InsertTitleHere+(Kyle's+Novella)

On the Run Kyle Swardstrom

In loving memory of Herman (Hank) “Popov” Bass.

This book is entirely fictional, and any relations to any persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental, and was in no way intended.

=I walked along the sidewalk, kicking stones and rocks as I went, holding my head down, walking slowly, deliberately delaying my arrival home. I was screwed, big time, when I got home. I had done the stupidest thing I could have possibly done that day. = =In my school, you got kicked out of classes for talking out of term. You got kicked out of class for laughing at a student. You got kicked out for accidentally kicking desks in class (okay, that one was on purpose, but that’s beside the point). You name it, if it was in any way obnoxious, annoying to the teacher, or in any way “bad” (which was defined completely differently by every single teacher at my school. I have even gotten kicked out of class (and sent to the headmaster’s office) for drinking water in class (apparently it was a hazard for the musical instruments- none of which, by the way, were electronic). =

This day, fed up with all the crap I had gotten from my teachers, and annoyed with having only one friend, I had gotten in a fight with another kid over something that I just couldn’t stand. The fight went a little something like this:

I was calmly walking down the hallway, just kind of keeping to my self, when this kid, Jason, decided it would be funny to start a fight with me. He started pushing me, and I tried to stop the fight from happening. But Jason was way too persistent. He started calling me weak, saying I wouldn’t fight because I was weak. He said that he could beat me any day. I just stood there, telling him at least I had the self restraint to stay out of fights. Then, he crossed a line that nobody should ever, ever cross with me.

About 3 years ago now

I had had just about enough of all the trash talk about everything, and I was fed up with my life at home. So I let him have it. Right there, in the cafeteria. I threw a punch to him, hitting him square in the jaw. He threw one back, hitting me in the nose, and it all went downhill from there. It took about 10 minutes for the teachers in the cafeteria to even get through the crowd, and another five to break up the two of us, sending us straight to the headmaster, Dr. Moriel. We had both gotten suspended for a day, and now, I had to tell my parents. Yep. I was done for when I got home.

My parents have been at each other for about five or six months now, give or take. The spark that had set off the fuse of divorce happened when my mom got in a big fight (for what I can’t remember) with my dad. Since then they have not gotten much better. My mom gets on my dad’s case about doing things only one way, and no other way is okay, and my dad gets angry at her. Or my dad does something that ticks her off, and she gets mad at him. In any case, it never goes along well. Now, the divorce fuse (keeping with the dynamite analogy) was growing short, and i had slipped so far back in my school work that I was getting not A’s and B’s, but C’s D’s and a few F’s here and there.

Before that huge fight, life was treating me pretty well. My parents were happy with each other and the progress their “little boy” was making in school. I had a group of friends that I hung out with, and I was pretty content with my life in general. I was doing well in school, and I had a good outlook towards life. Now, all that has changed. The night my parents had that huge fight, I didn’t get one wink of sleep. I stayed up all night. I had never seen my parents that angry at each other in my life. It scared me.

The next day, I went to school in the most downbeat mood I had ever been in. I actually didn’t say a single word for the entire day. I just couldn’t bring myself to say anything. I sat alone at a lunch table in the back of the cafeteria, and just stared a my food. And you know what? Nobody seemed to care in the slightest about my mood. In fact, I even got kicked out of class for not participating in class. Over the next few days, my small group of friends left me, and I was a loner.

But all was not lost for me. The next day, about two weeks after the fight (the big one between my mom an dad) I still ha my best (not to mention only) friend, Anna. I had met Anna at the start of this school year, my sophomore year, about two months before the huge fight that my parents had.

As I walked, I noticed Anna. She saw me, and ran to catch up with me. As she got closer, she saw that I was sulking. =“What’s wrong?” she asked. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I got suspended.” I told her. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“What?! Suspended?! Matt! How?!” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“You know that kid Jason?” =

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Oh, yeah. That douchebag.” =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Well, he was making fun of my grandfather, saying that he was just another fat guy lost from the world. ” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“You can say that again.” I said. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“You know what you need to do?” Anna asked, “You need to stop doodling in class, pay attention, and just sit still and shut up. I know that sounds harsh, and quite honestly, it is, but that’s just what you need to do for a while. That way Mr. Rodriguez has no reason to kick you out.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Does that go for all my classes?” I asked. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“You mean you got kicked out of multiple classes?” Anna asked. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I had been kicked out of English, science, and spanish, and had gotten a detention from my troubles. “Yeah. Spanish, English, and Math.” I responded. Anna and I continued to walk to the train. “To the hideout?” Anna asked. “Yeah. I need some time to chill” I answered. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As the two of us walked, instead of stopping at the train stop, we went right across the tracks, hopped the fence, and continued on through the field on the other side. When we got to the other side of the field, we reached the edge of a forest. We walked for a ways, until we came to Latebram Abnoba. This was our hiding place, far away from anyone, secluded behind a rock, and almost always covered by a blanket of thick fog, rising from the lake that was at a constant temperature of 64.67 degrees, heated and kept cool by the earth’s natural geothermal and insulative properties. We had named this hiding place back when we had been taking Latin together, two years ago. It literally translated as “hiding place of the black forest.” This had been our secret place to get away from it all for two years now. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I knew that if I went home, I was screwed for sure. and he probably got a call from the dean, Mr. Ryan only a few minutes ago. I had made up my mind. I was not going home today. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“So, how goes life otherwise? I mean other than today?” Anna asked. = <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Oh, you know, same old same old. My parents are yelling at each other again probably.”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“That sucks”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Yeah, I know. It just doesn’t stop. They just keep yelling at each other.”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Actually, Anna? I’m going to tell you something that not anybody, even my parents, know. Can you keep a secret?”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Yeah, sure.”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Okay, so you know my grandfather, right? How he died two years back?”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Yes”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“He was a diabetic, but that never seemed to stop him from doing all of the things that he loved to do. When he died, I wanted to do something, just to get the sadness off my chest. I can remember, my favorite story about him. When he had died, I wrote a letter to him about my first memory with him and stuck it in my shoe. It read as follows:”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I took the letter out of my shoe and started to read:

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Dear Grandpa, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I can recall many memories when I think of you. But the one that really sticks out to me is the one where I caught my first fish with you. You remember this, right? I was maybe 7 or 8, and it was a sunny summer day. The night before, we had set off fireworks off the porch of your house in North Carolina. I can remember getting the pole and the bait and loading it all into the back of the minivan. We put the bait into the bait bucket, which we then placed into the lake to keep the bait alive. You explained that the fish are attracted more to the live fish because the fish naturally eat live fish, or something along the lines of that. He was notorious for his long and interesting explanations of things. He would also tie something of his own life into his stories. We got out to the dock, and we put a fish on the hook. you told me to wait for the bobber to wiggle, and then I would know I got a nibble. When the bobber when all the way under, I had a bite. And once the fishing pole started to bend, I knew i had to reel it in. Then we waited...and waited... and waited some more. Finally, i got a wiggle of the bobble. After a bit, the bobber went under, and Popov told me to wait for the pole to bend. The pole started to bend, and then, the whole pole started to wiggle. I started to reel it in real fast. But Popov told me to slow down, otherwise the fish would let go. So I went slower, and...there it was, my first fish. I later found out that the fish was a Scup, or a Pogie. I was so excited, I could hardly hold still. Nana Beth came over, and she took a picture with me and the fish. And then the fish pooped on me. It was then I decided the fish’s time was up. Time for it to go back to it’s home in the lake. Under the water. So I let it go. Later, Popov took me on his favorite element: His Boat. And that was a whole other memory of many, MANY ones to come. Thank you Popov, for everything.

