Foot on the gas pedal, pavement slipping smoothly underneath tires, bag sitting next to me. That's all I needed. I had just graduated a little over two hours ago and I was already on my way running. My cellphone was flashing at calls kept intruding it. All of them screaming MOM. I wasn't picking up. I was never turning back. I ran smoothly through the winding highway, much like how my life was. Nothing was horrible. Nothing was amazing. Nothing was scary. It was all boring. I needed something. I craved it. I felt it on the tip of my tongue, the flavor of need, like when you see a chocolate cake and you know how it should taste... but then it tastes sweeter, all the better. I passed by green signs, all telling me where to take an exit for a different city, different location, nothing I wanted. I wanted to read that “Now leaving North Carolina.”

I passed it, no one was going to stop me. The day was wanning and the sun was leaving me to the dark expanses of the highway. I was alone on the road. Just me and my car. Me and the starlit sky. Me and myself. Just how I wanted it. This feeling of being suffocated by everyone around me was lifting. I was free. I could run, cry, laugh, shout, and fall; not a single person would care, not a single person would tell me no.

The sun was rising again, my gas was almost gone, but still no gas light, I was thankful for that. I pulled into a little side restaurant in the middle of no where, a no where place where a girl in a sun dress fits in. I stepped in and the woman behind the counter smiled, a knowing smile. I could tell she knew. The light, natural make up was now smeared, but not horribly so. I took a seat at the counter and smiled a knowing smile to her. Brown eyes riddled with confusion, she didn't know as much as she let on.

“What'll you have sugar?” Her voice was a sweet wind of melody, though stretching the word sugar with a twangy accent.

“What ever you'll decide.”

Her eyes knew, confusion gone, she knew. I was dust on the earth, letting the wind carry me and my soul flying easily. I was going down a path where soul meets body. She placed the plate in front of me and I picked at it, till after tasting it I devoured it. The food was heavenly, it was simple mac and cheese, but it tasted so foreign to me, tasted like something I've never eaten before.

“Keep driving sugar.” Her voice was soft as a breeze again, a gentle breeze that sprinkled sleep into your body and made you want to be carried by the rocking of the waves in a far off place.

I was driving in my car again, the sun was drifting away. The window wide open letting the wind saturate my skin in freedom. My dress fluttered slightly in the wind. The radio was off leaving me to hum to the music of nothing. I broke out laughing, and finally I pulled over to the side of the road. The smog of urban city long gone. The air crisp, whispering “You're free, scream love, scream till you're body is filled with me.” My lungs gave way, vocal cords expanding as I screamed. My body felt light. I was there... almost. I slid back into my car and drove.

The sun was there, meeting the earth on the horizon, gas light on. No where to go but here. No where to stop. No where place, for a no where girl in a heavy sun dress. My car stopped, gas sucked dry. I stepped out. The sun was wrapping me up. I felt safe, I felt free. I couldn't feel the ground below me. I felt the sky above me though. My soul didn't meet my body. My soul consumed my body. I was formless, limitless. I was truly free. This was new, I had never knew such pure emotion existed. I knew in that hour as the sun disappeared that I'd never feel as free as I do now. In between adulthood and childhood, I was soul. I was human. I was the ocean gently rocking the earth to sleep. I was the wind beckoning you to close your eyes. I was the trees comforting you on the hot days. I was the moon washing the earth in light. I was the mother keeping the monsters of the dark away from her children. I was the father ready to stand up and fight against anyone who dared to hurt a child. I was the sister mentoring her sibling. I was the brother ready to interrogate a sisters new boyfriend. I was the nameless, faceless, person in the crowd that stepped out and help you gather what you had dropped. I was every where. I was no where. I was carried by the wind. I was air. Clear, crisp, soothing, cold, biting, inviting.