How I ran away

How I told

Two weeks and seven states over. The day is windy and grey. A cloudy sky but not a drop of rain. I’m not fooled. They could fall any moment and when they do it will pour. I don’t want to be outside when that happens. But as of now all is calm. Just as my life is. I ended the game. Nobody was after me these past two weeks. Nobody tried to kidnap me. Interrogate me. And I’m fine with that.

                I’ve been in this small town for two days. And I needed to get out. I’m in search for the perfect place. Bare of anything I am used to. I want to start new. Confused. Like starting out is supposed to be. So far that’s not working for me. All high schools are the same. Classes separated into cliques. Those known and those that stand in the corner. I’m done with this. I’m going to fly across the world. Try to find a place I haven’t been to. I’ll have fun in life. Make it a game. One I’ll enjoy.

                I sink into a seat by the empty bus stop. School’s not out for another hour so the streets are mostly empty. Over here the shopping is done in the morning by adults. And then they get along to work. By the afternoon the shops close for lunch and the town is practically a ghost town.

                That’s why the footsteps startle me.

                “Can I sit here?” I look up. The speaker looks around my age. He is tall with a slight tan and straight brown hair.

                “Wait, are you going to try to kidnap me, torture me and then kill me?” I ask. My attempt at light humor.

                He laughs uneasily and takes the place next to me at the bus stop bench.

                We sit in silence for a moment.

                “Who are you?”

                “Excuse me?” I say.        

                “Oh, sorry I mean I’ve never seen you around town before and I thought I knew everyone around here. You don’t go to Rockfall?”

                “No. I just came to stop by. Just for a day. I’m leaving now.”       

                “Wait, what? You came to check this place out,” he is really confused.

                “Yeah. I’m trying to find a place to live.” I say.

                “Where are your parents?” he asks.

                “Don’t have any,” I say.

                “Oh, sorry.”

                Another stretch of silence. When will the bus come to take me away?

                “So…You’re—what exactly are you doing now?”

                “Sitting at a bus stop. Waiting for a bus.”

                “No, seriously. Tell me about you.”

                “You want my life story? Seriously,” I say with a breathy laugh, “okay. You asked for it.”

                “All my life I have been followed. I moved all my life. Escaping them. Meanwhile it was all a game. I was being watched and monitored by Master. He saw everything I did. Watched my life pass by horribly. Because he set it up that way. Set them up to follow me. Interrogate me. It was a sick game. One I was forced to play. And I played it. Yeah I did,” I give a bitter laugh; “I was such a fool. Thought I was playing for honor. Honestly all I was playing for was for Master to see how long I could live for. There were others like me. We were all given numbers. Just I didn’t hear my number for so long. Basically forgot it. But I stopped the game. The game Master started. He thought I wasn’t able to but I was.” I say.

                He says nothing.

                “That’s my life,” I say.

                “What happened to your parents, your family, didn’t they ever do anything?” he asked.

                “You don’t get it. No. All of us. All of the numbers. We’re not real like you or anyone else. We are here for one purpose. To be a part of the game. To be watched by the Master that’s now dead.”

                “We’re not like you, like regular people.

                “I was created.”