“Mother!” I screamed after her. “Mother this isn’t entirely fair!”

“It is!” She snapped back at me. The rage in her eyes was starting to frighten me, and I was beginning to back down, but I knew I couldn’t if I wanted to stand my ground. “It is fair, Luna, and you cannot do anything about it. This is the way of the world; like it or not, you will be marrying Camryn.”

Frustration was starting to get the best of me. I wanted to rip my mothers head off, and I said that every time we talked about my marriage. My mother couldn’t force me to love someone who I knew nothing about and didn’t really love them. It wasn’t right at all.

“If you care about me you wouldn’t do this to me.” I said to her, tears stinging my eyes.

A soft expression settled across her face, and I could see little to no sympathy in her eyes. She was good at faking though, I had to give her that. “Darling,” She walked over to me, placing her hand on my cheek. I didn’t look her in the eye, I didn’t want to give her the time of day; all I wanted was to not marry Camryn Rogers. “You have to understand.”

“But I don’t!” I cut her off, throwing her hand away from my face. “I don’t understand! Why do I have to marry someone that I don’t even love?”

We had both putted our guards back up now, ready to fight another battle between each other. I was getting sick of all this talk about arranged marriages.

“To hell with you,” I spat at her, not waiting for an answer. “And to hell with Camryn. This world is mad.” I started to walk away from her, leaving her alone in our enormous living room. When she called for me to come back, I didn’t listen; I just walked straight up to my room, ready to leave.

My head was spinning, or was it actually my room? I couldn’t even think straight; the thought that I would have to marry Camryn Rogers sickened me. He was a rat; a disgusting, little, nosy rat. Praised by the eager women who thought something of him, but never gave them the type of man they all thought he was. I wasn’t one of those women, no surprise there.

The room was neat, as always, and I began grabbing anything that was going to be of use for my new journey. I had to get out of here; there was no way my parents, or The Society, could force this upon me. Whatever happened to love and passion? Oh yeah, it burned to the ground.

I grabbed the bag under my bed, dark green with patches of brown and blue that I had attached to when it started falling apart. It was my father’s, and he handed it off to me, knowing I would put it to good use unlike my other two sisters. Being the youngest isn’t that easy. Both of them are married, happy with their so called “husbands”, and have children of their own, living in other sections of our massive house.

I opened my dresser drawer and pulled out two pairs of jeans, three pairs of socks and undergarments. I picked five shirts (three short sleeved and two long sleeved), a tank top, a sweatshirt, and my dark brown leather coat. It was March, and even though spring was soon approaching, I still had to keep warm. I was running away; away from this sophisticated, pampered lifestyle and first head off into the Round, which was the local town my parent’s house looked over.

My parents were of higher power of everyone else, I guess you could say they ran the Round. Except my parents weren’t like a king or queen, mayor or his wife, they were more of the symbolism of the Round. All of Ireland was now controlled by some different type of government, called The Society, and they are the ones who have destroyed my old lifestyle, when I was free to do whatever I wanted and be with whomever I chose. My father used to be the so called “mayor” of our home, but soon after our old Taoiseach leader had lost his running for another year in office, the new guy came along. His name I will never forget.

Connor O’Neal. He, in my eyes, is an evil man. To mostly everyone else in Ireland, he is a saint, the one who will save us from all the destruction in the world. To be honest, he hasn’t changed much, yet. The number one thing he has changed was enforcing a law of arranged marriages. He believes it will create peace among the social classes and stop any discrimination between them. Yes, we’ve had those problems, but how is that going to fix anything?

This is where my fight with my mother comes in. She has herself convinced that I will be marrying a local high class boy. This Camryn Rogers, who is apparently the Ryan Gosling of our time. Whoever the hell that is.

I’ve told my mother countless time that she can’t force me into anything, she couldn’t make me marry a man who I didn’t love. Love was outlawed as well. Just because our leader went through a nasty divorce, full of lies and cheating, doesn’t mean you have to suffer the rest of the country.

As I look around my room for more things just in case I need them, I think of where I’m going to go, what I’m going to do. I’ll probably stay near the Round for a short while, but not for to long or go off to far, just far enough to stay clear of search parties once my family finds out I’ve gone missing. I think of going to my friend Aine’s house first, but they could probably find me there as well.

