The Runaway

 

Paul was seventeen. He hitched highway 1 from Melbourne to Adelaide. The first lift got him to Horsham, the next to South Australia’s border at Bordertown. The last leg got him to an outer suburb with directions to walk to the city which he could see in the distance. It looked magnificent with the high rise buildings standing tall and the line of the sea stretching away in the distance. Everything was so bright and clean and green. Every street was lined with trees. Even the Jacarandas were in blossom.

Now less than two weeks later after sleeping down by the River Torrens or in the parklands that circled the city he was finally in a bed again! And clean!

He looked up at the paint flaking from the ceiling. The dog which had chosen to sleep in his room made snuffling noises in his sleep and he could hear Maisie fiddling about in the kitchen.

Her cooking was a bit basic, the house certainly needed a tidy up but for once in his life he felt relaxed. He went through his possessions again. His Mum’s new boyfriend; the indifference of his sisters who were too young to understand what had happened and the fact that their useless father had disappeared who knows where. He couldn’t live there anymore so decided on a break.. He left his family in Melbourne and headed not to Sydney but to Adelaide. He had never talked about Adelaide. He chose this city because his teacher at school Megan Watts said she came from there. She was the one person that talked to him and encouraged him to do what he wanted in life and felt a bond with her.

 “I’ll give Maisie $50 to start”.

“I’ll never go back, not in a thousand years” he murmured. He got up, went to the door and switched the light off then felt his way back to bed. Even Maisie was quiet now and night fell on the household.     (331 words)