I could still hear their voices, their laughter, even though I'd left all them far behind hours ago. A tree root, jutting out of the ground - I tripped and fell, but by then I'd run out of energy and there was no way I could pull myself back up again.
I don’t know how long I sat there. It felt like hours, days even. I can’t have been there that long, because the light didn’t change much and even once I got back home, it was only six o’clock. My watch had stopped again, and I noticed that time seems to drag on much more slowly than usual when you’re sitting still and alone.
No one said anything at dinner that night. They all just sat there staring at me, but they glanced at the wall behind me whenever they realised that I had seen them looking at me. I just wanted to get it all over and done with. I jumped up.
"Okay! Interrogation time! What do you want to know?” I shouted so loud that the whole state probably heard me.
For what seemed like an eternity, no one said anything. Everyone just kept on staring. Then Owen, my little brother, piped up. I seriously doubted he even knew what "interrogation” meant.
"Why did you run away, Steph?” Dad glanced over at me to see how I’d react. Owen wasn’t the only one who wanted to know the answer to that question.
"I don’t know.” I sighed. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea. I could feel tears pricking the backs of my eyes like pins already, and I’d only said three measly, almost meaningless words. But he didn’t stop there - he was too young to understand when somebody didn’t really want to talk about something.
"So you just ran away from school for no reason?” he asked innocently. I tried to answer.
"...I...I...no…I...they were...” It was too much.
I ran into my room and threw myself down onto my bed. I had always thought that only people on TV did that, but obviously, I was wrong. I could feel their eyes piercing the skin on my back as I left the room, and I knew that after I’d gone, Mum and Dad would just sit there, staring at each other instead of at me. Owen would be wondering why I’d run off again. But I didn’t care. Not one tiny bit. The rest of the world could fight and bicker all they wanted, but I wasn’t going to let it affect me.
The next day was a school day. I knew that there would be lots of questions and mixed reactions from the teachers - the kids that mattered already knew, but their eyes followed me down the corridors and into the classrooms anyway.
By the time lunch came, I was fed up with it all, but I wasn't about to give them the satisfaction of running away again – I’d still have to face them tomorrow anyway. Some people, mainly the boys, thought that I was a hero, or some sort of god worthy of worship, just because I had broken the rules and gotten away with it. Others, who knew the full story, told me that I was a coward for running away like I did, but I hoped I wasn't either of those things - I didn't want to be either of those things.
I just wanted to be me. Not too much of a coward to stand up for myself rather than running away from my problems - a hero, following the rules instead of breaking them.
Just me, because no matter how hard I try, how much I want it to happen, there is no way I can ever run away from the person I truly am.
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This was written for English. We could write anything, on any subject.
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