Double checking my bags, I have any clothing item that I would need. Now I just need things that will be useful and helpful. I take my wallet and stash some money in it from the jar on my desk that has about $400 inside. Inside my bathroom, I take out my toothbrush, toothpaste, and hair dye. I thought about dying my light brown hair into something darker for a while, so black hair would cover who I really am.

I finally throw everything into my bag at once; still having enough room so then I can store some food. I decided to tell everyone I’m staying over at Aine’s, knowing that would be a good alibi. It’s 4:46, I’ll leave at seven.

After I showered and dried my hair, I started getting ready, having to leave soon. I pull on the jeans I was wearing earlier, a dark wash with rips I them, a long sleeved blue and white striped shirt, and my leather jacket over it, since it’s still not that cold out. I called Aine a while ago, giving her a heads up that I needed a place to crash for the night. It would be best not to tell her that I’m leaving the Round, at least for now, because whenever I was with Aine I spilled my guts about whatever was going on in my life. Just in case though I wouldn’t tell her, thinking if I tell too many people word would get around and I would be found sooner than I planned. I take my bag with all my belongings in it off of my bed and look at my room one last time.

I see all of the belongings that have been in my life, things that I’ve been so used to. I’m not use to change, but to bring back the old traditions I had to make a change in my life. I look down at the Celtic cross around my neck and the Claddagh ring on my ring finger, knowing that I had to do this for not only myself, but for my country.

The hallways were already dark since night time had fallen. I was lucky to be such good friends with the staff of our household, so I was welcomed into the kitchen as always.

“Good evening, Miss Luna!” Our head chef, Ryan, greeted me.

“Good evening, Ryan.” I say to him.

“What brings you down tonight sweetie?” He asks, mixing a bowl of what looks like a batch of brownies. That’s one of the things I would miss from home, Ryan’s baking.

“I was hoping I could grab some food for the road.” I said a little hesitantly.

“Where are you going?” He asks curiously.

“Aine’s.” I replied with ease. “I don’t know if you heard mother’s feud with me this afternoon…”

“Oh, yes, we did.” He said, referring to the rest of the kitchen staff. Great, hopefully someone won’t catch on.

“I just need to get out for the night. Cool down, that’s all.” I told him.

“And Miss. Aine is wonderful at that.” He replied with a smile.

“She always is.” I said.

“Well,” He began, making his way towards the pantry and signaling me to follow him. “Help yourself to whatever you’d like. I know how you two can eat.”

He pokes my stomach and I winced back. “Very funny.” I walked over to the pantry and picked out what I could fit; some apples, bread, crackers, and bottles of water.

“You two going on an adventure or something?” Ryan asked.

I couldn’t answer him right away; I didn’t really know what to say. I was going on an adventure, and adventure of finding a new home and getting the hell out of here. But to Ryan I was simply staying over Aine’s for the next few days. I had to come up with a lie and fast.

“We’re going to be making different kinds of snacks.” Shit, that was the only thing I could come up with on short notice? Good one Luna.

“Oh.” Ryan replied, he didn’t seem a bit suspicious. “That should be interesting.”

I smacked him on the arm. “Hey!”

He laughed. “Relax, you’re a wonderful chief.”

“Not as good as you.” I said to him.

I gave Ryan a hug, knowing that he would be one of the people in this house that I would miss the most. He hugged me back, kind of surprised by the gesture, but appreciated it greatly.

“Be safe, alright?” He told me.

“I will.” I assured him.

We gave our final goodbyes for who knows how long, and I walked away from my only friend in my so called home.

The first floor of my house was quiet, which gave me the signal to just head straight out the door. I wasn’t going to say goodbye to my mother or father, knowing that if I showed any sign of lying to them they would have my head in seconds. Nor did it matter to my sisters, Katherine and Margo, that I would be leaving. They were my older sister. Their children didn’t like me that much, so I didn’t bother saying goodbye to them either.

Then I realized there was one person I had to at least try and say goodbye too: Clair.

Clair was Katherine’s daughter. She was seven, and, so far, the youngest of her family. She is the only niece who is actually nice to me, and loves me. I had to at least say goodbye to her because if I didn’t, I knew I would regret it later.

I left my bag hidden in the corner by the door and went over to the west wing of the house where Katherine and her family lived. It was one of the bigger wings, since she is the oldest out of the three of us, and the first to marry. She had four other children, along with Clair. None of them really cared for me unlike Clair did. I could tell her anything, but this I had to keep from her.

