The road looked scary and untraveled.  You know what they say, “Always take the road less traveled.”  So that's exactly what I did.  The forest around me was dark and creepy.  I could hear sounds coming from inside of the dense brush. There was a loud hoot and a really low growl.  I shuddered and quickly hurried down the path. There was a constant beat of a clank, clank, clank coming from the pots and pans in my backpack.  I thought running would have been more fun, but clearly I was wrong.  Everything seemed stranger to me.  I kept walking down the path looking upward, though there was little sunlight cracking through the umbrella of trees.  The darkness seemed to be sucking every last little bit of light from the world. I wondered if my parents would notice my absence by now. I ran away in the night and left a note saying, "I am leaving forever.  I love you all, but I cannot take it here anymore." With that note taped to my door, I had left without a word.  I had “borrowed” the cash that was stashed for our trip to Disneyland.  We never actually planned out when we were going to go, so I assumed it would be alright to take it with me.  I had felt sorry for leaving.  My parents had just gotten divorced, and they hated each other.  My home was broken and sad. 

I hoped that when I was gone, it would lighten their burdens a little more.  They often viewed me as a burden and just extra weight they had to haul around.  I only had a few friends, and they didn’t like me very much because of my broken family.  I only wished to be accepted and loved at my former home, but it seemed everywhere I went people ignored me.  I felt hopeless and lost.  My name is Samantha, but people call me Sam for short.  I was constantly teased and bullied by other people.  I was often called “Stupid Sam” because I was terrible at math and all of my other subjects in school.  I had tried to see past the name calling and bullying.  It didn’t matter to me anymore now that I had made my choice to run away.  Everything seemed easier and my soul was finally at rest.  From now on I wouldn’t have to go to school anymore and read.  It would be like camping, but for a longer period of time.   It didn’t seem so bad.  I was determined to not start missing my family because it would make me want to go back home.  I to such an extent that I had forgotten that it was almost dark.  One thing I remembered as a kid was going camping with my dad. I remember how beautiful it was.  Sometimes there were even stars out.  I scanned the sky for signs of color such as red, orange, purple, and yellow.  I loved gazing at the millions of other universes that filled the sky.  The view from the forest was the best out of all of the views in our little town. 

The stars seemed to be so close to Earth even though they were really millions of light years away.  Tonight there were supposed to be many stars out according to my mom’s phone.  I had also checked the weather right before I left.  The stars out tonight glistened in the blue night sky. It reminded me of my dad again.  I hoped that I would not miss him too much.   I loved being outdoors though it was a different experience being by myself.  I shrugged off the lonely feeling and dug into my pack to get out some cookies that I had grabbed from our pantry.  They were my favorite kind, with chocolate chips and all.  I sat down on a boulder and thought about how and what I would live on for the next couple of weeks.  After a while I would become a pro at this on-the-run-thing.  I would eat what food I had packed sparingly and keep walking to the next town close by.  I had grabbed our GPS when I had left.  After all of my food was gone, I would get a job in town. I would make just enough to have a sufficient amount of food.  My housing would be underneath the stars.  I would be free from everything and everyone.  It would be a paradise and a vacation from everything.  But I would be alone.  Very alone.  I might get lonely, but I decided I would survive. 

After I had reassured myself of this choice I dug into my cookies.  I would surely miss my mother’s cooking but she never was home to cook anything so it didn’t make a difference.  I went back to my eating and grabbed some saltine crackers from my pack.  I only ate half to save the rest for tomorrow.  I looked out into the darkness.  I could no longer see the food or anything in front of me.  I grabbed a lamp out of my pack.  I would only use it for now because it was nice and warm weather.  Once it became cold and unbearable, I would build fires.  I only had hope that the weather would not turn cold soon.  I was afraid of what the weather had in plan.  I yawned and realized that I was desperately tired, so I grabbed out my sleeping bag and snuggled in the warm sheets of fabric.  I laid down my head and faced the stars.  For some reason all I could think of was all the things I missed back at my broken home.   I looked at the stars one more time before I closed my eyes for good.  I thought of sleeping in my nice warm bed back at home.  Maybe home wasn’t so bad.  I slowly felt my eyes get hot under my eyelids.  A tear slipped out, hot and wet, and raced down from the crease of my eye, and into my hair.  I missed them.  Not matter how much I tried to deny it, I missed both of my parents.  I loved all of their flaws.  I didn’t care if they yelled at me or treated me like I was just a shadow, I still loved them.  I decided then and there, I was going to head back for home tomorrow in the morning.  In hope that they would forgive me.  With that I fell into a endless empty sleep.  I was smiling and shedding quiet tears all at the same time.  I loved them so much.  I didn’t know why I didn’t realize that earlier.