I have lots of different feelings waking up in the morning. My sheets are cold, I feel the heat of the sun beams hitting my face, but at the same time I feel the cool breeze that smells like dirt and sand coming through my window. I crawl out of bed instantly going for the water bottle on my desk to hydrate my desert dry mouth. Everyday is the same: I wake up, get ready for school, try my best to survive at school, afterwards I go hangout in the forest, then I come home to lock myself in my room and get prepared for the next day. Everyday in my life seems more pointless than the last. Sometimes it’s entertaining if a fight breaks out in school or if I catch some sort of animal in one of my traps in the forest, but it’s still just another day in the boring old town of Prineville. It’d be a little cooler if I had a real forest to hangout in. The place I go everyday is basically just a bunch of trees on a hill that looks over the crooked river, but I like to call it a forest to make myself seem cooler.

My goal in life has always been to get out of this town. I don’t have anyone in my life except my parents but I’m pretty sure they hate me, and if they don’t then I definitely hate them. They’re so boring and judgmental with everything I do. It’s like no matter what I decide to do all I see is disappointment in their faces. I’ve always thought right after high school I’d leave, but I’m in the middle of my junior year and don’t think I can go any longer, so maybe I’ll go soon.
I have lots of feelings waking up in the morning, but this morning was different. I never really want to go to school, but this morning I knew I wasn’t going to school. Out of nowhere it was like I had a whole life plan figured out and had all the drive I needed to do so. Before my parents woke up I snuck into their room and opened my dad’s wallet on the nightstand. He had $3,200 in cash, so I snagged that and went back to my room. I packed my bag filling it with all the different things I think I would need. I grabbed my knives, the money, some extra clothes, and my GameBoy in case I get bored. I walked outside, strolled over to my neighbor's house and used the garage code to get into their shop. I used to house sit for them so I knew everything I needed to know. The husband owned a Buick GNX that was in mint condition. I’m pretty sure he loved that car more than his own wife, so obviously I had to take it. I knew where he hid his keys, so I grabbed the keys and hopped into the car. I threw my backpack in the backseat, pushed in the clutch, and started the car. I sat there with the start of the biggest decision I have ever made. Do I really steal this car and runaway with my dad’s money? I released the break, threw the shifter into first, and drove off with my middle finger sticking out the window facing my own home.
I didn’t have a map or anything that shows GPS so I had no clue where I was going. I just kept following main roads and driving hoping I’d eventually run into a place that I thought would be nice to start my new life at.
It’s been about seven hours since I left and now I’m driving through a small town that I don’t know the name of. Cruising and looking how the sunlight reflects off of all the buildings in this town, I check my rearview mirror to see two Crown Victorias with lights on them. I couldn’t pay attention to where I was going, my hands were super sweaty, and my anxiety was shooting up more and more while those two cops followed me. I feel like I’ve been followed for days now, but I check my watch and I see they’ve only been following for about two minutes. Suddenly both their lights turn on and they accelerate to get right behind me. “You are driving a stolen vehicle, pull over now!” shouted one of the police officers. At that moment, I downshifted and slammed the pedal to the floor leaving them in the dust. I was getting farther and farther away from them. I went along a slight right turn and noticed they couldn’t see me anymore so I whipped the car into a nearby neighborhood and quickly pulled into an open garage. The police kept driving by and had no idea I went a different way.
I rolled out of the garage and drove away calmly. I drove for about another hour until my gas light came on. I then pulled off the mainroad to the nearest gas station. Rolling up to the pump I noticed nobody was outside except an empty car with the front end smashed in.
I was sitting there listening to the radio for probably a minute or two and still nobody has come to help me out. I unlocked the doors and right before I got out to go check what was going on, the front door of the market at the gas station swung open and a man came running out with a grocery bag in his left hand a what looked to be a Beretta in his right. He ran up to the car, got in, threw the bag in the back, aimed the gun at me and yelled, “Drive!” The man kept shouting but I couldn’t hear a word he was saying. All I could hear was the sound of the motor rumbling, the police sirens in the distance, the ring of the alarm from the market, and myself breathing. For some reason my breathing was the loudest things in my ear, it was like I was deaf from hearing certain things but then other things I could hear very loudly as if there were a microphone projecting specific sounds. I sat there for a second with the barrel of the man’s gun on my temple, then shifted into first and slammed on the gas hearing nothing but the engine roar at high rpms and the squeal of the hot rubber tires spin on the pavement. Before I knew it, I was going over 80 miles per hour and there was a fleet of police cars in my rear view mirror.
“Damn you drive pretty well, this your car?” said the robber.
“No.”
“Well you drive pretty well.”
“...”
I stayed quiet. I’m not sure why he was trying to talk to me and I’m not sure while I’m still driving. I have so many emotions and feelings rushing through my body . I wasn’t losing any of the cops behind us, the man with me kept shouting out random things thinking he can help, and I was somehow still alive. I was doing so many motions, shifting, pulling the handbrake, and sliding around corners. I was able to do all these things out of pure instinct but my brain feels dead. I feel so blocked yet I was able to do all these things to evade the police.
Out of nowhere I felt the rear of the car raise up and we started spinning. I froze, but the car was still moving. I opened my eyes, looked to my right to see the robber still in the passenger seat with blood running down the side of his face. I heard the sirens get louder and louder as the police approached. I climbed out of the wrecked car and quickly ran into the construction building we slammed into. I got all the way to the top of the building and looked down at all the police surrounding the building. I looked up and saw maybe the most beautiful sunset my eyes have ever looked at, then looked back down and noticed the GNX was empty. Now this robber is probably looking for me and the police are looking for the both of us. “I’m so screwed. I’m so screwed…” I kept repeating to myself. I kept creeping around all the half built pillars and piles of rebar then suddenly I heard the scuff of a shoe and froze.
“Come here little girl!” the robber aggressively screams.
“Ahhh!” I shouted as loud as I could.
The man held me down and had both his hands around my throat.
“You tried to get me killed and now I’m going to prison because of you!” said the man.
He squeezed tighter. He took one hand off my throat to grab his gun from his holster. He held out the Baretta and held it at my face while he choked me. I couldn’t breathe anymore and my vision started to get blurry. I really thought this was going to be the end for me. I started flailing my arms trying to grab him when my hand hit something hard on his waist. I pulled off whatever I felt with my hand and swung the object in his direction.Suddenly I felt no pressure on my throat and I was covered in some form of liquid. I finally gathered myself and wiped my face realizing the object I had in my hand was a knife. I stabbed the man in the neck. He was squirming around while blood was shooting out of his neck getting all over me and the floor. I Looked down at my bloody hands and noticed I was shaking uncontrollably. I quickly grabbed the knife out of his
neck, grabbed his gun, and ran out of one of the fire escape exits as quick as I could hoping the cops will be distracted by the dead body laying on the floor.
I got down to the street behind the building and started running. I ran and ran like I never have before. After running for what felt like days, I finally stopped before I passed out. I didn't realize where I was running but once I caught my breathe I noticed I was in the back of a neighborhood. I hopped the nearest fence and started walking towards the backdoor of a house. It seemed like nobody was home and all the lights were off. I opened the sliding door which was surprisingly unlocked, and started walking towards the living room so I could maybe get some rest. Walking through this house covered in blood with a knife in one hand and a gun in the other, I quickly stopped moving once I heard footsteps behind me. I heard a click sound and froze. Suddenly a loud sound went off and it looked like all the lights in the world turned on at once. I fell to the ground and everything faded to black.