=<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Matt. Don’t go home today. You’re staying with me and my Aunt and Uncle tonight.” Anna told me. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I thanked Anna, and she gave me a hug. We released our hug, and I just stood there, staring into Anna’s beautiful blue eyes, admiring her long, dark brown hair. After what seemed like forever, Anna leaned in, and kissed I. I kissed her back, gently cradling her head with my hands. The moment seemed to go on forever. I didn’t want the moment to end. I wanted it to go on forever and ever. Man, why couldn’t life be like this all the time? = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We started walking out of our hiding place. Anna held my hand. I was feeling like I was on top of the world. Nothing could stop me now. I could do anything. It was like that time I had tried cocaine for the first time. I felt like we could rule the world together if we wanted to. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We walked, hand in hand, to Anna’s house, not risking a train ride, in case my mom was coming home from work. We walked for about fifteen minutes. When we got to Anna’s house, she called her mom, and told her that I was going to stay over for a few days, and then the weekend. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Well, hello Matthew. How are you?” Anna’s aunt asked. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Honestly, not so good, Mrs. Richardson” I said. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Oh, well that’s sad. Well, there’s always room for one more in the Richardson family. Here, let me get you to your room” Mrs. Richardson said. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I’ll help” Anna suggested. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Thanks so much guys.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I told Mrs. Richardson my story of the day, and what would probably become of me when I went home. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Wow, you have it rough.” She said. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Suddenly, a great ball of fur came bounding down the hallway and almost knocked me over. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Hey Rocky. What’s up boy?” I said. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Whoof,” Rocky responded. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Hey, Matt, you wanna watch a movie together? It is a weekend, after all,” Anna asked. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Sure” I said. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We went through our options for movies, and finally settled on the movie Inception- one of my all time favorite movies and number nine in the IMDB top 250 list (this includes movies like ShawshankRedemption and The Godfather. We decided that we should probably have dinner first, and it was a movie that Anna’s little brother, Callum, couldn’t watch, so we had that to get around. After a wonderful dinner of broiled scrod, brocollini, and jasmine rice, we sat down to a bowl of popcorn and insertmovienamehere. The movie was pretty long, but after the movie, we decided we weren’t tired, so we went upstairs to Anna’s room to hang out until we were. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">When we got to Anna’s room, I had a question that I had been itching to tell her. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Anna, I have a question to ask you,” I said. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Yeah, what is it?” Anna asked as she cuddled up next to me. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I’ve never been able to make friends like you do. I always seem to fall on my ass when I try to make friends. I mean, I have a few friends, but when I try to make new friends, I just suck. I can’t figure it out. It sucks, ‘cause school is the only place where I can be away from my parents, and just have at least a little bit of fun,” I told her. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Well Matt, quite honestly I just kind of make friends. I guess it just takes a little bit of patience, really. Friends don’t just show up. They take time. It’s like building a block tower. If you go too fast, you’ll knock it down. It doesn’t just happen overnight. Besides, you’re a likable person, if you let people, they will start to gravitate towards you. You just need to calm down in your classes. Stop getting kicked out, and start to be a little bit more quiet, and eventually, people will start to talk to you,” Anna told me. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Thanks. I never really thought of it that way. Thanks Anna. You’re the best,” I said. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We stayed up for a little bit, talking, playing creep-the-neighbors (stare at the neighbors through binoculars until they looked back at us, then act like we didn’t do anything) and looking up funny YouTube videos, like Double Rainbow, Bed Intruder, and Baby Monkey Riding on a Pig- which I then made my ringtone using an App I got for my iPhone (which I got from Anna for my 16th birthday)- and finishing up by playing would you rather. At that point, we were beyond tired, and before we knew it, we were asleep on Anna’s queen size bed, cuddled together. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The next morning, we got up at about 10 AM and went downstairs to make ourselves some breakfast. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Morning sleepyheads. How was last night? Did you two sleep well together?” Mrs. Rodriguez asked. I blushed a little, and Anna looked at the ground, suddenly intrigued by a crack on the floor. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Don’t worry, I’m fine with you guys sleeping together. I think you two make a cute couple,” Mrs. Rodriguez told us. “As long as you keep it PG” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Now, who wants some French Toast?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mrs. Rodriguez was, in my mind, world famous for her french toast. I could never get enough of it. I don’t know what it was about her french toast- actually her cooking in general, but especially her french toast- that made it so good, but whenever I had Mrs. Rodriguez’s French Toast, it was like a party in my stomach. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">After a wonderful breakfast, we went back upstairs to shower. I had the best shower of my life. The water was hot, the shampoo was actually there, in the bottles, and the bathroom did not smell like alcohol and smoke. I got a spare change of clothes from Mr. Rodriguez’s room. Apparently, Uncle Jim, as he was called by Anna, was on a business trip in Fiji (my foot he’s on a business trip). = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I got back downstairs to Mrs. Rodriguez cleaning up. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“How was your shower?” she asked = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Best. Shower. Ever,” I told her “It was heavenly.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Well, that’s great. I’m glad you liked it,” she said. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Would you like any help cleaning up Mrs. Rodriguez?” I asked. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“No, no, that’s quite alright. Thank you for offering though,” Mrs. Rodriguez answered. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We both just stood there, waiting for Anna. I sat down, and Mrs. Rodriguez told me I could pick up the remote and flip through the channels to see if there was anything good on. I decided to stop on SportsCenter, catching up on the latest Red Sox news. The Red Sox had won last night, beating the Yankees 4-2, sweeping them, bringing their winning streak to 15 games, and the Yankees loosing streak to 17 games. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Anna came down, looking even more beautiful than I had remembered yesterday, with a skin tight tank top, shorts, and flip flops on. Her hair was almost gleaming in the light, and she had on eye liner. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Wow. Anna, you look absolutely gorgeous” I told her. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Aww, thanks Matt” She said. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">She kissed me on the cheek, and I’m pretty sure I blushed a little bit. Then Callum came down and started teasing Anna. He started chanting. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Matt and Anna sitting in a tree = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">K-I-S-S-I-N-G = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">First comes- =

