Journey, Jay T. [ebook reader macos TXT] 📗

I? Oh, my parents are going to send me to a therapist! What am I going to do?” I start to think that this is all inside my head.
“Shut up, and listen.” I stop and close my eyes, and think for a while. “What are you doing?”
“I am trying to see you. In my mind, I mean.” I answer.
“Don’t even try. You can only see me if you are in transition.” The voice says with a tone that had attitude.
“What? Transition? What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I open my eyes, and try to look around again. I see the sun starting to go down, and I start to worry. I’ve been gone too long. “Tell me what you have to say. Hurry.”
“Mae, you are to complete a mission. It will save your life. You have received a terrible nightmare that is to come true if you do not complete this mission.” It stops for a bit, as if it is thinking. “You are to complete this mission in a month. Do not procrastinate. Your mission is to leave this town. You must forget this life and start a new one. Where no one will know who you are, and you must be the opposite of who you are now. Cut off all your ties from here. You have one day to get ready to leave. I will be here if you need me.” The voice ends there, all the pressure that was pushing down on me was gone, and a big gust of wind came. I stood up, and looked around. It had gotten much darker and I went home.
Is all of this true? If so, then what do I do? How do I leave my family? How do I leave my friends and school, and how do I start a new life? There are plenty of questions running through my mind, but I have to figure it out myself; there’s no way I will let that creepy voice talk to me again.
I walk into an empty house. It was Mary’s day off, and my parent’s would be late, again. I run upstairs, and get out my duffle bag, and everything I could into every little nook and cranny in the hefty bag. I go into my bathroom, and grab my tooth brush and my makeup. I take one of my parent’s suitcases, and fit everything else that I need in there. I put everything in my car. I leave my cell phone off, and I decide to only use my personal credit and debit card so that my parents don’t cancel them. I call the companies to tell them I will be in different cities and that I am going on a road trip. I tell them not to leak this information to anyone. I take everything out side, and take one look around my room, and house.
I decided to walk instead of drive out of Sharpston. Knowing that I will never be back, it broke my heart, but it also gave me a sense of relief. I would not run this town; my parents would make my older brother Trevor do that. I was free from their constant nagging, from the image of perfection. I am now allowed to be free. I stop near a small gas station, in the middle of nowhere and get out my suitcase and duffle bag and wait for a bus. I get one a random one, not caring where it would take me. It was 10:30 pm. I watch as the bus takes me away from Virginia. I soon drift to sleep, and it was actually peaceful.
There are beams from the sun shining in my eyes as I wake, and I look around to see that there are still two or three people on the bus. I look at the bus’s clock and it says 10:56 am. I slept for almost thirteen hours. Then I turn on my phone to see twenty two missed calls. The majority of the calls were from my parents, Kierra, and Chance. I fight the urge to call my parents back, and so I turn off my phone again. By the time I decide to get off the bus, it was 7:30 pm. I stayed awake for the rest of the time on the bus, listening to my iPod. I am now in New York.
I look around at my surroundings. This is a bus station, and I had no idea where I was going to go next. This was my chance to be free. I walk out of the station, with all my luggage and I go find a little motel to stay at. I’ve been saving up everything I’ve earned since I was little. All my money was in my secret savings. I had to hide everything from my parents. They, of course, had a trust fund for me, but since I’m missing now, I have to spend money wisely.
I call a taxi, and put my bags inside. The cab driver helped me put the suitcase in, and I tell the driver to take me to a cheap hotel. When we arrive, I walk in and ask for a room. The lady at the front desk checked me in and I go up to my room. Opening the door, I finally realized that I was alone. I was in a new city, with no one I know. This realization brought tears to my eyes and I collapse in the bed, and lay there for a while. This was a four-star hotel, and I would have to get a job to pay for the room. I freshen up after I get out of bed and leave to go job hunting. I find a little café nearby and they needed workers. It was a little cute shop with a comforting setting. This shop reminded me of home. I decided to get an application and fill it out in the shop. I thank the worker who accepted the application. I head to a clothing store that had tons of cute clothes and looked like somewhere I would shop, and they were also looking for new workers and I applied. I needed as many jobs as I could get.
