I was invited (well, not personally, but still…) to join the Fandango’s Friday Flashback!

Fandango scrolls back, every Friday, and gives a second chance to a post he had published on the same date the year before. I thought it was a great way to remember some of the stuff I did a while back, and I decided to participate…

So here it is!

Previously published on May 29th of 2018, here’s a short fiction a little on the mystery side. It doesn’t happen often, but I long hesitated between two posts this week. A romantic poem almost made it. I finally chose this story, because it is a year older, and more of you might have missed it. If you’re more of a poetry lover, you’ll find a link for ”Primary…” at the end of my post. I hope you’ll enjoy this (again). And I do hope that all of you are safe, where ever you are, in the world!

 

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How many times had she thought about it? Enough to be curious, obviously. She had seen it so many times on tv. Shows about people who had mysteriously vanished from their homes… No sign of kidnapping, no apparent reason for leaving their life behind. No clues as to where they would have gone.

She understood how that was possible a hundred years back. She had read enough stories about men, turning their back on a painful past, and popping up in some village, wrapped in a veil of mystery, wearing a name they had picked for themselves on the train, or while riding their horse in the last of sunset rays…

But nowadays? It seemed impossible. She felt tagged, as if her identity had been inked into her skin the minute she had been born. All these numbers, stiched to her very being, allowed to keep a safe eye on her. Her phone, her license plate, her bank account numbers, her ATM and credit cards, her passport… How could she get away, without leaving a trace?

The enigma had become a challenge over the months. In secret, she had plotted the perfect escape. She had slowly, but surely withdrawn all her savings, and packed the cash money in her small suitcase, with just the necessary to get by. She had planned, and thought things over, and over and over. Turning and returning every detail.

It certainly wouldn’t be the “how” that would keep authorities on their toes. It would be the “why”.  Good little soldiers like her, having lived by the rules and straight like an arrow, didn’t just desert one day. She wasn’t unhappy with her life, which would be a total puzzle for people looking for her.

Why?

“She must have done something.” would certainly be their best guess. The idea that she had just left, for the heck of it would always float around their heads, but it would be so surreal, that they wouldn’t stick to it. There were only two good reasons for going missing in this world; needing help, or being guilty of something.

Think again, World.

They would certainly go looking for her, eventually. But she had a serious head start.

She had no reason to leave, and that would serve her well.

Locking the door to her apartment, she glanced one last time at her old life.

My mother’s name was Liberty, and Dad’s, Adventure… From now on, you can call me Runaway!

But there was no one to witness her last words, before she trotted down the street.

 

 

You can visit the original post here, and also its close runner up; Primary…