QUIET! RUN! ESCAPE!
During the last couple of years I lived with my Mother and Step-father, things got pretty bad and tangled. My Mother expected more than I could output. She expected me to believe in her religion. She expected me to adore her while ignoring all her faults. Mainly mental abuse by repetition.
My step-father wanted revenge against me. My Mother was accused of and punished for child abuse against my step-brother by his mother. Not that it never happened to me. Therefore, my step-brother could never step foot onto our property again. This enraged my step-father and he took it out on me with physical and mental abuse.
I needed a place to escape and be myself. When I was about 13 til the day I moved away, I took several night runs/walks. I didn't hurt anything or anyone. Usually I was accompanied by Alice In Chains and Megadeth in the walkman I had to conceal from my Mother. Below are descriptions of my....
ALL ROUTES ARE APPROXIMATE. ALL MILEAGE IS ONE WAY, REMEMBER, I DID HAVE TO WALK BACK. THE ARROWS ON THE MAP DO NOT SIGNIFY THE END OF THE WALK, IT ONLY SIGNIFIES THE END OF THE ESCAPE ROUTE.
RED LINE - DEAD END RUN - (2.19 MILES)
This was the first exploration I did. It was the easiest trek and it ended on a nice wooded street with small houses on huge properties.
GREEN LINE - OLD ROAD CONCEAL - (4.27 MILES)
A fairly useless walk but very exciting. I would stay on the neighborhood streets for as long as I could so the Police would not catch me running again (yes.... busted several times). After hitting the main road I would quickly run across to the GE plant parking lot and walk around the building. Behind the building was wooded and eventually led to an old abandon road that runs the length of the park. At the bottom of the road/hill is the park opening and access out of Richmond Heights. Going down the main road would have ended me in a police cruiser.
BLUE LINE - RAVINE RUN - (2.4 MILES)
The map doesn't show it, but the wooded area behind our street was a huge ravine with a drop of more than 250 feet. All mud, clay and shale rock. Once in the ravine, I would follow the creek to Richmond Road and walk beyond to hang around the shopping centers.
YELLOW LINE - RAVINE CLIMB / BYPASS - (2.0 MILES)
Eventually I realized by climbing into and then directly out of the ravine got me into Euclid where police didn't give a crap who was walking down the street. The only illegal thing was that I would climb into someones property to get out of the ravine and right past thier side door. This was quicker and less messy than the BLUE LINE.
ORANGE LINE - HUNTING VALLEY - (APPROX. 20 MILES [or more] ROUND TRIP)
I only did this once. Basically because it took me all night and into dawn to complete it. I spent time in 3 police cruisers trying to convince them that I lived close by where they picked me up. I ended up walking past University School by a mile or so.... I guess this walk was my goodbye to a different life... a different path.
This was not the only ways I got away from it all. When I did have my bicycle, which was consistently taken away from me, I have taken trips to Twinsburg, OH (36 miles round trip) and Berea, OH (58 miles round trip). Other trips included taking bike trips through the ghettos of Cleveland and taking a bus to Columbus, OH.
One of the more memorable ones was walking about 2 miles barefoot in the snow when I was extremely angry one day. The police picked me up because they were called by my step-father. I was on the phone with my sister at the local convenient store.
I would say nearly 99% of my "escapes" were unknown by my Mother and step-father. Quietly creep down the stairs, take about 5 minutes opening and closing the front door so that it would not squeek or make noise, then run!
I am proud of my rebelious past. This was MY escape to MY life.
My step-father wanted revenge against me. My Mother was accused of and punished for child abuse against my step-brother by his mother. Not that it never happened to me. Therefore, my step-brother could never step foot onto our property again. This enraged my step-father and he took it out on me with physical and mental abuse.
I needed a place to escape and be myself. When I was about 13 til the day I moved away, I took several night runs/walks. I didn't hurt anything or anyone. Usually I was accompanied by Alice In Chains and Megadeth in the walkman I had to conceal from my Mother. Below are descriptions of my....
ALL ROUTES ARE APPROXIMATE. ALL MILEAGE IS ONE WAY, REMEMBER, I DID HAVE TO WALK BACK. THE ARROWS ON THE MAP DO NOT SIGNIFY THE END OF THE WALK, IT ONLY SIGNIFIES THE END OF THE ESCAPE ROUTE.
RED LINE - DEAD END RUN - (2.19 MILES)
This was the first exploration I did. It was the easiest trek and it ended on a nice wooded street with small houses on huge properties.
GREEN LINE - OLD ROAD CONCEAL - (4.27 MILES)
A fairly useless walk but very exciting. I would stay on the neighborhood streets for as long as I could so the Police would not catch me running again (yes.... busted several times). After hitting the main road I would quickly run across to the GE plant parking lot and walk around the building. Behind the building was wooded and eventually led to an old abandon road that runs the length of the park. At the bottom of the road/hill is the park opening and access out of Richmond Heights. Going down the main road would have ended me in a police cruiser.
BLUE LINE - RAVINE RUN - (2.4 MILES)
The map doesn't show it, but the wooded area behind our street was a huge ravine with a drop of more than 250 feet. All mud, clay and shale rock. Once in the ravine, I would follow the creek to Richmond Road and walk beyond to hang around the shopping centers.
YELLOW LINE - RAVINE CLIMB / BYPASS - (2.0 MILES)
Eventually I realized by climbing into and then directly out of the ravine got me into Euclid where police didn't give a crap who was walking down the street. The only illegal thing was that I would climb into someones property to get out of the ravine and right past thier side door. This was quicker and less messy than the BLUE LINE.
ORANGE LINE - HUNTING VALLEY - (APPROX. 20 MILES [or more] ROUND TRIP)
I only did this once. Basically because it took me all night and into dawn to complete it. I spent time in 3 police cruisers trying to convince them that I lived close by where they picked me up. I ended up walking past University School by a mile or so.... I guess this walk was my goodbye to a different life... a different path.
This was not the only ways I got away from it all. When I did have my bicycle, which was consistently taken away from me, I have taken trips to Twinsburg, OH (36 miles round trip) and Berea, OH (58 miles round trip). Other trips included taking bike trips through the ghettos of Cleveland and taking a bus to Columbus, OH.
One of the more memorable ones was walking about 2 miles barefoot in the snow when I was extremely angry one day. The police picked me up because they were called by my step-father. I was on the phone with my sister at the local convenient store.
I would say nearly 99% of my "escapes" were unknown by my Mother and step-father. Quietly creep down the stairs, take about 5 minutes opening and closing the front door so that it would not squeek or make noise, then run!
I am proud of my rebelious past. This was MY escape to MY life.
posted by Benners at 4:00 PM
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