=<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Shut up you little twerp!” Anna yelled. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Well its true” Callum said. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Mom, can you please telly Callum to stop teasing me about me and Matt being together?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Callum, at some point, you will have a girlfriend. Now, you don’t want Anna to be teasing you about that, now do you?” Mrs. Rodriguez said. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Callum apologized to Anna, and Anna gave him a dirty look. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“So, Anna, you wanna go to the Museum of Science?” I asked, trying to break the tension. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Sure,” she said. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We got up to go, Anna taking her bag, and me just waiting- I didn’t have anything to bring. As we were going out the door, Mrs. Rodriguez stopped us, and she told me to take a 100 dollar bill. I tried not to accept it, but she insisted. I reluctantly accepted the 100 dollar bill, and Anna and I went off to spend the day walking around Boston. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We started off by walking to the C-Line, which ends up at North Station. We waited for the train, which took about twenty minutes, as usual, to get to our stop. We paid our fare, and finally got on the train, starting our trip to who knows where (we weren’t really sure where we were going to go that day). On the train, Anna asked me where we should go. I told her I was as clueless as she was. I thought about it, and then, the idea of the century hit me. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I had always dreamed of running away. I had dreamed of running off, to different people’s houses, for as long as I could remember. But I had never really executed those plans. I mean, as a kid- and even now I had run away to Anna’s house, for example, millions of times. But most of the time, I just came right back home, dealt with my dad’s beating, and just sat and was tolerant with it. But now, I was ready. I was not going back to my house. Not now. Not on Monday. Not in a week. Never. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">But, I would definitely need company on my trip. I couldn’t just go alone. I decided to ask Anna over lunch. But for now, that could wait. We trekked over to the Science Museum, where they had a new exhibit on Tornadoes. We saw an IMAX film on death valley, and then decided it was time for lunch. Since all the food at the science museum was about 300 dollars each, we decided to go to the Upper Crust on Charles street. We got pizza there, and walked over to the Swan Boats, where we had a very nice driver, who told us all about the history of the Swan Boats, from his great great Grandfather founding the Swan Boats- the driver was the fifth generation of the family run business- to even the age of all the boats. The one we were on was 50 years old, if I remember correctly. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">After we got off the Swan Boats, I decided that my plan to run away was complete, nd ready for presentation. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Hey, Anna?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Yeah Matt?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I have a question for you.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Fire away” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“This might seem absurd to you, but I’ve been thinking about running away” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Well, you’ve had that plan before” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“No, I mean, away away. Like to California” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“What?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Anna, I finally have a plan that will work. I’m sure of it. But... I need your help.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I don’t know, Matt.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“C’mon, you know you want to” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I’m not gonna lie, I would do anything for you- including running away with you- in my mind, at least. But in the real world, I don’t feel so confident with that idea.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Please.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I... I mean... You know...” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Anna. I wouldn’t ask this of you if it wasn’t absolutely necessary. I would never put you in this type of danger if I wasn’t a two hundred and fifty percent sure it will work” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Well... its just that... I...” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Tell you what. I’ll tell you the plan. If you don’t like it, then you’re more than welcome to refuse. I’ll still go on. It’ll just be a lot harder, that’s all” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Okay. I’m listening” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Alright. Here it is. So, we start out, today, at 3:30 pm. We get on the green line train to Park Street. We get on the Red line train to South Station, then we get dinner, and we wait for the 5:00 pm Acela to Penn station. I’ll explain the indirect route later. We stay in Philadelphia for a day or two, and we get on a plane to Miami. When we get to Miami, we get on a train to Pheonix, Arizona, and from there it’s a short hitch-hike to Los Angeles, where we’ll meet up with my Uncles.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Why do I feel like it’s not going to be that easy” Anna said with a sly smile. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“You were going to go all along, weren’t you?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“No, not until you got to the explaining part did I agree. I figured, if you have a plan, then we are set. One thing though: what are we going to do about money?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Well, you know how I have a job, at the CVS down the street from school, and I have a dump load of money saved up. I was saving it for college, but I figure, if I’m going to run away to find my uncle, who just so happens to be an actor in the film industry,” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We finished off the day with a trip to the movie theater together, to see The Hangover Part 2, and when that was done, we started our journey. We got on the train, rode it to park street, and then waited for the red line to arrive. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Anna,” I said, “If you don;t want to do this, you don’t have to. It’s not too late to turn back” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“No,” she said, “I’m doing this. For you.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I gave her a kiss and a hug. The train arrived, and we rode it to South Station. When we got to South Station, the first thing I did was make a beeline for the ticket counter. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“This is the moment of truth. Once we do this, there’s absolutely no turning back. Are you still sure you want to do this?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Yes” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Okay. Wish me luck. This is where my hacking skills get put to the test.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I went to the ticket counter, making sure I had my drivers licence (another gift from Anna’s family) and my best ‘I own this card’ face on. When I got to the desk, the lady asked e what she could help me with. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Two tickets for the 5:00 pm Acela to Penn Station, main cabin, please.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Okay... let’s see... two main cabin seats. Together?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“If it’s not a hassle, please” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Okay... that’ll be $62.46, please” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I handed the nice lady my own credit card, and she scanned it, asked to see a form of I.D (she said because I looked under 35), and a signature. I signed the paper and handed her my licence. She handed me back a receipt, two tickets, my credit card, and my licence. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Have a nice trip,” She told us. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">When we were out of sight and earshot of the lady at the desk, Anna and I exchanged fist pounds and marveled at my craftsmanship. We got food from McDonalds (against Anna’s pleas) because there was nothing else better in the food courts, and I got an Angus Quarter Pounder with cheese and bacon, a medium Diet Coke, and a large fries. Then it was Anna’s turn to order. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I don;t know what to get, Matt. What should I get?” Anna asked. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I gave her my “McDonalds: Go Big or Go Home” speech. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Well, if you’re going to get food at McDonalds, you might as well get as much as you can, because there’s no point getting a shitty tasting salad that has as much fat as a regular, not processed burger with fries, when for less money and only slightly more fat, you can get an excellent tasting processed burger, and be much more satisfied.” I told her. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“You know,” the guy at the counter chimed in, “He has a point. I would go with a regular burger rather than a salad.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Anna ended up getting a cheeseburger, small fries, and a small Diet Coke. We paid- another credit car success (YEUS)- and then, I decided we should probably take out some cash, so we took out $500- the largest amount you can spend on my dad’s credit card without getting a fraud warning- out of an ATM, and we decided that $500 would be our spending money for each week. So, we now had a way of spending our money, but there was one slight snag- we could not, under any circumstance, have or use any cellphone service. WiFi was okay, but, just in case my dad did go looking for me- which I doubt- or in case (and this was much more likely and probably would happen) Anna’s aunt went looking for us. So we both turned off our iPhones’ 3G service, leaving on the WiFi. This way, the police had no way of tracking us, and we didn’t have to throw away our $200 devices. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The train arrived, and we got to our seats. I took out my iPhone, and, with the 3G disabled, I used the train’s WiFi service, I got on to the Internet and started using the web to search for hotels in Philadelphia. I was searching for the best hotel that would not charge us more than $200 a night. I found a nice hotel right in Philadelphia, the Lowes Hotel Philadelphia, and I booked the hotel. I used the GoogleVoice app on my iPhone so I could use the WiFi to make a call rather than have to use the 3G on my iPhone. I called in to the hotel. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Raddaison Hotel, New York City. Cathy speaking. How may I help you?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Um, I’d like to make a reservation please.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Okay, how long will you be staying here, sir?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Um, 2 nights, today and tomorrow. We will be checking out on the thirteenth.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Single or double?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Double, please” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Okay, that’s great. Can I get your name please?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Matthew” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Okay, Matthew, thank you. See you soon.