RUNNING FAR AWAY

Myra wanted to get away as far as possible. Away from her home, away from her city, away from her country. Myra’s mother was over ninety and it broke her heart to leave her. But she had to go. Life in her city, in her country, had become impossible. Myra had acquaintances in Australia and she had decided to join them, she would go to Australia.

A few days before Myra left her mother died. She appeared to die naturally but the autopsy determined that she died of suffocation. Myra was suspected of the murder and she was unable to leave for Australia.

Meanwhile, her acquaintances in Australia had also been suspected of murder and they had managed to escape capture by running abroad. Myra learned about it from her lawyer.

She continued to claim her innocence for the murder of her mother, of which she suspected her brother and her sister-in-law. Only they, she thought, could have caused her fingerprints to be found on the pillow with which her mother had been suffocated. Only they would have obtained economic benefits from the death of her mother, after having her convicted of the crime. Myra was desperate. Grieving over the death of her mother she was also suspected of having killed her. She was convinced that her brother and her sister-in-law were still plotting against her. And she could not leave for Australia.

After months of investigations during which she continued to hope that the truth would emerge, that is, her innocence would be proven, Myra was indicted. Then she thought IT WAS TIME TO ESCAPE.

With her fingerprints on the pillow, even if fabricated, she would surely be convicted.

It was not at all easy to escape because she was being watched and her passport had been withdrawn. But with the help of her lawyer, she hoped she would be able to escape. But her lawyer was killed and Myra had to resort to subjects ( people) of organized crime to implement her escape. She managed to escape, fortunately evading the close surveillance to which she was subjected through an underground tunnel. It was a long and tormenting journey, almost all in the dark, the one in the tunnel. From the underground tunnel, she reached a remote refuge in the mountains and from there she managed to cross the border on foot. But she was arrested shortly after she entered Austria and sent back to Italy where she was incarcerated waiting for the trial.

Myra thought that they, her brother, and her sister-in-law had also killed her lawyer. She was surprised to hear that instead her acquaintances who had fled from Australia were suspected of that murder. Myra was indeed shocked, she couldn’t understand. Why would they do it, kill her lawyer? Was it perhaps her lawyer, to whom they had to have turned, hadn’t wanted to help them? But even more shocked Myra was when she learned that she was also a suspect in the murder of her lawyer.

Locked in her cell, awaiting trial and sentence, Myra hadn’t given up on her plan to run far away.  She dreamed of escaping from prison and fleeing as far as possible.

While the trial was underway and things were going badly for her, her brother was killed by her sister-in-law. They had quarreled over her mother’s inheritance.

Myra hoped that indicting her sister-in-law for the killing of her brother would also lead her to confess to the murder of her mother. Unfortunately, it wasn’t like that. Her sister-in-law was declared incapable of understanding and wanting and she was not convicted of her husband’s murder but locked up in a mental hospital.

Myra was sentenced to life in prison for murdering her mother. Meanwhile, her acquaintances who had fled Australia where they were accused of murder were arrested and sent back to Australia.

Myra, however desperate and overwhelmed by the circumstances, didn’t give up on her plan to escape away from everything and everyone. So she thought night and day about how to get out of prison and take flight. In addition to life imprisonment, she had been sentenced to six months of confinement. So she did not have the opportunity to talk with the other inmates.

At night she dreamed of her mother and it was a torment. She dreamed her mother was alive and reproached her harshly, even cursing her because she wanted to leave for Australia and abandon her. Myra woke up in a bath of sweat screaming: “ MUM! Mum help! I was convicted of your murder but I’m innocent! Mum HELP! Help me, please! It is true that I wanted to leave you but now you’re dead and I’m locked in prison innocent! I didn’t kill you Mom, you know that! Help me to escape!”

Myra imagined and fantasized about amazing plans to escape from prison and go far away where no one ever would reach her. She fantasized about kicking down the walls of the prison, breaking the bars….She imagined organizing a riot in the prison, climbing onto the roof, and shouting to the world her innocence and the atrocious injustice she was condemned to suffer.

Meanwhile, she remained locked in her cell and the only people she saw were the prison guards.

Myra asked for a review of the trial which was not granted. She then decided that she would go on a hunger strike to protest her innocence. She had to leave prison as soon as possible or she would die. During the hunger strike, she felt light as a feather and imagined she would slip out of the window grates.

The dreams in which her mother appeared to her became even more anguishing.  Her mother appeared to her alive and insulted her, cursing her because she was about to leave her. In her dreams, her mother also accused Myra of her death. She claimed that she died not because she had been suffocated but because of her pain from knowing that she, her daughter, would abandon her. ( was going to abandon her).

No one listened to her request for justice and help, so Myra decided to go on a thirst strike, in addition to the hunger strike. As the days went by her health worsened. Now she no longer felt like a feather fluttering in the air but rather like a dry leaf blown by the wind.

One night she dreamed of her mother who, instead of accusing and cursing her, cried for her and said she would help her get free and go far away. Myra was seized by enthusiasm, by happiness that made her heart explode. Her mother held out her arms to her, she wanted to free her. Myra rushed into her mother’s arms and it was as if her light body, in a breath, was able to pass through the prison walls. She lightly flew to her mother.