The T.V. drones on. I don't know what exactly it is saying. Quickly gelled hair gets thrown up and we blend the concealer. It’s a mad grab for clothes. First come first serve, as unfair as it is. I check for the black flip-flop’s and the brightly colored phone: It’s all there. We descend the stops and hurtle over the gray plastic baby gate. The sound of bare, clammy feet sticking to wooden floors permeates the air.

And I cant help but get a bit nervous at this point.

Eyes adjust to the darkness and we’re already halfway there; almost to our freedom. The door opens with much noise but no difficulty—thank God she’s a heave sleeper.

Walking up the steps I pause,

And this is when it all hits me; that this outing wont be viewed as an adventure.

No one will be proud of me; sneakiness is easy to accomplish.

No one will praise me for being conniving; betrayal is a nasty thing.

No one will understand why I’m doing this; they are too narrow minded.

Everyone will lecture me; because they all know better than me.

Everyone will lose trust in me; “I didn’t think you were that kind of kid…”

Everyone will judge me; they’ve never wanted to do this before?

But this does not stop me. I’ve gotten this far; why turn back now? And I continue up the steps, but at a hurried pace this time whispering for her to slow up for me.

Because I’m going anyway.

I might look back now and regret my decision; I might wish that I was more mature and said no. or that I could have just made up an excuse and skipped. But part of me always wanted to rebel against the rules; part of all of us wants to rebel against the rules. And this was my chance; Gold only knows how many I’ll get.

So I took it.

Because I went anyway.