Stephanie Gertie’s body is not stable right now. Her legs can’t move as much as it used to, almost as if someone put a cement platform on her feet. Both her hands are tapping on the wooden writing desk, making sounds that are discreet enough so that no one will be able to come to her. The air conditioner grew louder and louder in her ears, even though she didn’t change anything. She knows that her parents are going for another heated argument about what to do with herself, and she wants to escape from that.
Stephanie never really had a great relationship with her parents. Her biological father died from Leukemia when she was barely a toddler, and the only memory she had of him was a polaroid picture of her family being together at her one month birthday. She opens her drawer nearby and looks at the picture with a sad smile appearing on her face. She then put that little picture on her blue medium-sized luggage, along with the assortment of clothes and necessities already packed inside of her suitcase. She didn’t want to hear what her parents were arguing about this time; she just wanted to get out of here.
Stephanie still remembered the first time she saw her mother, Martha Gertie, with her current husband. It was half a decade ago at her local shopping center 10 miles away. She had just finished playing at the arcade complex and went back to the food court, which was the first time she met with Colin Burkowski, Martha’s new boyfriend at the time. She felt it was odd seeing her own mother with someone she only met a couple of weeks ago to Stephanie’s knowledge, and the fact that her mother was a widower half a dozen years ago amplifies her suspicion.
Nevertheless, the 18-year old Stephanie at the time approached the two of them at the dining table they were in. She walks towards Colin and starts asking questions about himself.
"Hello, my name is Steph. First of all, who the hell are you?"
"So my name is Colin, and right now I'm currently dating your own mother."
"Yeah that's right, but why did you date her when you can be with other people as well, Colin?"
"Don't be such a cynical person, sweetie. I'm here with your mom because I genuinely loved her, simple as that."
The word "sweetie" triggered her mind the instant she heard that word, both of her fist clenching in trying to control her temper as best as possible. Her breathing is getting heavier and heavier, feeling like an anvil is strapped at the back of her body. She didn’t know if this nobody can be trusted in the near future, and whether this relationship will develop into a happy one, just like when she was a toddler. She let out a deep sigh and turned her body around.
“If you really want to marry my mother, then fine. But in about a decade or so, I’m not sure about that promise being kept anymore.” Stephanie said. She then sat on a table right next to the couple, and never spoke again for the rest of the evening. She herself didn’t know why; maybe it was because of a dire future she is now living in, or that the ‘lovey-dovey’ couple just wasn’t to her liking. Whatever it was, she now has only two decisions: either endure a miserable life with her current parents, or get away from all of that so she can start a new stage in her life. “I guess I’ll go where the crow flies. I might make it, or not I suppose.” Stephanie spoke to herself.
The now 23-year old Stephanie then put the finishing touches by putting her accessories into a luggage that’s now packed to the brim with everything she needed for a long adventure to find a new lease of life. After that, she moves the zipper around the luggage to close it down and put the luggage in a vertical position. Afterwards, she grabs her grey cropped jacket that’s been lying around on her door hanger rack to accompany the dark blue knee-length dress she is wearing right now. She twists the door knob to see if Martha and Colin are still arguing in the living room. When there is no sight of them, she let out a sigh of relief in her part.