“Clair?” I called out. Her bedroom door was left ajar, so I entered. She was sitting on her queen size bed, a coloring book opened in front of her, music playing on her radio nearby. I sat down on the bed with her and studied the picture she was coloring. It was a little girl smiling in the rain, an open umbrella in her hands and rain drops all around her. She looked like Clair herself.

“Auntie look!” She pointed out.

“I see.” I said.

She ripped out the picture from the book and handed it to me. “For you!” She said to me. This would be the last gift I would probably ever receive from her. Was running away worth it anymore? I couldn’t leave Clair, Katherine treats her like an outcast, just because she is more creative than intelligent like her siblings. She was a brave little girl, she wasn’t like her mother, and she seemed more like me, probably because she spent more time with me then her actual parents.

“Thank you sweetie.” I kissed on the forehead as she beamed up at me. I folded the paper up and stuck it in my back pocket. “I’m staying over Aine’s for a few days.” I told her.

“Did you and Grammy fight again?” She asked. She knew about the fighting, she knew everything that was going on in our world. For a seven year old, she knew a lot.

“Yes,” I answered her. “Grammy and I fought again, but everything will be okay soon.” I promised her that.

“Good. But I still don’t like that Camryn guy. He seems snobby.” She said.

I laughed at her statement. She has made it very clear to everyone, even Camryn himself, that she did not like the boy. “Well we both have that in common.”

“What happened to love, Auntie?” Clair asked me.

Love? How could I answer that? I’ve never been in love, and probably never will be since the way of the world is today. But my parents were in love once, and when I was a little girl they would tell my sisters and me about the dates they went on, the way my father treated my mother like a queen, and how much he adored her. I didn’t want to tell Clair that love doesn’t exist anymore, because that’s probably not true. People just don’t talk about it anymore.

“What happened to it?” I asked her. She nodded. “Well…” I gathered my thoughts for a second, and then answered, “Love, it’s kind of hard to explain what happened to it. It used to exist, but then something happened. Nobody really knows what, but it just went away. No one believed in it anymore because people of a higher power started not to believe in it.” Clair had a confused look on her face so I said to her. “Does that make sense?”

“Kinda.” She replied, jumping off of her big bed and walked over to her shelf to get something. She brought over to me a pin she had made a school. “Take it.” She said to me. “I was going to give it to you earlier but who knows how long you’ll be gone.”

“Yeah,” I said to her. “Who knows.” I pulled Clair into my arms, squeezing her as she hugged me back. Her small arms fit right around my neck, her head on my shoulder.

“Can’t. Breathe.” She squeaked out.

I released her and ruffled her hair. “Don’t be so dramatic.”

Before I walked out of her room she told me one more thing with a big smile on her face, “Find true love while you’re gone!”

I escaped through my house with a breeze. No one saw me, my parents were in their room getting ready for bed, my sisters tucking their little ones into bed also, and our workers were cleaning up from what the day had thrown at them. Aine’s house was far off from the Round’s center market area, tucked away in the woods. My plan was to stay there for a while as I created a new identity and headed out somewhere away from my family.

Aine answered her door without hesitation. “You fought with your mother again, didn’t you?”

“You know me too well.” I said to her as I entered her home. It was a tiny house, but big enough for her and her parents. Aine was an only child, and everyday prayed for a little brother or sister. I always told her she could have one of mine.

“So,” She said, sitting down on the couch in their living room, I joined her. “Was this about the marriage again?”

“Isn’t it always?” I answered sharply. She gave me a look and I quickly apologized. “They don’t get it. I don’t want to marry Camryn, he’s nothing like me, and I’m nothing like him. He’d cheat on me anyways, with all those stupid women who throw themselves onto him.”

“Have you ever even met the boy?” She asked.

“We’ve discussed this already. Yes, and he tried to get in my pants without even having an actual conversation. Pig.” I answered in discuss.

“Why don’t you just give him a chance?”

“How can I?” I stood up now, getting furious. “He’s a no good, dirty rotten, womanizing pig! He doesn’t care about anyone but himself! We’re complete opposites and I have no intimate feelings for him!” I sat back down, trying to hold the tears back that were stinging my eyes. Aine rubbed my back, trying to calm me down. I took a deep breath and said, “I want love Aine. Like what our parents had; and our grandparents. I want to connect with someone who understands me, not someone I’m forced to be with, someone who I have to pretend to love. What has happened to that?”

