"When are you from?"
"When?"
Maybe he'd made a mistake. He had to have meant "where". Right?
"Yes, "when" is my question because, in my experience, "when" is not always what you think." His words were followed by a monstrous giggle.
My jaw droppe...
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Catharsis. That's what they called it. A moment of "emotional purification".
I stepped outside and I finally understood the word properly because the world I'd escaped into wasn't mine.
My mom wasn't waiting there with open arms like I'd fantasised about. My dad didn't have a proud grin on his face as he saw me, while my brother tugs on his arm, pestering him.
Instead I had no one.
There weren't even any trees.
In fact, the absence of nature was so intense that I wondered how anyone here still had any oxygen.
The streets had different signs to the ones that I had learned in driver's education and the buildings looked significantly uglier. I wasn't sure if it was the building's peculiar shape or the dull grey paint that slowly wasted away on them.
Everything was different. The world looked... lifeless.
Once I'd escaped down the street, I barely felt like I could function at all, but I knew I had to keep moving otherwise they'd find me.
I had already spotted a guard on one of the street corners but I had managed to dodge him. Then I found a dumpster in an ominous looking ally to hide behind.
That was the first time I'd admitted to myself that I was never going to see my family again.
And I did what anybody would have done.
I cried.
It felt like I didn't stop for hours. Eventually I was unable to contain the violent sound of my sobs. I didn't care who heard me. I just wanted to go home.
I tried to calm myself down but all that came out was what sounded like a twisted hiccup. Eventually, I heard a noise. It sounded like a crackle as if someone had stepped on something.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before picking up a piece of broken glass that had been lying next to me.
Then I got in touch with the tiny part of bravado that was still left inside and hopped up to my feet.
"Don't come any closer!" I yelled and held the glass up like a knife. "I'll stab you."
But then I heard a familiar crazy laugh and relief washed over me.
"You'll stab me?"
"Malvin." I breathed. "How did you find me?"
"It was easy. You aren't exactly the 'Queen of Stealth'. I could hear you half way down the street."
I blushed. "I was just-"
"Crying." He nodded. "That's understandable. I was rather surprised that you'd waited so long to do so. It is quite an emotional endeavour and you did a good job of keeping your composure until now."