I went back to the hotel, and waited for the calls. I applied for an online school so that I could finish high school, and go to college. If I wanted to be successful, and actually support myself, then I would have to go to school.
I fell asleep, and wake up to the lights flickering on and off. I slowly sit up, and the windows open. Not knowing what to do, I get up, thinking that it’s just the wind, which was a ridiculous thing to think. The wind was blowing in and it started to get cold, so I decided to get a sweater instead of closing the window first. Then I realized that I didn’t even pack a sweater. I sighed for my stupidity and went over to the window to close it. Everything after that went so fast. I felt a hand cover my mouth so that I could not scream, and I see the person come out from behind the curtains.
“Shh, I am so sorry for breaking in, but your window was unlocked, and I have a good excuse.” A strange young man said. I looked up at him, and stopped squirming. He let me go, and I sat down cautiously while this man explained. His name was Darren Smith and his girlfriend had just broken up with him, and his parents kicked him out. While walking around to find a place to live, he climbed up the hotel’s balconies and found that my window was unlocked. The lights flickering were due to the fact that the hotel’s neighbors were using too much electricity. Man, did I feel bad for this guy. I could also relate to him very well.
“Would you like a place to stay?” I offered. “I mean, not to sound weird but you have no place to stay, and I have a pretty big room, and can’t afford a hotel like this on my own for too much longer.” I could get him to help me pay for the room.
“Wow, really? I’m honestly really sorry for breaking in while you were sleeping, but are you sure you’re not going crazy from lack of sleep?” He looked at me as if I needed to be checked into a mental facility.
“I’m sure I’m not going crazy. It’s just…I can relate to how you feel. Well, not exactly, but close. Plus, do you expect me, an eighteen year old, to pay this room off by myself?” I looked at him the same way he had looked at me.
“Wait, I told you about me. All I know about you is that you are eighteen. You don’t even know who I am; we know nothing about each other, and you’re saying that you would let me stay here?” He looks at me and scratches his head. “Look, I appreciate the offer but honestly, this is crazy. How about trusting each other first? I mean I can’t just move in here without even knowing your name.” He paces around, obviously not calm.
“Look, I will tell you anything you want to know. In return, I want you to do the same. I will tell you everything, not that there is much to know. Deal?” I look at him and nod, he agrees. “Why don’t you sit?” He does. “Alright, I’m Mae Sharpe and I’m eighteen. I lived in Sharpston, Virginia. My ancestors founded the town and my parents now basically run it. Look, I am going to sound crazy. Honest to God, I don’t even believe this, but just bear with me. I had a dream where someone would kill me if I didn’t get out of town. It was so real, and when I woke up, my chest hurt. I went to school, and I eventually found out that my boyfriend was cheating on me with my best friend while I was visiting my aunt all summer. My parents don’t pay any attention to me, and the only person who actually cared about me was my maid. I had to get out of there, because of that dream, and because of the fact that I could not handle my ‘perfect’ life tumbling down. I took a bus here yesterday, and got here this morning. I am finding a few jobs, I registered for online school, I have my own bank account where all my savings are going into everything I need. Everything is a secret from my parents, though they probably found out when they got home last night. I just needed to get away. I have a brother who my parents are probably going to call to take over everything while they try to find me. That’s it.” I look at him to find him staring at me with sympathy.
“It’s my turn. I’m Darren Smith and I am nineteen. I go to NYU, but got accepted into Stanford. My girlfriend was recently cheating on me as well, but I didn’t run like you did because I loved her so much, and tonight she finally told me that she had no feelings for me at all. I accepted that and walked away. That was the hardest thing I have ever done. My parents just want me to be happy. They don’t know that I had been dumped, and so they told me it’s time to find a place of my own, so I grabbed a few clothes and that’s where I left off. Look, this isn’t a good idea. Shouldn’t you be more cautious?” Darren looked at me with questioning eyes.
“I should be, yes,