(( Sorry for the long post. I was not sure where to begin. :sweat: And, not all my posts are this long. :P ))

The air stung his lungs and throat with each sharp inhale. All of the running for the past week put stress on his body. Mars found a place to sit and take a few deep breaths. The setting sun turned the sky a light shade of purple, but his attention and thoughts were elsewhere than admiring the beauty of nature. His current goal is to just run; run as far and as fast as he could. Where? He did not care.

About six days ago, he was on the steps of a back porch listening to crickets and the wind and the sound of his parents' raised voices. All of the lights were on inside which meant Scotty could not get to sleep, either. The patio light had been broken the year before, but no one had bothered to replace it. It did not come to mind that someone in the family still used the back door. While standing in jeans, sneakers, and a zipped-up hoodie in the creeping night, Mars thought. Nothing had ever changed. In his personal life or at school. At school, he had always been in special classes. For an entire year, he remembered faintly, he was home-schooled by his mothers. The sound of glass shattering behind closed doors invaded his thoughts, followed by more muffled screaming and shouting. That was when he decided to start walking. Walking became jogging, and then jogging became running.

He ate when he could find food. Sleep was harder to come by as he had no money to rent a room, and the underpasses of highways were already occupied by families of animals of all sorts. Mars was currently resting on a bench in a park. He watched, with envy, young children playing with each other; having the last of their day's energy exhausted before dinner.

"Hey, can I sit here?" a young man asked, meaning to take the empty spot beside his.

Mars nodded, and then stood up as he sat down.

"Hey, wait!" he chuckles. "I didn't mean to scare you. My name's Bobby." He extended his hand.

Hesitantly, he took it. "Mars," he whispered.

"What was it? I didn't catch it."

"Mars." His voice was still not any louder than a whisper. A violent cough shook his body. The phlegm in the back of his throat clung on for its life.

"Hey, that sounds terrible. Do you want something for that?" Bobby picked up a backpack and set it on his lap. In it were stored things for emergency. He was prepared for any injury his adventurous mirror image, one of the children playing yards away, could sustain.

Mars shook his head gently. "No, I'm fine." He coughed again.

He asked again. He passively responded no once more. He asked a third time after he had survived a sixth cough, insisting it sounded bad enough to see a doctor.

"I said I don't want yer help! I can take care of myself! Why the heck do you think someone like me needs help from someone like you, anyways? A cough is a cough and it don't mean nothing at all! Why the heck did you come over here, mister, huh? You could have picked any other bench closer to the playground. What are you, some pedophile in disguise? Why not just use your own offspring, huh?" Mars exploded. His usual face exhumed nothing but innocence and purity all day long, but in less than a second it contorted into an expression that said danger all over it.

After the episode, his demeanor returned to placidity. He blinked and looked around to see everyone around his staring. His cheeks burned. "I-I am sorry!" He said in a shy voice. Then His expression changed. "Then again, why do I have to be? You really do give off the vibe of one of those old geezers who like to prey on little girls." He returned to a shy state, apologised again, and then turned and began running.

Tears fell down his cheeks. They were quickly rubbed away by a long sleeve of his jacket. Mars ran towards the bridge that crossed a small river. Not too far behind, he heard someone shouting. He glanced over his shoulder, and then slowed to a jog to turn around. His foot caught the edge of the bridge where grass lined its stone. In a matter of seconds, He was falling backwards into the river. Mars screamed.

With His eyes closed tightly, He could not see the water around His dissolve. He was expecting to feel himself inside the river water. The feeling was never realised. Mars opened His eyes slowly. He had His knees pressed tightly together and bending upwards, and His hands clasped together and pressed to His chest. The sight was unbelievable. It was bright outside: blue sky with sparse white clouds; a complete contrast to where he just was. He felt the warm sun and the cool breeze but not the ground beneath his. Mars figured out that his body was suspended from the ground, but how far from the ground He was afraid to find out. The moment He discovered the levitation act, gravity kicked in. He yelped in pain when he landed in sagebrush.