyone at the house yet. I was freezing and started to regret not grabbing a coat. I also had no clue where I was going to go after Mary’s. I was walking towards Mary’s house and I texted her that I was there. We sat on her porch talking about everything. I don’t remember anything specific we talked about, but I know I’m glad she let me sit on her porch with her that day, because I really needed it. Mary had to go to ballet so that meant I had nowhere else to go. I looked at my phone to see what time it was. I noticed the daylight was starting to fade, and I knew I didn’t want to be out in the dark. Then, I got a call from my dad and answered it.

“Where are you?!” he asked concerned.
“I’m by the Village Pizzeria,” I murmured, stopping in place by the bank.
“Do you want me to come pick you up? Because it’s getting dark,” he asked. I could tell he was rummaging around for something, most likely the car keys.
“Yeah.” I mumbled,
“Okay, I’m coming!” he bubbled at the thought of me coming home and hung up.

I waited at the pizzeria for my dad, making sure I was in the light, so he knew where I was. I saw my dad’s car pull up and walked towards it and hopped in. Thankful to finally be safe and in the warmth. That day I learned that running away isn’t as easy or fun as has been made out to be in the movies.