The Runaway

Iz Weber comes from a loving family, which meant well, most of the time. Iz is one of six children in her household, with that many children it is easy to be...overlooked. The Weber family moves around a lot and with that comes a new school every year. Iz gave up on making friends, what is the point if you just have to leave them behind? Not having many friends, and watching your siblings surrounded by them doesn't make being an outsider in your teen years any easier. To make everything worse, school wasn't her strong point, and asking for help just makes the person you asked tell you that you are smart, and you just need to stop being lazy and apply yourself.

So the story I am choosing to write is about bullying, without intentionally meaning to, at least I hope it wasn't intentional...

I walked through every new school, every year, with my head down. I tried not to get in anyone's way. I forced myself to blend into the background. Make believe I was invisible. Because if you're invisible you can't slowly be plucked at until you don't have anything left to give. When those times came when others did notice me, I put on a brave face and tried to laugh it off, tried to smile and tell myself it was just a stupid joke...no one is intentionally trying to make you cry.

The day came, 9th-grade year, I was home smoking out my bedroom window, staring at the climbing tree the younger ones loved to climb. I felt lost, sad, I felt like I was finally losing. See, I got into an argument with my father, these weren't as normal as the arguments I always had with my mother, during this argument I was told to leave. "Just leave," he said, with anger in his eyes I just couldn't process. This is why I try to be invisible, this is why I try to blend into the background, but I am home, in the safety of my family and I am told to leave?

Halfway through the cigarette (I had stolen from my mother's purse), I jumped out my bedroom window. I went to the woods, sat at the park, and there I ran into Daniel. Before sunset, my parents kept paging his pager, wanting to know if he had seen me. After the 5th page, Daniel wanted to bring me home. I told him I would walk, so he let me out of the truck we were driving around in. Instead, I just ran, I wasn't ready to go back. He chased me down, he never gave up. Finally, I was cornered and I just cried. Daniel told me he was here for me, and he always would be no matter what happened, no matter where I moved. I would always have a friend to turn too.

That is all I ever wanted, just one person to understand. That day I stopped trying to blend into the background because I wasn't meant to be invisible.

Do you want to read more of Iz Weber's story? Follow me to Through the Fog: https://www.wattpad.com/story/129081416-runaway