The runawaysA Story by lehaahahha Morgan ran away from home and found a friend named Libby who turns out to be... more than a friend? It's not really a romance just some parts. I want some feedback It had been sixteen years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same. Morgan looked at the house she grew up in. The creaky old steps, the broken porch swing, the curtains her mom always called “vintage”, and all her childhood memories flooding in. She felt so wrong standing before it, after giving up on it all those years ago. All her firsts were in this house. Her first steps, first word, first days of school, and the first time she ran away. That was particularly special since she was fourteen. Most kids ran away at an earlier age and came back immediately when they heard their mother calling for them, but Morgan, the first time she ran away was a little different... ~flashback~ “MORGAN! I can’t believe you failed this test. You told me that everything was going well and you were prepared!” her mother waves a tear-stained math test with a big red F on it around the kitchen. “I’m sorry!” Morgan sobs while sitting at the kitchen table, with her school backpack in her lap. “I tried my hardest, I just have a lot on my mind.” “This is completely unacceptable. You know if I did this when I was your age, I might’ve just run away.” Morgan wipes her tears, revealing her big, red, puffy eyes. Clearly she had been crying a lot before that, “What?” “I can’t believe they are letting children get away with just everything these days! When I was your age, if I failed a math test, I would’ve run away out of shame. In fact, you should run away. You are the only one out of your siblings that has ever failed a test. Such a disappointment.” Her mother shoves the paper into Morgan’s weak arms and storms off to her room, muttering to herself. Morgan waits before her mother slams her door shut to let herself cry out. Almost on cue, one of her many brothers yells at her to shut up. She runs to her room in the basement -since all the real bedrooms were taken by her siblings- grabs her crying pillow and screams into it. It was a present her grandmother gave to her many Christmases ago. It had pink and purple flowers designed all over it, and her grandmother had made it herself. Morgan quickly grabs a couple of jeans and t-shirts and shoves them into her school backpack. She tiptoes up the stairs, not wanting anyone to hear her, and avoids the creaky floorboards- she learned which ones creaked over the years because of her big family- and opened the front door. A gust of wind came through the doorway, blowing her hair and causing the chills to come over her. It was dark outside, and the stars were shining. Morgan steps outside, closes the front door and begins to sprint to the dark and inviting woods at the side of the house. It takes about a minute to get there, but when she does, she begins to think if running away is worth it. She continues to walk farther into the forest while thinking of all the possible outcomes of running away. She loses track of time. She looks at her tiny watch on her wrist and sees that she’s been gone for an hour. Morgan hears her father calling her name, but she’s far enough into the forest so she can’t see the house anymore. She debates whether or not to go back, and she decides not to. None of her family cared about her anyway, right? She goes farther into the forest when she comes to a small clearing, only big enough for her and her backpack. I can’t sleep here tonight. I don’t even have a blanket or any food. I need to keep walking Morgan thinks to herself. She listens to her own advice and keeps walking. After about 3 miles, she sits herself down just for a break. I need to keep walking to get out of this forest she tells herself but ends up falling asleep. This snaps Morgan back to reality, looking back at the house she spent her childhood in. She was now thirty years old, and hasn’t seen the old place since the night she ran away. Morgan looks to the side of the house, seeing the exact forest she escaped into that night.It looked just as inviting as ever. But she knew she came here to do one thing and one thing only. She glances back to her truck behind her, and sees her best friend, Libby in the driver’s seat using her phone. Libby wasn’t Morgan’s best friend until the night she ran away. Or, should I say the day after. ~flashback~ It was the morning after she ran away. Somebody was shaking Morgan over and over again. “Wake up! Wake up!” Morgan opens her eyes to see a girl around her age leaning over her, with a backpack slung over only one shoulder. “What- who are you?” Morgan rubs her eyes as she speaks, getting dirt all over her face. “My name