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I hung up the phone, and Anna and I exchanged glances. I decided it was time to catch a few hours of sleep. I put my head down, put the new New Boyz album on, started with Better With the Lights Off and was asleep in about 10 minutes, in the middle of Zonin. It was so nice. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I woke up to a voice: = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Ladies and gentlemen, we are about to arrive at our second stop, Grand Central Station. If you are getting off at Grand Central Station, please remember to take all of your belongings with you when you exit the train. If New York City is your final destination, have a pleasant day in the big apple If you are transferring trains, please be advised that tracks 6a and 7b are under construction, and all trains coming in to tracks 5a through 8b have been moved to tracks 9a through 12b. Have a Pleasant day, wherever your final destination may be, and thank you for choosing to ride with Acela today. We hoped you enjoyed your ride.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Nice. Almost to our first stop. This was almost too easy. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Then, I got a funny feeling in my stomach. You know, that funny feeling you get when you feel like something bad is about to happen, but you can’t quite put your finger on what it might be. = <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As we pulled into the station, I noticed three men, all dressed in identical black suits.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I didn’t pay any attention to this, until we got off the train.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We got off the train, and walked towards the exit. Then, one of the men dressed in black started to follow us. Then, we started to realize weird things, and walked as casually as we could off the train and towards the exit, walking fast but not so fast as to draw attention to ourselves. Then, suddenly, a cop stopped me. =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“ = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The cop showed me a picture of a kid, about my height, who looked sort of like me. He had black hair, fair skin, a muscular-ish build, and blue eyes. He could have been my brother, had I had one. Then, suddenly, the cop’s radio reared to life, a barrage of numbers and street names and the name of the kid coming through. The cops were off like a shot, hoping into their cruisers and blaring off into the distance. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Few. That was a close one,” I said = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Too close,” Anna told me. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We walked to the exit of the station, and we called a cab and told the driver the address of our hotel. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">When we got to the hotel, I made for the front desk, put my best I own this credit card face on again, and walked to the main desk.handed the lady my hacked credit card. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Welcome to the Raddaison New York City, how can I help you, sir?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Reservation for Matthew.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Hello Matthew. How are you. Are your parents here?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Oh. Didn’t think of that. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I tried to think of the best excuse for why my parents were not with me right now. Nothing came to me. I quickly looked at Anna, and she mouthed something to me. I couldn’t quite make out what it was. She quickly hugged me, and then whispered to me “Dead” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I finally got it, and I took a fake deep breath and looked at the lady at the desk. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“They’re dead.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Oh. So sorry.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The lady at the desk gave me an apologetic look. I put my best close to tears face on, and I started to tell our story off the top of my head. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“They... they... they died in a car accident a few days ago... we’re...” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Anna put her arm around me, comforting me. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“This is really hard for him. Sorry. His parents meant everything to him. We’re going to his uncle’s house in Denver. We’re going to stay with them until my mom gets back from her business trip in Madrid.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Oh. I’m so so sorry. I had no idea” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I started to cry. Anna put her arm around me. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“It’s alright, Matt. It’ll be okay.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I stifled the rest of my tears, and I gave the lady “my” credit card. She took it, asked for my signature, and I signed it, she took it, and offered us complimentary drinks from our mini fridge. She told us to take as much as we wanted, and to she would take care of the bill. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We went up to our room, and we got our stuff sorted out. We took out our weekly cash. We had $460 left. Nice. Since we were safe for the time being, we got some shut eye. I was asleep almost instantly. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We woke up the next morning to the wonderful sounds of New York City traffic. I went up to the top floor of the hotel for breakfast. After that, Anna and I spent the day walking around the city, just walking, not having any destination or time restraints. For lunch, I got a pizza and a Diet Coke. Anna got a salad and a Sprite. After lunch, we decided it was time to get back to our hotel and plan the next stage of our journey. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I opened our computer. I got out our map on google docs. We looked at it, color coded, for ease of use. Then, I got online and searched for tickets to Denver. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Hey Anna?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Yeah?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I can’t seem to find a ticket to Denver. There are no more seats left.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Oooh. Shit. Shoulda thought of that earlier.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Yeah. Didn’t count on the flight filling up so quickly.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We had planned to take a flight to Denver, and then from there hitchhike to California, so that the cops would assume that our final destination was Denver. By now, the cops would definitely be on our tails, so we had to move fast and unpredictably. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Well, we should probably see if we can find another flight” Anna said. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“The only other Flight out of JFK that isn’t going to give away our destination is a flight to Charleston, South Carolina” I told her. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“And that’s a bad thing because...?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Point taken. Alright. Charleston it is” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We couldn’t buy a ticket online, because that would be the first thing a fraud warning on a credit card would be looking for. So we had to just hope and pray that the flight would not be too filled up and that we would be able to get a seat. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Since the flight wasn’t until 5:00, and it was only 12, I decided to put on the news. When I flicked on Fox news, the anchor was in the middle of a report about an eleven alarm fire that ripped through an apartment complex earlier that afternoon, leaving 10 injured, 6 dead, and only one post standing. The complex was disintegrated. Jeez, the destruction stories never stop, do they. I kind of dozed off for a while. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The next story, however, caught my attention almost immediately. It was about two missing children: = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“A bad day in school one day turned into a tragic one today as news of a 16 year old boy and girl reported missing today was released. 16 year old Anna Rodriguez of 16 Dalton Rd in Boston, Massachusetts and 16 year old Matthew Collins of 23 Granger Rd, also in Boston, were both reported missing today, and we have reports of the two being reported in New York City. A nation wide search team has been released, to look for the two.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Anna?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Yes Matt?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“You might want to check this out.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I turned up the volume of the TV. The reporter continued. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“An interview with the father of Matthew, Walter Karney, was conducted earlier today, by Fox 25 Boston’s Bill O’Riley.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“So, what exactally happened?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Well, I’m not exactly sure, because Matt never actually came home. He went to school, and just didn’t come home. I mean, my wife and I have been fighting for a while, and we were thinking of getting a divorce, but we never realized how much this had hurt Matt. We always wanted the best for him, no matter what. Our only goal for him was...was to see him succeed. We tried. Matthew, if you are watching this, son, please. Please listen to me. Your mother and I love you so, so much. I understand your feelings. I can see why you wanted to run away. But please, just come home. We love you.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I was on the verge of tears. I could feel them welling up in my eyes, could feel that lump in your throat that you get when you are about to ball your eyes out. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Matt, calm down. It’ll be OK.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The news reporter continued again: = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“NewsCenter 5’s Jackie Cunningham reports with Anna’s aunt, Julia Martinez, saying more.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Well, Matt and Anna came home Friday afternoon, after school, to hang out at our house, like Matt often does, because his parents realize that he is going through a lot, what with their divorce on the horizon, and their constant fights. I let them out this afternoon t” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I looked over to Anna. She was on the verge of tears. She looked so helpless, lying there, and I put my arm around her. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“If we go back now, we’re just going to go back to exactly what we had before, except I’ll probably go to jail, for what I supposedly did, even though Mrs. Martinez did say that I would never do such a thing.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Anna stifled her tears. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“You’re right. Let’s go.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Yeah. We need to get out of here, now” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Are we getting an earlier flight?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I’ll see if we can. Keep our fingers crossed” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We packed our bags, and called a taxi. We planned to get oput of this city as quickly as possible, before the news spread to the cops down here. We had gotten early warning, but I figured I had about 2 days before the cops found out about this, and we needed to get out of therem pronto. I love my iPhone. =

