Running

Away

“The most thoughtful and funny memoir I ever read. So ridiculous

you can’t stop reading.” Vicky Gajos, writer

“Very good, you need to keep reading. You get the feel of the

moment.” Kendall Wucker, writer

By Fanchon Dehillotte

***

Dedicated to my childhood friend Ellen. I‟m sure she‟ll always remember this day very

vividly.

To my mum and dad, I‟m definitely sure they‟ll never forget this. (right mum?)

To my friends, who must have heard this story a million times, I hope I made this

memorable for them.

And last but not least, to my house in England, and to the path, that I will never forget.

***

I can still feel it. The wind brushing past my ears, leaving only the light, hollow sound as I came

closer and closer back to base.

“Fanchon, what do you want to do today? If my mum finds anymore backpacks filled with food in

the bike shed, I‟m grounded again!” she asked, with her posh, British accent. We were both

sitting in the middle of my room, looking up to the ceiling. We were so dead bored that even my

lamp seemed interesting to us.

“I have no clue, I hardly think we can go looking for black holes in my garden, there‟s too many

trees, it can‟t possibly be a danger zone.” I answered, with the same posh, British accent.

We were just two eight year old best friends, our imaginations dancing with different crazy ideas

of conquests and battles life could throw at us. Last week, while sitting in my room

daydreaming, we had decided that dark forces could take over the world any day now, and that

we were chosen to save mankind. So we crossed the road over to her house, packed two bags

with a week‟s supply of juice and candy, and went into the garden to look for any signs of

monsters from different planets, which in our worlds were black-holes. It was easy for us like

that, we were neighbours and we were best friends, our parents were best friends and our

siblings were best friends. After coming home from school, I would go over to her house, and

we would talk about our day (we went to different schools). We never had any secrets we

couldn‟t tell, never had anything to hide from each-other, and that‟s the kind of friends we were.

So here we were, sitting on my bedroom floor, trying to make our minds dance a little faster

when suddenly I got an idea.

“Ellen, why don‟t we try something new today?”

“What do you mean?” she pondered, standing up to join me by the window, where I pointed to

the small, unknown path next to my house which led to a forest, well at least that‟s what we

thought.

“Well, we weren‟t able to find Fairyland using all the books, but how about we try to find a fairy?

Maybe she‟ll lead us to fairyland!” I nearly screamed, getting excited at my own idea.

“You‟re right, that sounds better, I mean Rachel and Kirsty were able to find a fairy, why not

us?” and we both started giggling like little girls do, remembering our last attempt to go to

fairyland. Ever tried standing on a chair, all the books of the first Rainbow Magic series at your

feet, and jumped into them expecting them to take you to the land above the rainbows? Well

don‟t, it doesn‟t work. So, decided to go down the path, we hopped downstairs where my

parents were watching TV and I prepared my speech on how I was now responsible enough to

go on a walk alone. I took a deep breath, and started talking to her (in French, I would have

more chances if I impressed her with my French). Surprisingly, she said yes the first time. I was

so shocked for it to be that easy that I asked her again.

“Mmmhummm.” She answered and then shouted something down the hall to my dad. I wasn‟t

sure she had really paid attention to my question, but I knew that she would say no if I asked

again so we jumped up the stairs and packed a bag with „Survival Necessities in case of Panic‟.

That‟s what we called it every time we went out on a new adventure where we might get lost. Of

course we knew we had no chance in getting lost but, where was the fun in that?

So we took the risk we knew didn‟t exist and went out into the exciting search of fairies, portals

and anything our imaginations could create. We started our walk, occasionally jumping over

dead trees that were in the way, or dodging leaves and stinging nettles, or even stopping to

untangle our hair from a low branch that had caught us. We walked and jumped and dodged

and stopped. Walked and jumped and dodged and stopped. Walked and jumped and dodged

and stopped and walked and jumped and dodged and stopped. Finally, after what seemed like

a small hour, we hadn‟t taken a watch of course-it‟s not fun to be sure of the time and location

when you want to go on an adventure, we reached the end of the path. What had been a

narrow, grassy path filled with trees and branches and plants was now an open field, leading to

another, wider path.

“So I guess we should turn back now.” Ellen suggested, standing, facing towards the field, arms

by her side.

“Are you kidding me? We haven‟t even found any fairies yet! Don‟t give up now!” I said, being

the more adventurous one; or stupid one, we both like to call it stupid nowadays when we talk

about our many adventures.I knew it was my role to make sure our mission was completed. I

stood next to her, both intimidated by the field stretching in front of me, and excited as to where

it might take me.

“Fanchon, I‟m not sure about this one, maybe we should turn back now,”she pleaded, tugging

on my arm to convince me. “My mum will be wanting me back to do homework soon anyway,

maybe we can try tomorrow?”

“No, I came to find fairies so fairies I will find! Come on Ellen, aren‟t you with me on this one?

