Running (1)

The lights flicked on in my bedroom and the feeling of sleep was still running through my body. I rubbed my eyes confused as my father ran around my room grabbing my clothes and stuffing them into my suitcase. "Daddy what's going on?" my father came towards my bed and picked me up, resting me on his hip.

He set me on my dresser and took my shirt off replacing it with a white, lace one. He pulled down the pajama pants I had on and replaced it with a pair of jeans. "Sweety, I'll tell you more later but for now I need you to help me pack, we're just moving temporarily." I was confused by the words but did as he said.

I grabbed my hair brush and brushed through my still wet, curly brunette hair. After I was finished I stuffed the brush into my suitcase along with the other clothes that had been messily thrown in there. I started folding the clothes to help fit more in, once I was finished I looked around the room and saw the necklace next to my bed, that was the only thing that contained a memory of my mother. I could faintly remember my mother placing it in my hand as she said something to me, but my memory of what she said and what happened after that got foggy as I grew older.

My father zipped up the suitcase and I grabbed the necklace next to my bed stuffing it in my pocket. "Alright, are you ready sweety?" I looked at my father and nodded as he smiled, "just like your mother." he mumbled under his breath as he grabbed my hand and led me out the door. I looked around looking for my father's things but didn't see anything, "Where is your stuff?" I looked up at my father and he looked down at me only answering with a small smile.

I was confused by his reaction as I heard the front door downstairs burst open, slightly startling me making me jump. My father bent down and said, "sweety, you need to run, run as far away from here as you can. Remember to never trust the government, and to never look down upon the people below you. Do you understand?" for some reason my heart pounded and tears formed in my eyes while my father pulled me into a quick hug then pushed me away.

"Run, go through the back door and run." I nodded and took the suitcase and started running, only looking back once with tears streaming down my face as I saw the sad expression on my father's face. I heard the stomping of people coming up the stairs and I hid around a corner waiting for them to pass before I ran down.

As they passed the corner and ran to my father they grabbed him pushing him to the ground, "Where's the girl?!" they yelled and more tears streamed down my face. I picked up my heavy suitcase to try and be as quiet as possible.

I rushed down the stairs as the people holding down my father yelled once again, "Tell me where the girl is!" I heard nothing from my father as they continued trying to get an answer out of him. I looked back once more as I reached the bottom of the stairs and then I ran out the back door not closing it behind me trying to make as little noise as possible.

As I reached outside I heard a loud gunshot coming from inside, my heart fell to the bottom of my stomach but I continued running away from the house. I ran and ran until the cold air against my face made me numb to everything, my face was stiff due to the dried tears from earlier.

Days passed and every day I would travel at night and sleep during the day to attract as little attention as possible. Once I felt that I was far enough away I settled down in a discreet area underneath a bridge. When I put my stuff down and looked around I found an old lantern, it was rusted and old most likely unusable. Then I remembered the story my father told me about a bridge and a lantern that the lady carried, but he always told me it was just a story so I pushed the thought to the back of my head.

I lied down a blanket and rolled up a pair of torn jeans to put my head on, closing my eyes only to end up staring at the bottom of the bridge. Finally after many minutes of restlessness I end up losing consciousness and getting lost in dreams that I wished to be real only to wake up the next morning on the hard ground.

I changed out of my dirty clothes into some cleaner ones hoping to be able to walk around town without drawing attention. I packed up the blanket and pair of jeans and rolled my suitcase behind me as I walked out from underneath the bridge. After a few minutes of walking I heard the sound of running water, I followed the noise and ended up finding a river with unkempt grass surrounding it, as if no one had been there in years.

I walked up to the river and washed the dirt off my face, cleaning myself up. I walked over to a tree near the river and sat down drinking the last but of fresh water I had in my bottle, when I put the bottle into the side pocket of the suitcase I felt something uncomfortable underneath me. I shifted my body to see what it was and found a sleeve sticking up out of the ground. I pulled on the sleeve and it ended up pulling dirt and grass along with it.

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