=<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Chapter 4 =

=<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We got into the taxi. The taxi driver greeted us with a smile, and told us that we both made a cute couple. I think I may have blushed. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Where to, fellows?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Philadelphia International Airport, please.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“So, where you two headed? Shouldn’t you two be in school? = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Yes, but our... our... our parents... they... they died in a.... a car accident...” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Anna put her arm around me. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“It’ll be okay, Matt. It’ll be okay.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Anna looked at the cab driver. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Sorry, this is really hard for him. His parents meant everything to him.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The taxi driver looked at me, a look of pain in his face. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Hey, buddy, I know how you feel.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I sniffled back a fake tear. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“You do?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Yes, I do. Let me tell you something that I’ve never once told anyone: My mother, when I was 18, just out of high school, was preparing me for colledge. She was the only one I had, and I didn’t think I was going to be able to go on. I didn’t know how I was going to make it through college. I couldn’t stand being away from my mom. I finally went to college, and I met this girl, and it was an epiphany moment. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Then, I realized something. You know what I realized? I realized the importance of friendships and trust, and compassion. I realized that you don’t really know what friends really are for until you really need them. I had a girlfriend, just like you, that I really liked, but never really knew how great and supporting she was until I lost my parents. She was always there for me, no matter what, even if it meant skipping classes for me. She would always be the one I went to to talk to, through thick and thin, and I don’t think I would have made it without her, even if most of the time she never said a word, just comforted me. You and your girlfriend just remind me so much of those times. You are very lucky to have such a caring girlfriend. Don’t take her for granted.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“The taxi driver drove off into the distance. When we got to the airport, the taxi driver stopped, and told us we didn’t need to pay him. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Consider it my gift to you to lift your spirits a little. Besides, I don’t think I’ve ever had a better group of riders to talk to in my entire career as a taxi driver.” he said. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We thanked him, got out, and went in to the airport. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I went to the ticket desk, and waited in line for our tickets. We got to the desk, and I got out ‘my’ credit card. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Interesting that you are using a credit card at such a young age, huh?” The lady remarked, snidely. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Hey, lay off, alright? His parents just died, okay?” Anna snapped back at the lady. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Oh. I’m so sorry. I... I had no idea. I’m... I’m really sorry” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Yeah, well, next time you make a snide comment to a customer, think about that, okay?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Thank You I mouthed to Anna. She winked at me. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We bought our tickets to the 3:30 PM flight to Washington D.C, instead of Charleston. We couldn’t find another flight, besides straight to LA, and we needed to get out of the New England area, and fast. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Do we have to go to Washington DC?” Anna whined. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Oh, stop your whining Anna. It’s probably got more stuff to do there than in Denver. Plus, who doesn’t like the hundreds of years of deep cutting presidential and governmental history that is embedded in the rich culture of Washington D.C, named after famed Washington Delano Carver, the man who invented the peanut tree, our country’s national fruit?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Anna laughed. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We went through security, without a hitch. This whole running away thing was seeming way too easy. I started to get that funny feeling in my stomach, the one you get when you know that something is going to happen, but you just can’t figure out what it could possibly be, or when it might happen. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We got to the terminal, and this man, in his early 20s, struck up a conversation with us. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Hey,” the man said. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Hey,” I replied. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“What brings you here? Going to D.C for any particular reason?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Yeah, my mom’s funeral.” I said with a sorrow face. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Oh, so sorry. Were you and your mom close?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Yes.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I was legitimately on the verge of tears. They weren’t fake anymore. I was so stressed out, they just came naturally. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Well, my mother is still alive, and I couldn’t possibly imagine your sadness right now, but when my grandmother died, bless her heart, you know what the last thing she told me was? She did something I will always remember, for the rest of my life. She asked me to hold her hand. Me, of all people. Of the entire family in the room, she asked me. My mom went to hold her hand, too, but my grandmother insisted that I, and only I, hold her hand. She said it was important for me to know exactly what she was going to tell me. She took my hand, and she gave me this.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">He took out a gold statue of Jesus, on the cross, about the size of his palm. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Then she said something that will always be in my mind, for the rest of my life. She said ‘Take this. And pour all your troubles into it. God will help to dump them into the abyss of hell. God will provide for you.’” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The man paused for a moment. I just looked at the man, staring into his. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Now I am giving it to you, as an act of kindness. Because you look truly distraught. And, also, as for your story about your mother dying, bullshit. I don’t know what really is going on, but you seem like you need a place to dump all your troubles.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I paused, not saying anything. There were about a million and one things going through my head right then. How could he know that story was fake?Why was this guy giving me his grandmother’s gift to him as she died? Why me? What for? How did he find out? Oooh- look at the squirrel on the airport tarmac! I couldn’t take his grandmother’s gift to him with her last words. I just couldn’t. And why would he give it to me? He didn’t know me, did he? = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I... I can’t...” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Take it, I insist. You definitely need it,” The man said, “And, while you’re at it, I would really like to know what your real story is. I give you my word, I won’t tell anyone about it, no matter how serious it is.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“We will now begin boarding flight 1563 to Miami International Airport now. If you are seated in First Class, or are a Silver, Gold, or Platinum member, please come to the gate now to begin the boarding process.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Well, I guess I’ll never quite know what exactly you are doing, sans all the bullshit about parents dying. You know, if I were you, I would probably come up with a more secretive place to converse about all your plans, maybe somewhere other than, say, the McDonald’s in an airport. Just a suggestion. Good luck getting to D.C, and on to wherever you may be going next. I’ll warn you, its not as easy evading the cops as you may think.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Jeez, I never really thought about the secrecy of our conversations. But the guy had a point. We should probably keep our plans more secretive. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Anna, who had just gotten back from a trip to the bathroom, hearing only the part about the McDonald’s we had just finished up conversing our plans for Miami in. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We sat in the terminal, not talking for a while, when they called our section up. The guy who had just given me the cross from his grandmother got up with us. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">He boarded the plane, and it turned out he was seated right next to us. I let Anna take the window seat, so that I could talk to this mysterious guy that had given me his grandmother’s cross. While we were at the gate, I struck up a conversation with him. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“So, why did you give me your grandmother’s cross? Doesn’t it mean anything to you? Don’t you want to keep a piece of your grandmother in you?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I do,” the man said. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I just stared at him, an implied What?! passing between the two of us. The man continued. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I do. That story I just told you happened with this.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The man pulled out a golden locket, with a cross on it. Inside was a diamond-embroidered picture of his grandmother, and on the inside of the cover, a quote. It read: = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I am here for you always. Dump all your troubles into me. It will be dumped into the abyss of hell.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Ooh. I see. But... why would you give me this?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I pulled out the cross. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Well, I told you, you need a place for all your anger and frustration. And this is it. I just wanted some meaning behind the device, so you wouldn’t just think I was a crazy guy giving you a cross for no apparent reason. By the way, the name’s Ryan.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Hey Ryan,” I said. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Hey,” he replied. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“So, how exactly did you hear of our plans?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I told you, you guys were talking in the McDonald’s.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Oh. I see.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Yeah. You guys should probably think of more discreet places to talk of your plans. If you are running away from the cops, that’s the first place they’ll look.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“So, why exactly are you helping us?” I asked. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Why don’t you tell me your story- the actual story- then I’ll tell you.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“You promise you won’t tell the cops, or anybody else?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Unless you guys are murderers, then I’ll probably try to help you, whatever you are trying to accomplish.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I decided I could trust him, and a quick glance at Anna confirmed my intuition. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I told him the entire story of my running away so far. I told him about my dad, my train ride, my hotel stay, everything that was general, except for the logistical things, like my hacking my dad’s credit card. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">After I told the story, which took a good 20 minutes, Ryan just sat back, amazed at my ingenuity. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Well, That plan might work. You know what, you seem like you actually have a legitimate reason to run away, and I agree, your dad is a lying son of a bitch. I’d love to help you, but unfortunately there’s nothing that I can do.” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We sat in silence for about an hour. After that hour, Ryan started talking to me again. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I turned on the TV. Since we were taking Jet Blue, we had TV on the flight. A story on the news came on. It turned out that we were being reported missing, and a nationwide search was going to be conducted to find us. Our journey just got a lot harder. Especially because we were going into the city where the national police force, the FBI is located. If The cops around America were hornets, Washington DC was the hornets’ home base nest, and we were headed straight into the heart of the nest. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">When we got off the plane, I saw another one of those black suited guys. Jeez, these guys were everywhere. I looked at them, and walked casually, as not to attract too much attention to ourselves. I prayed that they wouldn’t see us. It was too much to ask. They saw us almost immediately. One of them started walking towards us. I knew that they wouldn’t do anything inside the = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Well, the chase was on. Ryan was right next to us, and he threw something to me. He told us to look for a black Chevrolet Camaro, with a double red stripe down the middle. Licence plate number 327 AS9. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We ran into the parking lot, the cops right on our tails, yelling at us to stop. I saw the Camaro, and made a beeline straight for it. I threw open both doors, and jumped in the drivers side. I started up the car, a mighty roar going through the parking lot. The cops went away, and I could hear other cops coming in their cruisers. I slammed the car into drive, and skidded out of my parking spot. I raced down a few levels, and suddenly, the cop cars appeared out of nowhere. I saw that we were on the first level, the exit blocked. I decided to do something no one should ever, ever try: I tried something I saw in a movie. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I hoped and prayed that the car would not crash when it flew off the side of the parking lot. Since were were only on the second story (the first was entitled “B”). I threw the car into reverse, told Anna to hang on for dear life, and slammed on the gas. The car reared backwards. I was focused on a single thing: speed. I needed enough speed to break through the small chain link fence surrounding the garage. I went faster and faster until suddenly, I felt an almighty jolt, and then we were flying. Flying through the air, plummeting. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">When we hit the pavement, I felt yet another almighty jolt, and then I slammed on the breaks. Suddenly, a cop came around the corner, siren blaring. I threw the car back into drive, and yet again floored it. The car took off like a shot. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I could see the cop in the mirror. Then another joined him. Suddenly, there were three. Three cops chasing us. I swerved in and out of traffic, Anna just dumbstruck, not able to say anything. Then, another Cop came from another angle, and I swerved to avoid him hitting me. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I went faster and faster, swerving to avoid traffic. It was like one of those racing games for the PlayStation 3. Like Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. Except if I crashed in this game, I died. And if I got busted, I was going to jail. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As I continued to drive, the cops constantly yelling at me to stop, I noticed a helicopter above us. I looked up, and it turned out that it was a news helicopter. I continued to drive, thinking of ways to evade the cops. Suddenly, I had an idea. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I continued to go in a straight line. In an effort to loose at least one of the cops, I continued straight, until I saw a turn I could make, and I went as far as I could before turning, then suddenly made a sharp turn to the right, and it worked. I lost one of the cops. They couldn’t take the turn, and crashed into another vehicle. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The other three, however, were still on me. I tried the maneuver again, with no success. However, my next maneuver, running a red light, I had more luck, because I ran a red light, and one of the cops got absolutely T-Boned by another car. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I knew that I only had about 4 or 5 minutes until I was going to be reunited with more cops, so for this next maneuver, I had to work fast. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I turned a corner, and there was a barrier in the middle of the road. While trying to decide which side to go to, I hit a bump, and the top half of the car flew up on top of the median. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The cop, however, didn’t stop. He kept on pushing my car. I suddnely realized, he was trying to disable the car, by grinding the bottom, cutting through the drive shaft. It worked, unfortunately for us. The car suddenly made a huge popping noise. But the cop kept going. What was going on? Why wasn’t he stopping? The cop had a look of utter shock in his face, and I looked the other way, and saw why. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Out of nowhere, a car had rounded the corner of the road, coming straight for us and the cop car. It was coming on fast. The driver of the car had the same facial expression as the cop. I had to think of something, fast, or we were all going to die. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I unbuckled me and Anna, and told Anna not to let go, no matter what happened. I grabbed the seat belt, locked it, and wrapped it around my hand. I pulled it tight across my body, locking me and Anna in the seatbelt, without risk of a crushed ribcage or bruised stomach. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The next few seconds happened in super slow motion. The car coming at us from the left side, head on, hit the bottom right front side of the car, causing our car to flip over the end, and the car flew up, sinning, sideways and end over end, for what seemed like ages. When we finally made impact with the ground, I felt a jolt like I had never felt before, and my head hit the dashboard. I saw red. I tasted blood. And then, all hell broke loose in the car. Glass shattered. A large shard of the glass from the front window flew into my side, burrowing itself into my tissue like a mole through earth. It burned like hell. Then, all was silent. Eerily silent. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I felt my heart pumping, and I felt my side, an came up with blood. I felt my head. More blood. I felt my nose. Even more blood. I spat. You guessed it: more blood. Suddenly, I realized that I had forgotten about Anna. I got up. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Hey, Anna, you okay?” I asked. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I was relieved to see she was unscathed. Not a cut or bruise on her. I on the other hand, probably looked like a mess. = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Oh God, Matt, your head! Are you okay?” = =<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I’ll be okay Anna, we just need to get some bandages. Somewhere where they won’t call 911” = <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We decided we needed to break into the hospital and get some bandages. When we got to the hospital, we realized that it might be harder than we had expected. We decided to sneak in before the hospital closed.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We snuck into the hospital, and we had almost gotten across the floor (we had decided to army crawl across the floor to avoid the clerk at the desk, and had snuck in right after another doctor had gone out, the last- we thought- one to leave for the night) before we heard footsteps. We quickly dove towards the nearest hiding place- a janitor’s cart, and scrunched ourselves inside the thing, draping back the white sheets just as the doctor was rounding the corner. We heard the doctor leave, heard the doors lock, and were about to get up when we heard footsteps again. I rolled my eyes. Then the cart started to move. I sure hope we’re not going to the janitor’s closet I thought.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Lucky for us, the person who was rolling us, probably the janitor, didn’t open the doors, and when we got out, we just so happened to be in the right place. I don’t know where we were, but there were a bunch of sterilizing bottles, and antiseptic rinses, but most importantly, bandages. I went right for the bandages. I didn’t bother cleaning out my cuts, because I figure that it would hurt too much, and I would end up crying out in pain anyways. So I just bandaged the cuts up.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“You look much better now” Anna told me.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Thanks” I said.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Now, how were we going to get out of here?

