Challenge 13: Phew!

129. How did you get caught? (Or not caught, as the case may be. (U of Chicago)

“I don’t think I am ever going to see them again,” I thought to myself as I recalled one of the most enjoyable week that had past. Two of my closest friends had been travelling around Asia and co-incidentally were in Beijing for a week, when I was too. My cousins knew about them, but the elders didn’t, and I preferred it that way. One of the friends is a boy, and I thought it might look sketchy if they knew, after all, they are quite a bit older than me, and things were different back then. Over the week we met up quite frequently, but it didn’t hit me until the last day that I really might not be seeing them again. I felt a pang of sadness build up inside, and I knew things might just change.

I had known these two friends of mine since grade 3. Every vacation I would meet up with them back in Nepal, but time had come for them to go back to their home country. This meant, leaving me. I tried to make our last day together in Beijing as memorable as I could. I had booked the tickets for the movie, “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger’s Tides” in advance, as it was a movie that all three of us had been waiting anxiously to watch. The movie was enjoyable to some extent and the night was called to an end with an ice-cream sundae treat in Haagen Dazs.

As they dropped me home, we talked about all the memories we had created, and how all of it was going to come to an end. I couldn’t bear the thought of parting with them and I knew “keeping in-touch” was going to be harder than just saying it. The only way to make the night longer was to stay out with them. But how could I? I had to be home by 9pm, and I had classes to attend the next day. With a heavy sigh, knowing the little possibility I had in running away for the night, I said my last farewell. Before they could see the tears pour down my cheeks, I turned around and waited for the guard to attend to the gate. I walked in glumly and went to my cousin sister’s room to seek comfort.

In the next hour, not only did I receive comfort but a master-mined plan as well for me to spend the night with my friends. McDonalds was open all night and day, and she always ordered in during the middle of the night when she was hungry. She said, “let’s pretend like we ordered in, and you can come out with me to get it, and then go with your friends as I come back in.” It sounded like a pretty good plan, but what about the guards, and our uncles who watched TV in the room right in front of back door? “Don’t worry, the guards don’t say anything, and let’s just ignore the uncles, and hope that they are too engrossed in their movie.” She had a reply to all my questions. All I had to remember was to be back before 6am, and I didn’t have to worry about the gate as the guards would be up all night.

My sister escorted me out the back door. We were in luck! Both the uncles were so engrossed in the game that was going on that when one of them looked up and saw us leaving, he just smiled and waved. We made our way out of the house, and I called my friends as my sister waited with me on the sidewalk. The hotel they were staying in was around 10 minutes from our place so we met up on the half-way point. From there I was free – I had made it out of the house! The rest of the night was spent watching movies, talking, and making a visit to McDonalds for a midnight snack. We walked around the neighborhood, but every now and again I felt a sense of insecurity. What if I get caught? What if my grandmother goes to check on me and finds an empty bed? I tried to erase those thoughts, but they still kept haunting me.

Those last few hours made a big difference, and the final good-bye was a happy one. I got back home at 5:40 in the morning, and the same guard opened the door with an expressionless face. I sneaked in through the back door and made my way up to my room. The moment I got there I felt a sigh of relief as my mission was complete. All those thoughts of imaging the worst scenario had been a waste of my thoughts. I sent a text message to my sister saying I got back safely. As I lay in bed, I looked over the long day I had. This was the first time I had run away from home and spent a night out. What I was most proud of was that I was not caught and I did not regret any of it. I wish the last part was true; unfortunately I did regret a fraction of it as I found myself spending the rest of the day with swollen eyes and a heavy head.