Don‟t you want to find fairies too?”

“Yes, I do but I also think that this time we should do the smart thing and go back to your

house!”

“But Ellen, my mum knows we are here, we are in no danger! Besides, the fairies are watching

us right? Come on, I want to go to fairyland!”

“No, I‟m going back.” And with a frown on her face, she turned around and headed to the path.

„Ok,‟ I thought, „she‟ll get too scared to go on her own anyway, if I go the opposite way, she‟ll

have to come and get me later, and then we‟ll be best friends again.‟

So I wandered for a while, already bored without Ellen by my side and, even though I didn‟t

want to admit it, I was the one getting scared of the rustling leaves, or the constant feeling of a

shadow over-looking my back. I walked, wandered and whistled as the time passed by. Still no

sign of Ellen, apparently it hadn‟t been that long since when I looked back I could still see her

foggy figure from across the field. And then I felt my heart stop.

I can still picture that feeling, twisting on the spot as fast as I could when my ears picked

up my mother‟s voice screaming my name. My garden in England was big and even though we

thought we were far, it was likely my mother was just standing at the end of our horse field and

that we were hidden by a blanket of trees and bushes. Anyway so here I was, running towards

Ellen who shrieked when I ran past her and grabbed her arm. She stumbled in the distance as I

powered forward and jumped over logs. It was now clear our little competition of „I‟m faster than

you‟ was settled. We ran through the narrow path, calling out to my parents. I felt a current of

pain shoot through me every time my feet felt the ground. I had a huge ache that was burning all

of my left side and running like this wasn‟t helping. I stopped, panting like a dog and soon felt

Ellen come to my side, she looked as red as if she had swallowed her shoe. My throated itched,

telling me I was desperate for water. I felt my heart beat 100 beats per second and glanced at

Ellen. She knew what I was thinking I knew what she was thinking. I can picture this moment

perfectly, the sadness, the fear, the anger. It may sound stupid now, but for my 8 year old brain,

it was a lot to take in. I wasn‟t scared for me, in fact I had wanted for a little adventure for ages,

It was the realisation that my mum was scared which scared me. I didn‟t want her to be scared, I

didn‟t want her to be sad. I wanted it all to be perfect, I wanted my mum. I wanted her there by

my side, telling me it was ok. I wanted her to get mad at me for running away, and then hug me,

glad she found me before I got lost. The lump in my throat grew bigger and bigger the more I

thought, I was realising that maybe adventure isn‟t that good sometimes, not if what makes you

happy is someone else‟s nightmare at least.

We heard a rustling of leaves, and some footsteps. My heart dropped even lower, for once, I

was scared and I wasn‟t in the mood to deny it.

“Ellen, what in the world was that!” I whispered, horror struck me when I found Ellen was not at

my side, but sitting on the ground, hands on her face.

“I don‟t know Fanchon but I‟m scared.”

I watched, getting ready for my predator. „If he shoots me,” I thought to myself, „I do that really

cool ninja move and dodge it. If he shoots Ellen, I take the bullet on my leg and become a hero.

If he jumps on me, I bite him...‟ My thoughts stopped when I found the predator was not a huge

man with a mask and a long black coat, but my mum.

I ran to her, jumped in her arms and said a thousand „sorries‟. Looking at Ellen I realised she

had now stood up and had a gigantic smile stretching across her pale, freckled face.

We ambled home, she listened as we babbled on about our innocence, and nodded at our

conclusion. It was all her fault.

Yes yes, I know what you are thinking, it sounds all brainless now, all the stress and fear over a

little path, but that day was an important day to us. That day was not only our first fight, out of

many, but it was also a time of believing. A time of believing that this treacherous path could

bring us something, something we had hoped for for years, a time we believed we could find

fairies. Besides, if you knew you were destined to do something, and you found a way to do it,

would be able to resist the thought of fulfilling your dream?

If there‟s one thing I‟ve learnt from this story it‟s to listen to your friend when she sounds a bit

more responsible than you, you never know, she might actually be right. Well actually, it‟s to

make sure you repeat things a few times when you speak to your parents. Anyway I‟m glad I

had this experience, it taught me a lot in friendship, trust and responsibility, even though to have

it I had to run away... sort of.

.

21 years old, lives in

England:London. Fanchon

now lives in a small apartment

in London as a

writer/songwriter. She is trying

to get her way into the music

buissness by experimenting

different ways to write and

therefore, get inspiration for

songwriting. However does

this not work out, she will stay

as a short story writer and

continue to write small

memoirs like ‘Running Away’.

.

,,

.

Boredom can leave a

pair of 8 year old best

friends to do the

unexpected, and when

me and my childhood

friend Ellen decided we

were bored, a small

idea turned into a life

lesson.

Fanchon with her friend, Diana Stoyanova (another

professional memoir writer) who helped Fanchon

when picking what to write this memoir on.