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Meanwhile, back home, my parents were having their own problems.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“John, the police aren’t just going to find Anna and Matt, and bring them home. We are going to have to do at least some work. Find anything you can about the locations of them.” My mom, Karen, told my dad.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Why don’t you do it, Karen?” My dad asked.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Because while you’re sitting on your butt doing absolutely nothing, I, on the other hand, am actually trying to find our son,” my mom responded.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Well, I’m going to put my trust in the task force of America, the police and FBI”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“And what if that doesn’t work, huh?”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Trust me, it will”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Are you sure John? Are you really sure?” my mom responded sarcastically. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Yes, absolutely, Karen”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">My mom and dad had completely different ways of going about finding us. My mom, Karen, had always thought that letting other people do your work was the absolute worst thing you could possibly do when trying to get something done, no matter who or what organization was running or performing your desired course of action, even if the people you were employing to get your work done were met with excellent success, without your help at all. I guess you could say she was the proactive kind of person.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">My dad, on the other hand, was the exact opposite of my mom, at least on this situation. He always had thought that the police were there for everyone, and would do anything that they could to try to get what you wanted. He thought that the cops were always doing their best to get done what you wanted to get done, even if they failed miserably.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I guess you could call my parents- both my mom and dad- stubborn. They both had completely different ideas on how to handle this situation, and neither one wanted to let up. They both wanted only their own way, and in no way could either one compromise. Plus, they both wanted to be right.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Well, I’m going out to think and try to find our son, John,” my mom said.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Alright, you’re not going to get anywhere,” my dad said.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">See what I mean about constant arguments?

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Well, my mom decided she had had enough of this, and left, but not before she asked once more if my dad was going to help.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“John, last chance to help us find our son”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Ughh!,” my dad grunted “Fine Karen, fine. I’ll help you find Matt. But I think the cops are doing quite a fine job trying to find him right now”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">To start things out, my dad ran a check of every single website with the words “Matt Greenberg” and “missing” and a quick scan of the computer’s memory for anything of interest, mainly for Google searches on our server. This did not take very much time, because we have a $5,000 Mac Pro with 8 Tera Bytes of hard drive disk storage (consisting of 4 different 7200-rpm Serial ATA hard drives that operate at 3 giga bytes per second with 2 tera bytes of disk space each), 64 Giga Bytes of memory, a Quad channel 4Gb Fibre Channel PCI Express card, 3 Apple LED Cinema Displays (those are 27" flat panels), two 18 x speed Super Drives (those are CD drives), two seperate one giga byte ATI Radeon HD 5870 graphics cards, and two 2. 93 giga hretz, 6 Core, Intel Xeon “Westmere” cores (thats equivalent to 12 cores). The total cost of the machine was almost $18,000. And it works thousands of miles faster than any other computer on the market that I know about. And we have constantly worked on it together. I can remember 2 years ago me and my dad going to the store to get the computer and the software for it, and I was in absolute heaven.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">My dad found a few hits, including a search for the history of the encrypted areas of the computer (which I hacked into to get my dad’s account number and password- my dad has an absolutely atrocious horrible memory). As he dove deeper into the bowels of the drive, he found that someone had brought up the account numbers and password of his account.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Karen, you might want to look at this” my dad told my mom.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">My mom came over, and she looked at the screen, confused. My dad reiterated.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“This means that the user searched the memory of the drive” He pointed to the scree, which read

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">User:/johngreenberg/ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">12.22.11.13.23.43 //& Action = search / s/ drive / & number = 4

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“That’s the encrypted drive” he said.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Which means?”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“That’s where I keep my account numbers and password for my account. Matt could have taken our account numbers”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Oh really?”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Yes. Karen, I could do with out the sarcasm. If we want to work together, we have to be honest and supportive with and of ourselves”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Okay, well, tell you what. Why don’t you cancel the card, so nobody can use it, and we’ll go out, and I’ll buy us coffee”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">My mom and dad went out, MacBook Pros and iPad in hands. Yeah, we are a little bit Apple happy. This was a momentous occasion. It was the first time in ages that my mom had bought my dad anything. Maybe they were finally

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We walked for a while, admiring the sights and sounds of Charleston. We had ome prety far, but I still didn’t know what our final destination was going to be. I couldn’t quite figure that out. I mean, it had been California for a while, but I realized that that might not be quite a good idea, seeing as we had nobody to go to there.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Out of nowhere, a cop pulled up, siren blaring. I looked at Anna, telling her we should split up. She seemed to get the message, and started to run in the opposite direction. I ignored her, and just started to run. I ran faster than I think I’ve ever run in my life. And I didn’t stop. I ignored the “Running is only going to make it harder on you buddy.” Coming from the cop, along with the all essential to a chase “Stop!” <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I spotted a fence, and hopped it. Hopefully, that lost the cop. No dough. There was another waiting for me on the other side. This was not as easy as in the movies. Not even close. Why did movies always make these things look easy?

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I just ran right past the cop car sitting there, and it started chasing me. Well, chasing isn’t the right word, it was more just following me blaring out “Stop” over it’s bullhorn. I hopped another fence, then another. Then I ran into some one's back yard, and the most terrifying dog I think I have ever met was there to greet me. It snarled at me, and I just stood there, not looking it in the eyes, as not to anger it more. I prayed it would work. Then, I heard voices from behind me. I slowly- as not to provoke the dog- turned around, and there were not one, but two cops running at me. They must have abandoned their cruisers and decided to chase me.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“There he is!” One of them yelled.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I slowly turned around and inched towards the fence, the dog snarling at me menacingly. Then, the cops were at the fence, and the dog sensed them, and charged me. I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, and practically launched myself over the fence. I might have taken one step up the fence, and I was over. The dog barked at me, and turned around for the cops. But they weren’t there. Then, they reappeared out of nowhere.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">They were right in front of me, and I had nowhere to go. I froze, and evaluated my situation. I did a quick scan for exits. I saw one, and only one. There was a back door to a house, but there was obviously someone in there, as I could see them looking out their window. They were standing there, watching in awe, probably, as this situation unfolded itself.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I stood there, trying to time my sprint exactly correct, because the cops were closing in, and fast. I suddenly made a bolt for the door, just as the cops made their move. I had just gotten out of the way before the cops fell on top of each other. I sprinted for the door, and hoped that it would be open. I got to the door, and turned the knob, and, thank God, it was open.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I opened the door, and sprinted through the house, passing through the kitchen, and stopped at the cupboard, and took a sleeve of Saltine crackers on the way out.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Thank you,” I said as I ran out of the house.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I ran out into the street, and turned and ran down the street. I ran for the bridge that I saw in the distance.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">When I got to the bridge, I ran under the bridge, and there, standing in front of me, was Anna. I was at such an angle that I could see that, sitting behind a bush, was a man, holding a gun, poised to ambush. Suddenly, he jumped out, and grabbed Anna and held the gun to her neck.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It looked as though Anna was a ghost. She had practically no color in her face. Suddenly, three guns went up, and then they started to yell at the guy to put the gun down.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Anyone shoots and she dies!” the man yelled.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Anna just stood there, scared so much, she couldn’t move.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Sir, put your gun down!” The cops yelled.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Don’t test me, I will shoot!” the man yelled.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Sir” the cops yelled back

