Runaway: Part 1

In the dead of night feet pounding against the pavement, Andy could only hear the sound of his own heavy breathing.  He may have run for two or three miles now. He could not stop though he could no longer feel his legs. Only sixteen years old, he had to run away from all he knew.  Escape was his only option.  He couldn't turn back now.  He had witnessed a crime committed by his own father. The worst part was that he helped.  He was guilty. He could not face the rumors in the small town that would inevitably occur. He could not face going through a trial.  Wasn't what he witnessed and what he did bad enough.  Running. Heart pounding.  No stopping.  The worst was that he knew his father would not run after him.  He knew. Now all he had was the clothes on his back and the twenty in his pocket that he took off of his father's night stand.  Not knowing what would come next, he kept running.  There was nothing left.

He did not stop until he reached another small town twelve miles away.  He just hoped nobody recognized him.  He dropped in the local diner and got some toast and water, which ate away two dollars of his twenty.  Then he continued, this time walking.

It was another twelve miles to the city.  The city was good.  He could hide. Chances were, nobody knew his name.  He picked up a paper out of a local vending machine.  Now he was down to $17.50.  Suddenly, he remembered how hungry he was.  His stomach grumbled.  He spotted a coffee shop close by and bought a small sandwich. $14 left. While eating as slowly as possible, Andy browsed the classifieds.  Maybe he could get a job under a false name.  But he didn't have any social security number.  He couldn't make one up.  Those could be tracked.  Easily. Then he saw it.  The obituaries.  A boy, 16, died in a car crash.  He had the name.  He could easily get the address.  Just show up at the funeral and maybe, just maybe, he could get some kind of ID and access to the social security card.

Zachary Thomas.  He had to get used to calling himself that before he could find a job.  From now on, he would be Zachary Thomas.