Blind to Hope✔️

Chapter Three~Running Away

*Due to an author that has never traveled to Chicago or North Charleston(and is too lazy to Google them) some descriptions of both cities will be incorrect. Blame the author, not me ;)

My mind was rubbish when I awoke, my thoughts moving at a snails pace. My eyes opened and closed, examining the darkness surrounding me. The pain was gone from my body, fate had taken its toll, leaving me with a frail body and mind. Marie hadn't come to me during my torture, and I'd actually heard the sound of my parents leaving the house with her. They didn't want to deal with my screams anymore. Frankly, I didn't blame them.

Usually I'd let myself sleep until morning, but I had larger plans in mind. I had to get to North Charleston-now. I wasn't sure when my vision would take place, it was Wednesday now, so it might not happen until the following Wednesday if I was lucky-but I never was. I had to take advantage of my missing family, and leave as soon as possible. I didn't have to make it far, I just needed to leave the city so they couldn't find me.

It took longer than it should have to clean my face and change my clothes. Never before had I stayed awake after my twenty four hour torture session, and I could tell why. My vision was tilting as if I had spun myself around twenty times, messing with my vestibular sense. It was incredibly hard to move around, and I stumbled around like a drunk. My eyes felt like they had a film on them, and every noise I made came to me like it was made underwater.

I should have left long ago, at a time when I had the complete energy to do so. I could practically hear time ticking down, every minute brought me closer to the chance of being caught. Who knows when my family would return.

I'd already formed half a plan in my mind in the weeks previous. It was always tempting to run away, but I never thought that I'd actually end up doing it.

I used my backpack and emptied out all of its school belongings before replacing them with a couple sets of clothes, three shirts, two skirts, and three pairs of socks. The only thing I kept were a few pieces of lined paper and a pen that were in one of my pockets. I didn't have a jacket anymore, or I'd bring one, but as it was I didn't feel comfortable taking one from Marie either. On myself, I dressed in my only pair of jeans, and slipped on my only other clean shirt that was falling to pieces, as well as slipping on my only pair of shoes. I couldn't afford to dress nicely on myself at the moment.

With the remaining room in my bag, I placed in my box of crackers and two of the three water bottles. There was a small bit of room left, but I needed that for something else.

I felt incredibly exposed when I stumbled into Marie's room, it hadn't even been an hour since I'd managed to pull myself off the ground, but there were signs of the sun coming up. My vision must have come just before dawn while I slept. It put me at a disadvantage, mother would want to come home as soon as possible. If I wanted to get a head start leaving, it'd have to be incredibly soon.

I winced at the sight before me, Marie was always a slob, but right now I cursed that fact. Clothes were strewn everywhere, but mainly in a large pile on top of one of her chairs. She had rotting food laying around, as well as leaving her school bag unattended. Mother apparently hadn't forced her to go to school.

I began to rummage around, not having the time to be gentle with her belongings. She had to have it somewhere. She wouldn't dare keep it at school, and I couldn't imagine her leaving it anywhere else besides here. I scrambled under her bed, pulling out forgotten clothes and moving my hand around in the darkness. My hand contacted something cold and hard, instantly relief went through me, until I heard the sound of the front door opening.