Chapter 1-Onto a New Life

My alarm was going off. I woke up groggy and dizzy, but I instantly knew why I had set it for 4:00 in the morning: I had a flight to catch. Since my parents disapproved of my desire to work for WCO, I had secretly made my plan to run away and never come back. I booked a flight to New Seattle, the nearest location of a WCO installment and the nation's capital. As I was quietly getting ready, I began to think about what I was about to do. I started to tear up, remembering all the monstrosities of my childhood—at least one of my parents would come home every night heavily intoxicated, and they would beat me. For a few years, it was often that I ate paper from a magazine or scraps from the neighborhood dumpster because my parents had spent all of their money on alcohol and drugs. However, all of that was in the past. Perhaps by working for WCO I could change my horrible past for a brighter tomorrow…One day. I wanted to create a life sustainable for me and my children, as no human being deserves the pain I went through. I couldn't believe I was about to do this—I was about to throw away all that I had lived through and start over. Well, there was no going back now; I had already spent 700 hard-earned credits for my plane ticket and another 1500 for a device to purchase it on. I pulled out my packed bag of all my important belongings and essentials from under my bed, made sure I had my flight ticket pulled up on my iHolo, and snuck out of the house, knowing that I would never come back…