<sup>six weeks    ,    that’s all they had  .    six weeks of    PARADISE    ,    of    FREEDOM  .    the first day was    terrifying    ,    but    beautiful         -    crying    &&    drinking    &&    smoking together    ,    each covered in their own layer of    BLACK    &&    BLUE    ,    hidden beneath the cloak of the bushes in the park  .    dylan    &&    kate barely said a word that day    ,    mute with their respective depressions         -    but beneath it all    ,    they were    FREE  .

          they walked along the river the next day  .    they had very little else to do in those weeks    (    the river    ;    the forest    ;    the parks         -    the town deemed far too dangerous    ,    lest they were to run into their twats of parents    )  .    a polaroid camera    ,    kate’s father’s credit cards    ,    sleeping bags  .    kate bought nail scissors to cut dylan’s hair short    ,    bought the few foods she thought he’d eat  .    they were both    FREEZING         -    DECEMBER    ,    the coldest england’s had for over a hundred years         -    but they both bitterly slept night after night in hoodies    &&    cheap sleeping bags    ,    offering each other more    &&    both refusing out of kindness  .    everything was    lovely    &&    beautiful    …

          leaving home was the dream she’d never thought herself strong enough to achieve    ,    held back by her father’s strong grip around her wrists    ,    by her mother’s guilt  .    like shackles    ,    strapping her against the walls of that house    ,    against the floorboards    &&    the bedposts  .    running away with dylan gave her    HOPE    ,    hope that the pain    &&    the numbness would all disappear  .    &&    it    DID    ,    for just a while         -    for those six weeks  .

          neither of them had any plans for the future  .    somehow    ,    both expected the world to just keep spinning around them    ,    inevitably    ,    bracingly  .    they talked about it though         -    how they’d be    HAPPY    ,    how they’d be    UNHURT  .    for all kate    &&    dylan cared    ,    as long as they were free    &&    together    ,    ANYTHING    could have happened  .

          it ended far too quickly  .

          kate remembers it fondly    ,    muted head hanging low  .    she supposes the world she lives in is    TECHNICALLY    FREEDOM    ,    but she still feels great bricks tied to her ankles    ,    dragging her through the floor  .    this doesn’t feel free    ,    this doesn’t feel         -</sup>

                    ^{‘     U N R E A L  .     ’        /    x}