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Suddenly, one of the cops shot.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“NO!” I gasped

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The shot missed.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> The man shot Anna. It went straight through her neck, and... well, to answer the appropriate YouTube comment that would accompany this scene had it been a movie:

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Did she died?” <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Yes, she did died.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I decided I couldn’t bear another moment just sitting staring at the horrific situation unfolding before me. I ran out, and ran over to Anna, but as I was running, another shot was fired, and the man who shot Anna was also dead.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I ran over to Anna. I kneeled beside her, and looked into her eyes. They were lifeless. But nonetheless all the more beautiful. I just stared into her eyes. I refused to accept it. Somewhere, somehow, she was still alive. I couldn’t accept that she was dead. I just... couldn’t.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I closed Anna’s eyes. I couldn’t look into them. I just sat there. I started to cry. I just cried. Thankfully, none of the cops made a move to get me out of there. They just let me be. I sat and cried. And cried. And cried.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I was a mess of emotions. I had anger- for the cops who caused the man to shoot Anna. I had Sadness- for the loss of Anna, my one and only friend, who I had indirectly been responsible for killing, because had she stayed at home and not gone with me, she would be absolutely fine. I had absolute terror- for the scene that I had just witnessed.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">And finally, I had an inexplicable emotion that rose from the depths of my body, purging everything, ripping through my head, and finally resting in my head as an epiphany moment.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I realized that maybe running away wasn’t such a good idea after all. I suddenly realized that my parents, in fact, did not deserve to loose me, their one and only child. I realized that, no matter what, my parents always loved me, no matter the circumstance, and that they only want the best for me. And, despite all the fighting that my parents had done, I figured that there really was no alternative for my parents.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">At that moment, I realized that all that I wanted to do was to go home. I didn’t want any thing else. All I wanted to do was be back home, cozy, snuggled in my bed, and most importantly, safe. I suddenly felt a deep longing for home. But I was a long way from home. Nine-hundred eighty five miles by car, or eight hundred twenty miles by plane to be exact.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I decided to turn myself in. I gave up. I went over to the two cops that had been chasing me, and let them take me to the station. I just wanted to get home right now. I was completely tired out, and a sudden wave of a different kind of sadness came over me. A sadness of missing home, and of what my parents were doing right now.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">They cuffed me, and read me the required reading of the lines that were my Miranda Rights.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be held against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you do not have an attorney, one will be appointed to you by the state.” the cop said.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Alright, get in the car”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The handcuffs were so cold. I looked at the people watching. They make this so much more glorified in the books. Why couldn’t it be more glorified in real life? Now I just felt humiliated.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I sat in the back of the police cruiser, staring out of the window, at the sights of Washington D.C. I thought of the memories that I had with Anna. i felt a hole in my self. I just wanted to cry. But I wasn’t going to do that now. I wasn’t going to give in to my feelings. I was stronger now. I listened to the sirens of the cruiser, watched the blue lights of the cruiser on the buildings.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">When we got to the station, I was taken out of the car, and put into the station for booking. When I got in, the officer at the desk asked me for my full name. I told them <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Matthew Greenburg”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The officer typed a few things into the computer. He asked me a few more questions, like licence number, a form of I.D, and a bunch of other, personal questions about my history.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Then, he took me to the interrogation room. He sat me on a chair, and uncuffed my hands.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Matthew Greenburg?” the police officer asked.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Yes” I answered.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The officer explained that he would be asking me some questions about what happened. He told me that I should answer the questions to the best of my abilities, and that I might just get let off with a warning, because he thought that I was a nice kid, and that I didn’t mean anything by running off, but that they needed to know where my parents were, and the reasons behind me running away from home.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“So, can you tell me, Matthew, what was going through your mind when you decided to run away from the officer who was trying to catch you and bring you home?”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I don’t know.” I said

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Why, tell me, did you feel that you wanted to run away from home”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Because, my parents were fighting with each other”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I was getting more and more annoyed at this officer trying to squeeze information out of me. I was just tired and exhausted from all of this stuff. I had just witnessed my best friend get killed. Every time I closed my eyes, I just saw the scene from the bridge where Anna was shot in the neck. I couldn’t get the scene out of my mind.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“So, tell me, Matthew, do you think that this was a good idea?”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This officer was getting really on my nerves. Every single question started the exact same way: It was just “So tell me, Mathew...”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Matthew?”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I don’t know, okay?”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Hey, Matthew, there’s no need to get angry with me. I’m only trying to help”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I don’t care! Just shut up and leave me alone!”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I started crying. I couldn’t help it. They just came out. They started out weak and then just got larger and more powerful until I just started shaking over my entire body. Suddenly, my entire life flashed before my eyes. Then, I couldn’t move. I fell to the floor, and then, the absolutely the scariest, most fear inducing experience I have ever had. I suddenly couldn’t breathe. I tried to breathe, but no air came in. I started to panic. And then, I blacked out.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I woke up with bandages around my head and an I.V in my arm, along with a bag of red stuff pumping through a needle into my arm. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What had just happened? Where was I? I looked around at the white walls.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Okay. I am in a hospital. But where? I looked around at the white walls, scanning for some reference as to where I was. then, a nurse walked in.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Aah, Matt. You are awake. How are you doing?” the nurse asked.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The nurse was very pretty, and had the nicest voice I have ever heard. Except maybe for Anna’s.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Where am I?” I asked.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The nurse told me that I was in the Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Suddenly, the events of the past week flooded past me, and I saw Anna being shot again. The nurse mus have seen me panic, because she gave an alarmed look, and told me everything was going to be okay.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I calmed down, and asked the nurse what had happened to me. I told her that the last thing I remembered was being at a police station.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The nurse told me exactly what had happened. Apparently what happened was as follows.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Back at the police station, I had a trauma attack, something you get when you have been through or witnessed a traumatic experience (an experience that is physically or emotionally deeply scarring). I was on the floor, almost dead. An officer came to me and checked my pulse. I had none. They had already called 911. That, apparently, happened when they saw that I had blacked out, and they radioed dispatch and asked for an E.M.T for a personnel in shock and not able to breathe. They then, apparently, started C.P.R on me, and done so for the three minutes it took an ambulance to arrive. When the ambulance arrived, the loaded me into the ambulance, and used a defibrillator on me. When the defibrillator had gotten my pulse back, I apparently had then woken up, though I don’t remember waking up. I had then blacked out again, after about 10 minutes of being awake.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">At that point, 5 minutes later, we arrived in the emergency bay of the hospital, which I forget the name of. It was probably something like {insert name of famous U.S president (like Dwight D. Eisenhower) here} National (or International) {insert really fancy and smart word that goes with hospital here} Hospital. That’s just how every single landmark and every single public building is named in Washington D.C. Okay, maybe I am exaggerating a little bit, but that is beside the point. I’ll revise my statement: A lot of the famous buildings and not very many of the landmarks are named with complicated names that have to do with presidents and famous people of the U.S. But I am getting away from the story. I’m not writing an essay here, I am writing a story a story.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">When I got to the hospital, apparently, I woke up about 2 hours after I was brought in.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I don’t know what about that story hit me in an emotional way, but all of the sudden, I started to cry. I wasn’t in shock, I just was overwhelmed. And the tears felt good. It felt like a giant weight was being lifted from me. The nurse came over and comforted me. She told me that everything was going to be alright, and that I just needed some rest. She left me to be alone for a while.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">After about 5 minutes of the nurse being gone, a girl, about my age, lying in the bed next to me decided to say hi to me.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Hey.” she said.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Hey,” I said back.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“What’s your name?” She asked.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Matt. How about you?” I asked

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“My name’s Isabella” she said.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Oh. Hey Isabella,” I said

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“So, what brings you here?” She asked <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I... don’t really want to talk about it, but long story short, I got in a car accident, ran from the cops, and saw my girlfriend killed,” I told her.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Wow,” Isabella said, “Why were you running away from the police?”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Because I was running away from home. The key word there is was. I just want to go home right now,” I told Isabella.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“You should be happy you have a home. Why did you run away?” Isabella asked

