Sorry for the late post - the site seemed to be having some technical difficulties. :)

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AJ was cold. He had put on every item of clothing he had taken with him. He had even put socks on his hands and wrapped himself tight in his blanket but he was still cold.

He was huddled in the corner of the room in the dark trying to stop his teeth chattering. He was beginning to doubt his plan. Running away seemed like the only thing to do. Getting as far away from all the fear and confusion as possible; going somewhere he felt safe, but now night had fallen and as the cold crept in, so did the doubt.

He had been thinking about running away for a long time. Miranda kept telling him not to, so he stopped talking to her about it. He felt awful for keeping the secret, but he never stopped planning. AJ was pretty sure he had thought of everything. He had his torch and he had brought food, not just two packets of cookies, a bag of chips and a tin of Krystal's brownies; he had also grabbed a couple of apples because mommy always said fruit was important. He had a giant bottle of soda from the fridge so he didn't get thirsty. He packed a change of clothes and his fleece blanket from his bed. He'd even packed some comics and his Gameboy so he wouldn't get bored. He had got so much stuff together he couldn't fit it in his rucksack and was forced to swap it with one of the gardeners. The owner shouldn't mind – his bag was brand new and had a cool key chain attached. The one he swapped it for was old and smelt slightly of feet.

Shivering slightly AJ turned on his torch to check on his supplies all neatly stacked in the corner. He reached into the cake tin and pulled out a brownie. Nibbling on the chocolate made him feel better.

He just knew he couldn't go home; not now. If daddy had been mad before he ran away he was going to be fuming if AJ ever showed his face again.

He also knew if he wasn't there his mommy would be free too. If AJ wasn't at the house there was nothing to keep her there and she could get away from daddy and go back to Bianca.

AJ pulled the blanket up over his head, still slowly munching on his brownie. This was better than being at home with his daddy shouting and smiling and drinking, he was safe here. And mommy would be safe too; safe and happy with Bianca, Miranda and Gabby.

AJ just wished it was warmer.

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