is Liberty. Hate the name so you should call me something else. I don’t really know. ANYWAYS I found you here and I’m assuming you ran away on short notice given you didn’t pack any food,” Liberty gestures over to Morgan’s backpack, now open and clearly picked through, all her clothes spilling out, “but my point is, I ran away too last night and I came to these woods. I woke up about an hour ago but kept walking and stumbled upon your lifeless body. So, clearly, you’re serious about running away since you slept in the forest. Want to stick together?” “Erm- sure?” Morgan squirms up to collect her clothes back in her bag. “You sure don’t talk too much. Anyway, while I was waiting for you to wake up, I wandered a little and found the way out of the forest. I think it’s a town over from my house. What town are you from?” “Well, I’m from Port Tiftuck. And you don’t even know my name yet. You just automatically trust me? And-and why should I trust you?” Morgan’s mind explodes with questions. “Wow! You came all the way from Tiftuck? Daaaamn girl that’s some hell of a hike. And tell me your name, then if I don’t know it.” “Morgan.” she says flatly “Okay… and yes I trust you, is there a reason I shouldn’t? I mean someone dangerous wouldn’t just sleep in the middle of a forest” “Well no, but still-why should I trust you?” “Hell, don’t trust me. I can leave you here with your bag of jeans and t-shirts but at least I came prepared. I’m from Mondte Bay. ‘Bout twenty minutes drive from you. And earlier I said don’t call me Liberty- I always liked the sound of Libbs, so call me that.” Libbs says “Oh- Okay. I will. And I trust you. Where are we going now? I’m starving.” Once again, 30-year old Morgan snaps back to reality. I have to go inside. I have to stop stalling myself, I’ll keep having flashbacks. I don’t even know if my family still lives here. There’s no harm in going inside though. I can just knock, and if nobody answers then I’ll leave. Wait, no. I’m going in. Morgan fights with herself in her head. That’s been happening a lot ever since she decided to come back to her home town. She walks up the old, rickety front steps and hesitates before knocking on the wooden door that used to be blue but since she left, was painted back to a wood-color. An old lady opens the door. Probably in her 60s, from the looks of it. Morgan wonders if it’s her mother, seeing the resemblance of her young self. “Hello? Who are you? Can I help you, Miss?” The lady says softly, but not soft enough to be a whisper. “Oh! Hello, sorry. I used to live here. What year did you move in?” Morgan asks politely, hoping it’s not her mother. “Sweetie, sorry but you must have the wrong address. I bought this property with my husband and we built this house up from the ground many years ago. No way you could’ve lived here. Is there any other way I can help?” Shoot. It is my mother. What should I say? ‘Oh, I did live here. I’m your daughter that ran away sixteen years ago heh. But I’m back now so yay!’ no way I’m saying that. Ughh “Miss? Miss?” Morgan’s mother looks concerned “Sorry. Um. I could’ve sworn I lived here. Sorry for wasting your time.” ‘Such a disappointment’ echoes around Morgan’s brain of the night she ran away. Suddenly, her mom looks at Morgan differently. Like she suddenly saw the light at the end of the tunnel. “Oh my god. Are you...?" “Your missing daughter? Yes. Sorry but I have to go. I made a mistake coming here.” sighed Morgan. “Oh my GOD. Oh My God come inside. Come inside now,” She ushers Morgan in, “Oh my. Sit at the table. Stay there. Oh MY!” Morgan sits down at the table. She notices that it's new, and the inside of their old home is all renovated. Her eyes follow her mother getting two cups of hot coffee, one of Morgan’s least favorite drinks. Her mom gives one cup to her, and Morgan doesn’t want to be rude, so she pretends to sip it. “Thank you so much, and I’m sorry for running away all those years ago. And I’m sorry if I made you super worried and cost you a lot of money, but honestly I don’t regret it. And if I went back to that night and could redo it, I would run away again. I met my best friend since I ran away and I’ve been living a pretty good life. I really think I should leave. Thank you though.” Morgan spits out the words she had been practicing in her mirror for weeks. “No. You are not leaving. Explain what could POSSIBLY go through your head. You cost us so much and we need at the least an explanation. You don’t understand how infuriated I am with you because you just showed up out of the blue after what? Sixteen years? No way, no how are you leaving right now. Sorry, but you need to tell me and explain what you’ve been doing for sixteen years without your family. In