Summary: I finally had enough. The teasing, the bullying, the babying, being left out, and forgotten, I was done, and so I made plans, plans that would let me live my life without being in their shadows. Plans that would let me be free. So I ran away and swore I would never go back. However, I should have expected that nothing is ever simple. That no matter how far you run, the past never stays in the past.

Prologue: Vanishing into the Night

I am Alan Shepard Tracy, and I am running away.

In the shadows created by the moonless night, I hid as I watched the school night guard pass by without being any wiser that I was out after curfew. This was it. After months of planning, tonight was the night, the night where I would finally be free. Free from the teasing and free from the disappointment. I had had enough. After doing everything that I could, after trying so hard to get my family's attention that I hated being in their shadows, that nothing I ever did would be enough to prove my worth. It still brought nothing. I was done.

I had been meticulous in this. I had saved up money from my locks and computer programs. The AT Lock & Security Company was something that my family had no idea was mine. It was my own personal income separate from my trust account which would remain untouched, and I had been saving for years, the money stored away in a way that was completely untraceable. I had made it so. I could survive for a long while without anyone being the wiser. I wanted out.

With a bag filled with some clothes, some food, and a few personal items, I made my way out past the school gates, carefully avoiding being seen by the security cameras. I had left a letter, for Fermat so that he wouldn't think I was kidnapped or something, but he wouldn't see it until I was long gone. It hurt that I was leaving him and Tin-Tin because they had always been supportive of me. They always knew how I felt, but I just couldn't take it anymore. I remember sitting down earlier that day writing it after I saw Fermat leave for his Math Olympics competition. It was a long weekend, so I had a four day head start. No one would notice I was gone, until Fermat returned. I left my watch with the letter, it's locating function would not be to my advantage. I would simply disappear.

I turned to face the school I despised so much one last time. Wharton's Boarding School for Boys was my prison for nine months out of the year. I hated it. Not the teachers, classes, or the headmaster or even my fellow classmates, no I just simply hated it for what it represented, my past of failing to prove my worth to my family. I swallowed back the angry tears that I knew would spill as I walked away, abandoning it as I felt I was abandoned.

I continued to hide, traveling through back alley and lane alike, going in circles, just to make sure I wasn't followed, even though I was dressed in dark clothes, my face hidden from sight, just so that no one would think twice if they saw me.

I approached an abandoned apartment building, a good mile away from school. It was condemned to be demolished, but that was months away. On one side, there was a small fenced enclave that once held the dumpster for the apartment. The gates were locked with my own personal locking mechanism that I invented, it was tamper proof and untouched. It was here where I would make my escape. I unlocked the gate, taking the lock and pocketing, knowing it would be useful later. As I opened the gate I saw a tarp covered mound that I quickly removed revealing what was underneath. It was the car that I built in my mechanics class, using my own money. It was nothing particularly fancy, it was actually rather ordinary. I had it registered, but underneath a different name, my new name now. I had prepared and prepared and checked and double checked, making sure that no one would ever question the false legality of what I was doing.

I got in the car and started the engine. I was technically sixteen years old, but under my new identity I was eighteen. No junior driver's license for me. I could go wherever I wanted whenever I wanted. I could be anyone I wanted to be. I could be free. I was free. I began driving out of the enclave, and drove through the quiet, empty streets. Driving towards the Massachusetts Turnpike, I felt a twinge of regret, but I had to do what I had to do. I had to leave.

I am Adam Casey and I am free.