“It’s that stupid Connor O’Neal.” Aine answered, getting up and bringing us some tea. “Just because that man didn’t find true love doesn’t mean everyone else in this country can’t.”

“This whole situation is messed up.” I said to her. “Next thing you know they’ll be arranging marriages for animals!”

We laughed for longer than we should’ve, knowing that now our so called “government” was basically ran by animals.

“So what are you going to do?” Aine asked me finally. I didn’t really know what to do exactly. I knew I was going to run away, somewhere away from the Round, but where else was there to go? I’ve never been outside my home town.

“I know one thing’s for sure.” I said. “And that’s if I can stay here the night and you can help me with something.”

“Anything.” Aine implied.

For the rest of the night, as Aine helped me dye my hair black, I told her what I was going to do, how I was going to run away (I was right about the hard at keeping secrets from her part). We came up with a new life story for me to tell people as I traveled out of the Round. My new name was Ryanne. I grew up in the Round’s neighboring town, the Moss. My parents had passed away and I was making a journey to find my aunt to stay with. I kept my age at 17, and any other facts about myself only.

“Where are you going to go?” Aine asked me before we fell asleep.

“I don’t know.” I answered, looking up at the ceiling as we laid in her bed. There were so many places to go to. I could take a boat and make my way to England, or be very dramatic and take a plain to America. But no matter what the laws were, Ireland was my home, and I really just wanted to run away from my mother and Camryn to get out of this stupid marriage, find an area where love was real, where love did exist, but that could probably be hard to find.

“What about Greenland.” Aine said. “I heard those boys are very attractive.”

“Ha!” I laughed at her. “We’ll see. I may just walk around until I find somewhere that’s appealing to me.”

“That seems like a good enough plan.” Aine said. I felt her shift over in her bed. “Good night, Luna.”

“Good night Aine.” I replied.

I stayed away for awhile, while Aine slept. She was going to be another person I’d miss so much. She has always been there for me, through thick and thin, whenever I was in a fight with anyone, since I got into fights a lot. Aine was the one who has kept me sane throughout my whole life. I don’t know what I was going to do without her, but I had to continue this journey for myself and with her support, I knew I could make it alone.

“Do you have everything you need?” Aine asked me, adjusting my jacket for me.

“Yes, mother.” I said to her.

She smacked my arm and said, “Sorry for caring.”

In all honesty, I appreciated her care. My actually mother never asked me how my day was or anything like that. She just assumed everything was peachy.

“Now,” Aine said, “What’s your story.”

I stood tall and said, “My name is Ryanne. I’m 17 years old from the Moss. I’m traveling from there to my aunts because my parents have sadly passed away and I need a new home to stay at.”

“Very good.” She smiled at me. ”Here.” she handed me a bag full of food, containing more bread and apples, some dry turkey, and waters. “Just in case you run out.”

I hugged her tight. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” I could see the tears forming in her eyes, but she tried her best to brush them away without me noticing. “Be safe okay? And keep in touch so then I know you’re alive.”

“I will.” I assured her. “Don’t worry,”

Before I left she asked me, “What did you tell everyone back home?”

“I told them I was staying at your place for a few days to let things cool off.” I answered her.

“And what if they come looking for you?” She asked.

I thought about this for a moment, thinking of another place I could use as an alibi. “Just say I just left without you knowing.”

There was a pause before she said, “Okay.”

Those were the last words we said to each other for who knows how long. I’ve been saying that a lot, “Who knows how long.” Since I really don’t know how long I’ll be gone. It may be days, weeks, maybe even months. I just wanted to be happy, and staying in the Round wasn’t going to make me. Everything wasn’t going fairly, and I wanted it too. The only thing I knew what to do was to run away, that was the only thing I was good at. I was always able to support myself, with little to no help from my parents. Just because I’m the youngest doesn’t mean I should be given up on. That’s how I felt with my family. An outcast.

The trail I took along the woods was thick within the trees. No one could see me if they tried, and right now I wasn’t worried about people looking for me. Everyone at home knew that whenever I fought with my mother about the stupid marriage that I stayed at Aine’s for a while. So I had a few days to get as far away as I could, that shouldn’t be too hard.