Don’t do what I did

Running away is never the answer

Don%E2%80%99t+do+what+I+did

Mark Daniels

It can happen at any time on any day and no one will see you again.

Is that what you want?

Was this your intention?

Did you really think no one would care?

Can’t you hear their pleas for you to come home?

No, you can’t because you are a hundred miles away and still walking or perhaps you already stopped walking. Maybe you are already gone from this world.

Running away is a scary thing, because once you are missing the world can be a scary place.

Take it from me. I ran away. I am not sure why, but it taught me a valuable lesson.

It may have been only 17 hours, but it was 17 hours full of a completely different perspective.

I don’t really think i was feeling anything for the first day until I woke the next day. I didn’t plan on coming back; I didn’t even plan on ever seeing my family again.

I just wanted to be empty, devoid of the things i care for and the things i hate. I just wanted to feel neutral and without a care in the world.

I left my phone on the desk in my bedroom with my dad’s credit card — not a single penny to my name. I walked out while my mother was sleeping on the couch. There was not a single yell about where I was going as I walked out, for she never woke up.

After that i was on my own.

I walked, and walked, and walked. I didn’t stop walking. I went to the circle downtown after getting turned around a few times. i even went into a few stores “browsing” even though I was honestly just warming myself up.

I got lost a few times in the maze of buildings. I am sure i know the entire outside perimeter of Lucas Oil Stadium and the Convention Center.

Then i finally found my way out of the downtown area and i went for a long while until I was too tired to go any further. I saw an intersection bridge in the distance.

I got under the bridge and I slept. By morning some of the businesses were open so after a few knocks on businesses front doors, I went up to some trailer place called Russells Trailers Repair.

I went to the security guards little shack and asked if i could use the phone. I called my mother and I heard crying on the other end. She asked where I was and I told her the name of the place and asked the guy for the address so I could tell her.

After I came home, other family members came to see me and I have made a lot of apologies since then. I can’t imagine all the pain and worry I caused my family and those who cared for me.

In all honesty i know what i caused, I simply can’t bare to imagine the pain my family felt.  One single piece of advice i can never repeat enough — don’t ever make this mistake, there is no taking it back. 

You can’t pretend it never happened, and you can never remove the scars that you caused others. Not even in a million years.

You can’t pretend it never happened, and you can never remove the scars that you caused others. Not even in a million years.

I can’t say it enough — running away is never the answer to any of your problems.