fact, you SHOULD regret it because your sister, Margaret killed herself after you left. So you need to give me an explanation.” Her mother practically screams “Mom, I hate to say this. But I don’t think Margaret killed herself at all. I think she ran away like me. And even if she did, it definitely wasn’t my fault. It was probably yours. You treat your own kids like they’re some animals you hit on the side of the road. The reason I ran away was because it was the last straw. You treated me like the worst child my whole childhood, even if I did the exact same thing as everyone else. You yelled at me calling me a disappointment and I remember your exact words were this, ‘When I was your age, if I failed a math test, I would’ve run away out of shame. In fact, you should run away.’ So what was I going to do? The whole family hated me, so I left. And found a life with my friend Libby. All those years I was away from this house allowed me to start a new life. And you didn’t even look for me that well, or didn’t put much effort into finding me because I was only a couple towns over my whole life. I only came back because I wanted closure. Not you yelling at me and saying it was my fault? And I was trying to be nice, but I hate coffee. So goodbye.” Morgan rants. She stands up to leave and surprisingly, her mother doesn’t stop her until, “Wait.” Morgan turns around to see tears streaming down her mother’s face. Her mascara starts to drip along with her tears as she clings to her coffee mug. ~flashback~ “Let’s go to a coffee place. You like Dunkin, right?” Libby guessed. Morgan fake gags as she replies, “Nope. Hate coffee. I’ll get a hot chocolate, or something though. Wait, do you even have money?” “Yeah, just enough to last both of us food and drinks for about two weeks. Girl I came P-R-E-P-A-R-E-D” she spells out “Thank GOD I was about to starve to death” Morgan snickered. “I also brought a tent,” Libbs points to her duffel bag, “so we- I mean… YOU don’t have to sleep on the ground of the forest tonight. Also, you look really bad so I think we should wash up somewhere” “Okay,” Morgan pauses, “I think we are going to be really good friends.” “Mom. You can’t apologize. Sorry, but it’s too late. Goodbye.” Morgan shrugged off her mom and walked out the door to her truck, where Libby was waiting for her. “How’d it go, girl?” Libby contemplated. Morgan sighs and gets in the passenger seat. “Not good. Not good at all.” “Oh my. Girl I’m sorry. What happened?” “Well my MOM happened,” Morgan replies, “You know how I explained her to you, always playing victim in these types of situations. She tried apologizing after I said it was her fault. Oh! And she gave me a cup of coffee.” “Oh my god so she really played this ALL wrong didn’t she?" mimicked Libby. “Don’t joke about this… do you think I should forgive her?” “Nope. That’s the only right answer. Never. Ever.” “I agree with you actually. Thank you.” Morgan thanked “Me too.” Libby boomed jokingly ~flashback~ “Okay! Then to dunkin we go!!” Morgan chuckles “Girl I’ve known you for less than ten minutes but I am already in love with you.” Liberty lampooned. “Just propose already Lib. We all know it’s coming.” They joke around for a while walking to Dunkin’. When they get there, Libby orders a coffee and Morgan settles on a chocolate donut with sprinkles, the same donut she always got as a kid. They walk out of the store, food and drink in hand to eat while they’re walking, and find a park nearby. It had a small playground, with a couple children playing on it, and Libby and Morgan sat on a bench a small ways away from it. After awhile of joking around, Libby asks a serious question, “Look, I know we’ve been joking around but I have to ask you something and can you please take me seriously?” “Oh of course, what’s up?” They share a laugh and Morgan is pulled back into the present. The truck is moving, and Libby is looking straight ahead. Morgan impulsively says, “pull the car over.” “What? Why?” Libbs asks looking between Morgan and the road. “Just do it.” Libbs pulls the car over and before she can say anything, Morgan pulls Libbs’ chin towards her and kisses her passionately. Libbs crawls over on top of Morgan as she lowers the seat all the way down. And in that moment, it was just Morgan and Libby. No running away, no coffee, no old house, no mean mothers, no abusive families, no drama. Nothing in the world except for Morgan and Liberty, and that was all that mattered. THE END © 2020 lehaahahhaAuthor's Note
Reviews
|
Stats |
![[send message]](https://www.writerscafe.org/images/mail.png){kind=small}
![[befriend]](https://www.writerscafe.org/images/friend.png){kind=small}
Share This
Email
Facebook
Twitter
Read Request
My Library
Flag Writing