It started out with an argument between me and my sister. I can't exactly remember what it was about, but somehow my sister played an evil trick on me and I was blamed. My mother refused to see reason in my side of the story and even though my evidence was convincing and I was pleading that I didn't do anything wrong, I wasn't heard. I remember there was a lot of yelling and my sister was laughing at me while my mother continued to yell at me, punishing me for being bad. Then, I ran away. I don't remember how long I waited, but I knew that my parents wouldn't find out for a couple minutes that I had left.

So I ran down my street, heading north. I followed the curvy streets, but it was all a blur. I ran to Barth Pond where there were many, many kids. I know it was Bath Pond, but I don't remember how I knew exactly. The park looked nothing like the actual Barth Pond and the geography of the park itself was entirely wrong. There were many paths and small hills. Now that I think about it, it reminded me of one of those inflatable obstacle courses because the hills were so small (in comparison to regular hills), but were big enough to get in your way. Anyway, so I climbed around the grassy hills, pasture and past the lake itself. The weather was divine. The sun was shining bright, no clouds, and no humidity. It wasn't even hot. It was perfect weather. There were butterflies and dragonflies buzzing through the thick air, even though I can't remember it being hot or humid. The weather that day was just something you knew, not something you felt. The flowers were like daisies, but came in an abundance of different colors. Pink, white, blue, purple, green and even yellow petals with (always) yellow centers. I remember how even though I was crawling around this park (yes, I was literally crawling around the park because like I said, it was set up like a wacky obstacle course) on such a radiant day, I was scared and nervous. I crawled as fast as I could over these hills, only noticing the details about the scenery, not indulging.

So I'm crawling, right?, but not alone. There are hundreds of other kids like me scurrying about for the same reason I assume. They're runaways just like me and we're all scared. We don't even bother talking to each other because we're so determined to get away. Anyway, I eventually found a walking path and followed that for a while, still in the park. Now there were even more kids, but they were playing and eating midday lunches on benches. "It's like recess time all over again", I thought. And then, I saw him. My parents had noticed that I was gone and my dad came searching for me. How he knew where I was still remains a mystery, but the point is that he was there. Now, all the kids that looked scared like me acted normal, as if they were disguising themselves as kids who weren't running away from their homes. They pretended like their families brought them all to the park to play. Luckily for me, there were so many kids there that I could easily duck out of sight from my dad. I remember hiding behind a small wall until my dad passed by and then I ran the opposite way. He didn't even look angry, more scared like the other kids before an adult came, but I didn't trust him.

So I ran far away. I found myself tripping over my feet, scared and fearing that my dad would catch me. I remember I was running faster than I had ever ran before, but time felt like it was slowing down. The fear was burning in my chest. Eventually, I run/crawl away from the park to find this enchanting church in a forest. A super massive, enchanting church in the middle of this wood that doesn't even exist in real life Barth Pond. As I remember it, the church was old. Practically as old and medieval as the churches in Europe I saw this summer. Made of old, dirty stone and as large as Hogwarts itself, the church had been forgotten about by the outside world. No church services had been held there in over a hundred years and no older adult had seen it for decades. Even if they did, they had forgotten all about it, like people forget about Neverland or forget that they had actually seen Santa Claus. If the church had been built on stone, Mother Nature had covered it with green grass and flowers. I remember that there was a courtyard that was lush with tall grass and great big trees. From where I walked, I had found the side of the church and there was an opening in a hallway that led me inside. It wasn't just a hole in the side of the church though. I don't know how to describe it, but it had open windows on the right side of the hall (facing the courtyard) too. Anyway, like the park, the church was buzzing with runaways just like me. This time though people were talking to each other and hanging out. They didn't seem scared, but I suspected they were. They were all clean, as though they had been living at the abandoned church for some time now, and I was dirty. I had crawled through mud and dirty to get to this church, so it's nothing too surprising, but I was still scared. I was scared like an animal. I felt like an animal – just trying to live another day. At this point, I became mute. Anyway, I wandered around the church, trying to find somewhere to go to get away from my father whom I was certain would find me at any moment.

So I find a room after a while of wandering in and out of rooms. I can't really remember what sort of room it was, but it reminded me of a cafeteria. I was still scared, so remember hiding in a cupboard while people watched me. They were scared of me, but rather confused. They thought I was foreign, like an animal, but after I climbed into the cupboard they forgot all about me and continued eating and chatting. Then my dad comes in. Everyone is shocked, but pretend like nothing happened. I was more scared than before and was certain my dad would find me. He walked around the cafeteria, still with a worried expression, and searched in trash bins and under tables. Then, from nowhere, a girl with a broom yells at him to get out and starts pushing him out the door. After some pushing and ushering, the girl gets him out and I feel, for the first time, safe. I open the cupboard and get out. Most of the people have left by now and it's just the girl there standing next to the lone cash register. Counting money or something, I can't really remember. I remember I had gotten even filthier, but I walked up to her, intending on saying something but nothing came to mind. Thanks for kicking my dad out? I don't know what would be appropriate, so I didn't say anything. For a while, she didn't look up from some book she was writing in, as if she didn't notice (or smell) some muddy girl standing in front of her. Eventually she noticed and was shocked. There was some dialog here, but I can't remember exactly what she said. She was surprised and asked over and over again what my name was, but I didn't say anything. I kind of walked around the room too, like an animal trying to find food or something. She even treated me like a lost dog, but I can assure you I was still myself. After some time, she had me follow her down more confusing halls until we got to her father's store. From the outside, it looked like a bathroom entrance in a Target store or something. She leads me in and instantly, I'm amazed. It's like the best home goods ever made in one, gigantic store. The first area was all bathroom stuff. Different expensive showers, bathtubs, sinks, towels, toilets, Jacuzzis – the whole spiel. I remember I was ecstatic because I knew I was so stinky and dirty, so I instantly started running through all the showers, yelling and shouting different variations of 'whoopee!'. The funny thing is that even though I still had my clothes on, I became clean and dry, just like the other kids I saw earlier that afternoon. I was so happy afterwards that I started talking up a storm as if me and the other girl were best buds. Anyway, she started showing me around the store more and I became more and more excited. It was like a super IKEA plus Wal-Mart plus eBay, all in a store. It was amazing, and the girl said that I could use anything I wanted. I don't remember how, but some other kids that I eventually became friends with joined us and we spent the rest of that afternoon/evening just running around the store. Then I met the girl's father and he was super nice. He was also a captain of a boat. I remember asking where the boat was when all of a sudden I noticed outside a window that we were out in open water, sailing around. It wasn't an ocean because I could see land from every side of the ship, but it was massive. That's right people. I was sailing around on an eBay, Wal-Mart, IKEA store ship in the middle of some beautiful sea on some other gorgeous day. We were sailing to Sweden where the girl's father would do some business with some rich people and I remember I was so happy and content. The feeling was so real. The other girls and I went on some random adventures on the ship, but it was mostly just make believe. Once we sailed to Sweden, about 30 adults got on the boat and started looking around. They all dressed well, and one man was the duke of Sweden. I met him and his wife and then ran off with my new friends, none of their names I remember or ever got the chance to know, and we just wandered around the massive Wal-Mart, eBay, IKEA ship for the rest of the day. The entire time I was 110% happy and excited for almost no reason other than the fact that I was on a Wal-Mart, IKEA, eBay boat and I had met the duke of Sweden and escaped.





The end.