Nobody Knows Me

"Bitch!" I slammed the receiver down hard. I was not going to make the train. Grabbing my coat, I ran out the door. My mom would not drive me to the train station so I'd have to take the bus.

All along, I knew the truth. It made me sad but I had no choice but to move on. Behind my back, all this time. Boy I was delusional and they hid it well.

New horizons were in my future, though, and that made me happy. Whew, finally done. After 3 years of filth, I was free. Now I was climbing into the bus with my knapsack, containing my phone and my wallet and ID.

I looked back and laughed. I did not care anymore, I just didn't. The rest is history. When I got on the train at the station, which thankfully somehow I was in time for, I filed for a divorce and called it quits.

New episode, no one would know where I was because I didn't tell anybody and I had gotten a fake ID made and got the tickets. I was actually going all the way out to Oregon, had saved up just enough.

Slowly, but surely, my previous Life became a distant memory. I was thinking, he may be happier now w/o me, like relieved. My fate of newness was sealed when a young mother and her daughter came in the booth and sat down, then my issues were no longer important.

"Aah," I pulled out my book page on my phone and settled in. The constant chatter kept me awake on the train, even though it was getting more dim on the outside. The trees whizzed by, we passed lakes, rivers and mountains, I had never been this far west before. Really a magnificent country. Memories came and passed. I snoozed a little and woke up when the train made an abrupt stop in Chicago in the middle of the night.

Everything was so foreign to me, but I smiled and waved and braced myself for my new adventure. "All aboard!" The captain called, another young man came in and sat down across from me.

There was a lot of hustle and bustle, but we soon took off, clickety clack, down the rail, and it was 3:00 am. I ate my sandwich I requested, and the young man eyed me but stayed texting.

I was actually getting excited, but I slept some more. I dreamt that my ex was on an expedition and lived on another planet, always hovering over me, 'would I ever escape him?', I thought. My number was changed but I had one contact, a shelter in Oregon's capital, that I wanted. When I called and told them, I'm halfway there, they confirmed I would have a spot.

I felt like playing tambourines, I was so happy.

The train chugged along, and morning came, a twinkling light on the horizon bringing with it greens and blues, purples and pinks. I accepted coffee and paid, and just watched the rolling hills that turned into stone monoliths that were now ice-capped mountains.

My new Life awaited. When we rolled into my stop, the conductor called out, "Portland!", and I jumped off, into my new territory. My crinkled up address of the shelter was my best friend, and I used it everywhere as a passport to talk to people and ask them, "Where am I headed?" I got there, past stores. Long expanses of wasteland loomed in the distance, and I knocked on a door marked, "Adult shelter". When I rang the bell enough times, a young bouncy female finally answered the door, with a big smile and a "Welcome!", and then checked me in. We went upstairs and she showed me my room and I said, "Hey!, you did it!!" (to myself.

Finally free, now I had to get to the business if finding a job and raising my standard of living. I walked along the coastal town, and just sighed.

Back at my old place of residence, I imagined they spent a little time freakin' out about where I had gone. But I supposed, after that, they just let it go. No one had really ever cared about me or seen eye to eye with me. I was on my own. I was happy. I went into a pizza shop, said, "Hey, you need a dishwasher?", and I was hired.

Then one day I got a call from the President. "Hi, Emma T. Jones?"

"That's me," I responded. "How can I help you?"

"Uh, were trying to anticipate an attack from outer space. We need your help in locating the source of the signal."

"Ok, I'll need direct coordinates of the reception."

"We will have them for you. Uh, Emma?", pleaded the president of this country land mass. "Do you think you'll be using your mega hyper power storm blaster for this feat?"

"Yes, possibly, sir."

"Great!" was the reply. "Ithink that'll do it, for now. Ok, thank you, Emma."

"No problem, sir." I hung up, and started to freak out. There was no way I'd have the storm blaster available out here in Oregon! I had to call home, for it.

"Mom," I looked up her # in my phone book, on my phone. I realized I was letting her know my new phone #, and that I was sacrificing my freedom and anonymity, but the fate of the world depended on it, (I figured that was a god reason.)

"Emma! Oh my god girl where have you been!! We've been looking all over for you! I'm so glad you're safe!"

"Thanks mom." I gave her directions on how to retrieve the storm- blaster from the garage, and where I had left the key. I hoped this would work.

When the president got word I was in Oregon, and my mom was responsible for maneuvering the blaster weapon, he laughed. "But you should've told us, we'll help!" He insisted. The next day, a private investigator black car parked in front of my old garage, and my mom indiscretion, though she meant well, handed them the item. Then they zoomed off. It was transported.

Now I write, atop my little new apartment in Oregon, having deflected any attacks, and able to breathe free and hopefully everyone else on Earth can too.