Excerpt:

I turned, following the road. I wasn’t sure where I was going or what I was going to do when I got there. I just knew I couldn’t go back.
I guess I was pretty lucky. Since then I’ve learned just how dangerous the roads could be.
But that night it was not physical damage that I was worried of. It was mental, perhaps emotional. My legs carried me up a hill to a large maple tree. When I looked down at the city below I was surprised by my own calmness. I don’t think I understood what my actions meant, really, only that I had taken them. I didn’t understand that I was leaving everything I knew, everyone I knew, to…
To do what?
The weight of the past few days began to push me down, and I leaned against the tree for support. Looking at the mark on my forearm reminded me. I knew that if I had stayed in the city as I was, that mark would have spread, slowly destroying me until I was simply a shell. Until I could I only see animals instead of people. Until I measured people by their fixed position instead of the mobility in their brains and hearts.
Thinking of that gave me courage. Even if I died on the road or at my unknown destination, at least I was no longer stuck.
Smiling, I used my weight to push myself off the tree and kept walking.