I grew up in a family which I wanted to escape from. I wanted to hide from my mom; she always had this glass of BearBrand milk for me. I wanted to avoid my dad; he always thought I was interested in Basketball. I wanted to conceal myself from my siblings; the collection of toy cars was supposed to be mine, ONLY.

“Give me what I want.”

No, this is not a particular children’s game. Having been the youngest in the family, I had this kind of thinking. I lived by these words. Call me a spoiled kid, but to be honest, I really wanted to have my perfect getaway; seclusions, bungalows and even have my own planet.

Just as I was about to finish packing all my stuff in three huge trolley bags, the face of my mother passed by like Venus in the mirror. “Ready to go?” she asked. “Excited, eh?”. I rushed towards the bathroom, hurriedly put an amount of toothpaste on my blue toothbrush and cleansed my breath.

She cried. She cried these heavy raindrops precipitating from her coal-black eyes. I could feel through my senses that she hated to see me leave, and that if only she had stopped me from taking the test, we never would have been in the situation that we were in at the moment.

It wasn’t easy to go separate ways but I had what I wanted: SECLUSION! So my family and I veered off in opposite directions, as if we were magnets which repelled with one another. They went back to the sheets and comforts of home, I went away. Not so long after, I found myself frequently waking up to the sound of my alarm clock. Sometimes, I mistake it for my mom’s screams and bellows and yells, which had given me – before, the presentiment that I had to wake up early or I would end up seeing my name in the “tardy list”.

What I wanted was what I got. When I found it difficult to go separate ways with my family, I realized that life after such was much more in demand. I kind of missed the folks and the little things, especially drinking that ice-cold glass of chocolate milk. “My room,” I murmur. “Hardly like home”. I wanted this. I just never expected this to happen. I did pack my stuff, but I wasn’t really prepared.

Fortunately, I was able to make a realization and the most courageous decision of my life. I finally decided to lump all my stuff back to the three huge trolley bags, flip my magnet side and travel back to where my family was. On the way back, I apprehended. “Give me what I want” is just false happiness. I had a taste test of false happiness. I had a taste test of what I wanted, but not what I needed.