Going out, events and activities are all opportunities. These opportunities are sometimes missed, by choice or for other reasons. Some of these missed opportunities, that while frustrating, are manageable. These are simple things that most teenagers with siblings have to deal with. For example, your sister who is one year older than you being aloud to go out late and party, while you can’t. But the opportunities I have missed are things that I shouldn’t have to deal with. They are things that I would never wish on anyone. Like my parents sending me to a public school, while my brothers got to go to a prestigious private school, because in their eyes, there is no point wasting money for a girl to go to a good school. After all, a girl is just going to grow up, have kids, take care of a family and then die. That’s how they see it. It’s opportunities like this that I have missed out on. My parents are quite ist. It’s just the way things are, and it’s what I have to deal with. Well, that’s what I thought.

I started to wonder if there was a better place out there, in the big wide world. Not everywhere is like this, right? There must be somewhere where I can be happy, right? Where opportunities aren’t snatched out of my hands. But I knew I would never be able to find a place like this. And even though I knew that, I still wanted to try, to leave, to run away, because any place would be better than here. And so I decided to do that. I decided to leave. This brings me to where I am now, in my bedroom at 12:30am, throwing some water and food into my backpack.

I knew I had to be quiet and quick. If I woke anybody up, It would screw up all of my plans. Not that my plans were very detailed. All I knew was that I wanted to leave this house, this family and these people. The way I saw it, I would surely be happier anywhere else. So that’s where I intended to be. Anywhere but here. I finished shoving supplies into my overstuffed bag. I only took the basics, but it was amazing how much I had actually packed; water, food, matches, a lantern, a jumper, a little fold-up tent, a sleeping bag and a toothbrush. I quickly said goodbye to my bedroom, because after all, I probably wouldn’t see it for a long time. I slipped down the staircase, and made my way to the door. But as I was passing the kitchen, I stopped. Even though I wanted to leave, to get rid of my parents, shouldn’t I at least leave them a note? I mean, I had no respect for them, but I still loved them, so shouldn’t they at least know that I left by myself, that I wasn’t kidnapped or something?

“Minzy you weakling, why do you have a soft spot for these people, when all they have done is take away your chance at having a good life”, I thought to myself as I grabbed a piece of paper and a pen, and scratched out a note for my parents and brothers.

Mum, Dad, Kris and Kai,

If you haven’t noticed already, im not here anymore. I have decided to leave, because im not happy here. I can’t be happy here, not when every single chance I get is taken away from me. I don’t know how long it will be until I am back, or if I will ever come back because after all, wouldn’t that defeat the purpose of leaving? Just know that im a lot happier to be on my own. It’s better to be lonely alone, than to be lonely with people around you. I love you guys. – Minzy

I mentally sighed as I slipped out the front door, and began to walk away from that house. Away from it all. Maybe I shouldn’t have written “I love you” in that note. I mean, I did love my brothers a lot. It wasn’t there fault that my parents were completely ist. I realized that this would be the hardest thing about leaving. Leaving my brothers was going to hurt me a lot. They were my closest friends and without them, I would be so lonely. I trudged down through my suburb, to the main roads. I had to decide where to go now. Every place I could think of was somewhere that my parents would find me. At least, I think they would try to find me. Also, I would eventually run out of food and water. I racked my brain. There had to be somewhere I could go. And then it hit me. If I went up the freeway and into the hills, where it was all bush, I would be able to stay there. There would be a lake somewhere, I would be able to find food and, no one would be able to find me. I began to walk in the direction of the freeway. I glanced at my watch, and I knew I had to move fast. I wanted to be up in the bush well before the sun was up. I moved quickly. In about 40 minutes, I had gone far enough up the freeway, and I decided to climb up the rocks, and into the endless mountains. It was a difficult climb, especially with my heavy backpack, but I made it to the top and began to continue walking alongside the road, making my way further into the hills. I went away from the road, and set up my tent. It was 4am and I needed to rest. I couldn’t sleep though. As I sat in my tent, in the darkness, the silence hit me. It was absolutely deafening. And I was the only person here. Just me. The rest of the world had no idea where I was. It was just me. But I had gotten away. I would surely be happier now. And even though I was just a little bit happier, all I felt, all I was, was lonely. But wasn’t it better to be lonely alone, than to be lonely with people around you?