I ran as fast as I could. All I could feel was my feet hitting the gravel road and the pounding of my heart in my chest. I couldn’t let them catch me. I just couldn’t. They would try to put me away again in that awful prison. Actually, I was only in juvie because I was still a minor, but that didn’t matter. I still didn’t want to go back.

I hadn’t even done anything that bad. Just a little bit of shoplifting. Actually, a lot of shoplifting. I could steal anything and everything, a record that I was still proud of. Add that to the fact that I knocked my stepfather unconscious, then you have a slight problem. My mom turned me in to the authorities, and they ruled that I would go to juvie in the middle of nowhere. But no prison could hold me. I wasn’t going to waste my time sitting in a prison, doing nothing. So, I escaped, and now they were chasing me.

I looked behind me, trying to see how far behind they were. I couldn’t see anything. Yes! I was grinning as I turned back around, but that smile quickly faded when I felt my foot land on something wobbly. I tried to stop myself, but before I knew it, I was slamming into the ground. Cursing, I sat up and brushed myself off.

I looked to see what had tripped me. It appeared to be a huge stone that I hadn’t seen before. I stood up and walked over to it. For some reason, I felt drawn to the stone. I bent down and picked it up, holding it gently in my scratched hands. It had markings on it and it didn’t feel like any stone I had ever seen before. I walked over to the side of the road and stared at it. I couldn’t stop myself. It felt as if the stone was pulling my gaze to it and I couldn’t look away, no matter how hard I tried.

I didn’t know how long I sat there, staring at what appeared to be a tortoise shell, before I heard them. They were coming up the road, the dogs barking excitedly. I didn’t try to run. There wasn’t anywhere for me to go. I couldn’t outrun those dogs. It was pointless to even try.

“I don’t want to be caught,” I thought to myself. “Why can’t I be invisible? I don’t want to get caught! I want to live my life!”

Slowly, they made it over to where I was sitting. The dogs were going crazy, trying to rush over to where I was sitting but the owners never did anything. They were trying to pretend that they didn’t see me. I closed my eyes, wanting this sick game to be over. Why can’t they just arrest me again and take me back to juvie? I wasn’t in the mood to play their little game.

I sat there for a few minutes, but nothing happened. When I finally opened my eyes, no one was there. I looked around, but I couldn’t see them anywhere. Finally deciding to not look a gift horse in the mouth, I stood up and turned to pick up my shell. But it was nowhere in sight. I couldn’t see it anywhere. Oh well. It was fun while it lasted.

I walked on, not running anymore. For some reason they had passed me, and the urgency was now gone. After hours of walking, I finally found a small town with a gas station. I walked in, trying to find out where I was.

“Hi. Can you tell me where I am?” I asked the cashier lady, with my sweetest voice.

She just stared at the door, with a weird look on her face. She seemed frightened.

“Um. Hello? I would like some help here!” I said louder, getting irritated.

She suddenly turned to look in front of her, but it didn’t feel like she was looking at me. It seemed as if she was staring right through me.

“LISTEN TO ME!!!!!” I screamed. She was really ticking me off.

She suddenly screamed, and ran through a door to the back room. I couldn’t believe this. What the heck was wrong with her?

Since nobody was in the room, I decided to grab a drink and a few snacks to keep me going for the long trip. I had no idea where I was going, but I knew that I had to get away from here.

After choosing a few things out, I decided to visit the restroom to see how I looked after all of the running. Although I was on the run, I was still a girl and cared about how I looked. I walked over to the mirrors in the restroom, and that’s when I saw something that made all of the pieces fall into place.

I screamed in anger. I finally knew why they passed me. Why the lady freaked out when I tried to talk to her. I had no reflection. I was invisible. And something deep inside me told me that no one was ever going to see Grace Elizabeth Moore ever again.