Clarity.

The Girl looked around her room. Thousands of items and trinkets around her, and none of them felt like they belonged to her. It was 1:00 in the morning - her parents were rich enough to live on the side of the planet where 1 AM meant it was night outside, and everyone was sleeping. There was no moon around Bekenstein - the nights were black as pitch.

She had a small backpack purchased from one of her friends at the spaceport. She'd overpaid heavily for the item, but her friend needed the money - and she needed an unassuming piece of luggage that she could be sure her parents hadn't tagged with a GPS chip. She'd already filled the bag with all the credit chits she could come across, and all the clothes she could scrounge that looked comfortable and unassuming (which amounted to a grand total of three outfits).

She'd taken some bottles of water, and a small amount of well preserved food from the kitchen. She knew the food she'd chosen was ridiculous, but she also knew it would go unmissed. She'd taken all the preserved meats, cheeses, crackers, and candies that came in the gift baskets sent to her parents. Her parents hated that sort of food - they were absolute fanatics for only putting fresh, all natural foods in their systems. (All natural health food was much harder to find on Bekenstein, and therefore far more expensive). As a result, The Girl wasn't too happy with how salty the preserved food tended to taste - she had no idea why people enjoyed salt so much - but it was food, and it would keep, and it wouldn't be missed.

She took a couple of datapads with her favorite books saved on them. She took the tools her friends had bought her for her birthday - the only items she truly cherished. They'd gotten her a simple, but comprehensive tool kit - nothing expensive - but something her parents would never have allowed her to buy. She took the photo of all of them together, standing around the fixed speeder. On a whim, she took all of her jewelry as well - at the very least, the jewelry was small and light, and would sell for a mint if she needed more money.

She'd left herself enough time to run on foot to the Space Port. It was just under 10 miles away, she could average a mile every third of an hour or so. (The rotation of Bekenstein was faster than that of Earth, so every 'hour' was only about 53 minutes.) Factoring for breaks to rest, she'd be in the spaceport within approximately 4 hours. That gave her time to eat breakfast, then go to the bank right as it opened to clear her Trust Fund.

The Girl headed for the window she'd chosen to escape from, she'd deactivated the security sensor for it a handful of days ago, testing the window two nights in a row to make sure it didn't reactivate. She picked up her Backpack, and took a last look back around the room. Homesickness and sorrow overtook her... she had resolved to run away - lest she be married, and trapped forever - but this had been her home. The only place she'd ever really known...

In looking around, she noticed something she'd not seen before. On the table by her door, a white obelisk sculpture with golden accents sat by a folded note that, even from here, she could see was signed by her mother. She slowly lowered the backpack, entranced by the lovely gift. She stepped toward it, picking up the note first, as she had been trained to do (always read the card - and then admire the gift, it shows respect for the giver.)

My Daughter,

Your Father and I have noticed your melancholy. We cannot pretend to understand why you should feel so distraught. You have admitted to understanding this is a good marriage - and show a sharpness of mind where the business is concerned. We hope you are not allowing childish emotion to get in the way of what is best for your future.

This Obelisk is a present from a time gone by; it is meant to imbue clarity, and peace. We hope it will help soothe your heart, to make your days more joyous.

Respectfully,
Your Mother


The Girl read the note three times, crumpled the expensive paper into a ball, and tossed the note on the ground. The absolute nerve. Clarity... Of course she would need CLARITY! They never even bothered to understand her! They were right, she was wrong - and in her wrongness - she needed an ancient Obelisk of clarity to understand why they were right!

The bastards.

Homesickness abolished, she stomped back to the window, snatching her bag up off the floor, and throwing it over her shoulders. She all but kicked the window open, throwing herself out onto the drainpipes and shutting the window behind her. She made the climb easily, sliding down to the floor. Anger worked as an energy additive to her adrenaline. She never noticed the pulled muscles, the fatigue, the lack of sleep. She'd sleep later. She'd sleep when she was safe and away from them...

As her feet touched the grass of the grounds, she began to run. She ran with no thought to reserving her energy - no thought to the 10 mile journey ahead of her. She needed to be tired - she needed to push. The emotions were too much - she needed to bleed them off any way she could.

She ran.