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“My parents were fighting, and I wanted to just get away from that,” I said.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I wish I had a home,” Isabella said.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“What do you mean?” I asked.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“ When I was young, my parents got in a car accident. They were both killed, and I was sent to an orphanage,” Isabella said.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Wow, rough,” I said.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Yeah, you can say that again,” Isabella said.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Over the next few weeks, Isabella became my best friend in the hospital. I was there when she was down, to talk to her, and she was there for me, when I was down.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Then, one day, Isabella asked me the most important question of all. She asked me if she could stay and live with me and my family. Before I could answer, the police chief walked in, interrupting our conversation. I gave Isabella a look, saying I will try to get you a home with me look.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Hey. So, Matt. Feeling better?” the chief asked.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I think so.”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Well, do you think you are good enough to go back to the station and finish your interrogation so we can put you in the slammer?” the chief asked.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Que?” I gave him a what? Look.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I was being sarcastic, Matt” he said.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">And then, the craziest thing happened. This was the point that I realized what chief actually looked like. But it wasn’t just any police chief. I swear, he looked exactly like Ryan. I mean almost precisely the same.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">He walked in, looked at me, looked at the screen, looked back at me, and said a few words to the officer in the hallway, who I had just noticed, and came back in.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Yes, Matt, I am Ryan. I am the police chief for the Washington D.C police force,” the police chief said.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“But... why didn’t you... you know... turn us in when you found us running away?”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Because, I wanted to let you find out for yourself whether you wanted to commit to this.”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Yeah. Have you found out that I don’t yet?”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Yes. I figured that you’d find out the futility of running away at some point. You know, running away never solves your problems.”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I’ve heard that before”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“It’s true”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“So I’ve seen”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So, Matt, do you want to go home?” Ryan asked.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Yes, I do,” I told him.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Okay. How do you suggest we do that?” Ryan asked.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I think we should call my parents,” I told him.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Alright, what are their numbers?” Ryan asked.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“6 1 7” I said

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“6 1 7” Ryan repeated

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“8 9 9” I said the next three numbers.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“8 9 9” Ryan repeated again.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“2 4 7 3” I said the last three numbers.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“2 4 7 3” Ryan then repeated.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So, just to reiterate, the number is 6 1 7... 8 9 9... 2 4 7 3. Right?” Ryan asked.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Yes,” I said. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Okay, here, take the phone. Just make sure to tell them it isn’t the D.C Police department,” Ryan said.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Okay,” I said.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I held the phone to my face, worried. There were a million and two questions going through my head at that point. What do I tell them? What do I say to them? Do I apologize? What should I say to apologize?

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The phone rang. Once. Twice. Three times. Come on. Pick up the phone. Halfway through the fourth ring, the phone was picked up by my mom.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Hello, Karen Greenberg,” my mom said.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I was suddenly overrun with extreme emotions. Relief. Exhaustion. Sadness. Happiness. Overbearing Joy. The list goes on. I could hardly speak.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Mom?” I croaked, on the edge of tears.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">On the bead across from me, Isabella looked at me, a look of hope on her face. I nodded, acknowledging her plea for a home.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Matt?” my mom gasped.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Yes, mom, it’s me,” I said right before a wave of tears once again overran me.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Hang on, let me get your father on the line,” My mom said, “JOHN!”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Yes honey,” my dad said.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Hold up, had my parents just had a nice conversation? Was this actually happening? I pinched myself to make sure I wasn’t.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Our son is on the line, he’s with the Washington D.C Police,” my mom said.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“No way!” I heard my dad in the background. He picked up the phone.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Son?” My dad said.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Dad?” I once again croaked.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Is that really you?” he asked.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Yes, dad, it really is me,” I said

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Where are you?” my dad asked.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Actually, right now, I’m in the Georgetown University Hospital. But I’m alive, and well,” I said.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“And Anna?” my mom asked.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Umm... she... she...” I couldn’t finish my sentence.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I gave the phone to Ryan. Took the phone, and talked to my mom.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Greenberg?” he asked.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Yes?” my mom and dad responded.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This is Officer Ryan Corbett, Deputy Chief of the Washington, D.C Police Department. I understand that you have been looking for Matthew for a while now?” Ryan said.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Yes, we have. And also for Anna Rodriguez,” My mom said, “Hang on, let me get her on the line, so we can break the news to her as well.”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Mr. and Mrs. Greenberg,” Ryan said, “Anna... Anna died, two days ago. Matt has been traumatized by the event. He apparently witnessed her being killed.”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“How was she killed?” my mom asked.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“She was shot in the head with a .57 Magnum. Needless to say, she was dead almost instantaneously,” Ryan said.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Oh my gosh,” My mom said.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">At that point, Ryan walked out of the room, and I was not able to hear the rest of the conversation. When he came back in, he gave me the phone.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Matt?” My mom asked.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Yes mom?” I asked. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“I am soo, soo sorry for what happened. I can’t imagine the pain you are going through” my mom told me.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“It’s okay mom. I don’t really like to think about it very much. I prefer to keep it locked away, out of mindset,” I told my mom.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“And mom?” I asked.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Yes honey?” my mom told me.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“There’s this girl here, her name is Isabella. She is an orphan, and she has been my sole companion here at the hospital. I was wondering if we could adopt her. She doesn’t have any parents. I think she would be perfect with us,” I said.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Isabella looked over to me, a look of utter joy on her face. Her face was lit up like a child’s face on Christmas.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I put the phone on speaker phone so that Isabella could hear the reaponse.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Absolutely. Of course she can come live with us,” My mom said.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Isabella’s face absolutely lit up. She had a smile from ear to ear, her eyes were wide with joy, showing off her beautiful green eyes, and her brown hair actually seemed to glow.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Thank you mom. You are the best,” I said.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Okay honey. So Ryan told me he was going to take you home, okay? Just tell him you are also taking Isabella with you,” My mom told me.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Okay, see you at home,” I said.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Alright, see you soon. Remember, honey, we always love you, no matter what,” my mom said.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">My mom hung up.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I looked over at Isabella. She was over joyed. She was crying, she was so happy. I wished I could get up and hug her.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ryan called the orphanage, and after about 3 or 4 hours, the adoption agency said that Isabella could be adopted into my family.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Then, the nurse came in, and told me that I was good to go. She got Isabella as well. She said that I had healed up exceptionally fast, and that I was in perfect condition. She told me that if I felt light headed at all, I should call 911 immediately, and go to hospital, because That could be a sign of a hemorrhage, and that would need to be treated immediately.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I got Isabella and went out with Ryan.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Hey, Matt, Isabella, how’d you like to, instead of taking a plane to Boston, taking a helicopter?” Ryan asked.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“That’d be so cool,” Isabella and I both said.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Alright, lets go. You two can both sit in the front, there are three seats in a J- Hawk in the front,” Ryan said.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We went back to the police station, and went to the top of the station, and hopped into the J- Hawk. Ryan started up the engine, and we were up and away before we knew it. We flew higher and higher, and before long, we were up just below the clouds. Ryan explained that we couldn’t go too high, or the helicopter would not get enough lift. So we stayed below the cloud cover. Plus, that way, we could see the entire landscape below us. It was absolutely breathtaking.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We were riveted for the entire time we were in the air. Isabella especially, because she had never been in an airplane.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We landed at the State police headquarters in Boston, near the science museum. Just where I had left off. Ryan landed the chopper perfectly, got out, shut the engine off, and we all got off. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ryan then went to the police chief there and requested a cruiser for us. Ryan got it for us, and, realizing that the back seat would bring back too many memories to me, asked Isabella if she would sit in the back. Luckily, the back seat was cushioned.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">We got back to my house in about ten minutes, and then, Isabella and I went up to our front door. I was so nervous. I don’t know why, but I just was. I rang the doorbell. A few seconds later, my mom got to the door. She opened the door, stared at me, and hugged me tight. Then she hugged Isabella, too. We all broke down in tears. Then, my dad got to the door. I hugged him to, and then we all got into a huge group hug. There were tears everywhere. Ryan had left, but we knew that he knew that we had appreciated our help. I know that I had.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">And the best part about this reunion was that I had solved my parents’ fighting problem. Turns out that all they had needed was some time alone to work together towards a common goal, and there they realized their differences could be worked over. And they had worked through them. Thus in a tradgedy, an epiphany had revealed itself. Bot hfor my parents and for me.