This story, 21 years old now, is one that wants to be told. It’s the story of leaving home after midnight, 5 days after my 17th birthday. Why then? Because in Texas a teenager can leave home at the age of 17 without being considered a runaway. Even then I made decisions based on what makes the resulting outcome the least complicated.
Here’s the story:
First of all, why did I leave home? Let’s just keep it simple for now: My childhood was very unfortunate. I was tired of living in daily fear of my stepmother and had to improve the situation that I had been living in for 6 years. I was just barely 17 and a junior in high school. A couple of months before, my father and stepmother moved us into another house. The significance of this is that the new home was in “Rider High School” district while my mother (into whose home I was moving) lived in “Wichita Falls High School” (or more commonly known as “Old High”) district. The counselor at Old High, Mr. Miller, was aware of my home situation and for the time that I was there did what he could to help. This mostly was to listen. Anyway, when I transferred to Rider High School I got to know my counselor there as well and she also came to know of my situation. It was actually a combined conversation between her and Mr. Miller at Old High that hatched our plan, which was for me to sneak away the weekend after I turned 17 and return to Old High the next Monday morning. Explaining this has nothing to do with the high schools, really, but to illuminate how 2 counselors at 2 high schools worked together to help me out of a very bad situation. Reading back on this I think it may be interpreted that I left home to return to the previous high school. That was just coincidental – I would have left home no matter what. But escaping to my mother’s house meant returning to the high school that actually happened to be in walking distance from her home. The two counselors worked together to transfer my enrollment. Also, they gave me moral support and the courage to implement the plan.
As it was, I had to wait until I was 17 to do this, and I didn’t want to delay any more than I had to. I spent Saturday sneaking into my bedroom and bit by bit I packed my clothing, shoes, and personal items into trash bags. I put the trash bags back into the drawers and into the closet, hidden behind other things. I didn’t have much but I took everything I could, including my pillow. I went to bed that night knowing that I would need to stay awake until after midnight when everyone was sure to be asleep. My father and stepmother were in their bedroom with the door closed. My brother and the two older stepbrothers were in the bedroom next to mine. My youngest stepbrother shared my bedroom. I got up very quietly, turned on the central heater fan to help cover sounds, went into the living room and called a taxi. My mother wanted to make sure she couldn’t be accused of kidnapping so the plan was for me to use a cab and arrive on my own. After I called the cab, I very quickly and quietly pulled out my trash bags of clothing, opened the window above my bed (the front door made a noise when it opened), removed the screen, and tossed everything outside. I then climbed out the window, closed it, and waited by the curb for the taxi with all my trash bags. I didn’t have to wait long. When the driver arrived he helped me load the bags into the car and the only comment he made was, “Strange time to be moving.” I agreed that it was and that’s all that was said. We arrived at my mother’s place and she came down and paid for the cab ride. I have to imagine that it set his mind at ease to see that I was being delivered to an adult. I actually don’t remember but I may have told him I was moving in with my mother.
I wonder if the two counselors were wondering if I’d have the courage to actually do this. They set it up to have me transferred to the other school... but it was up to me to pack up and leave. A number of things could have gone wrong, including me losing my nerve or getting caught. All they could do was wait to see where I showed up for school on Monday. How did they know for sure I'd show up at which school on Monday? Anything could have happened to foil the plan. I guess some things were handled by them and administrators and it was just up to me to do my part.
Of course, there are many more stories and maybe I’ll share some of them. They will decide when it’s time for them to be told as this one did.
