Flash Sentry arrived at his home.
When he saw the driveway empty, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Neither of his parents were there. Apparently their dramatic and violent confrontation the night before was not traumatic enough to keep them from their jobs. It would be hours before they returned.
That gave Flash more than enough time.
He went straight for his room. There, he dug into his closet and found the large backpack he had last used for the trip to Camp Everfree. Between that, his school bag, and a spare duffel bag found in the corner, he packed as many clothes, tools, food, and other necessities that he could find. When he was done with all that, he did something he hadn't expected himself to do in months.
He booted up his computer.
The desktop hummed to life, groaning a bit with the labor it suddenly had to endure once again. So much dust had collected across the monitor that Flash forced himself to wipe it all clean with a swipe of his arm. As he brought up the web browser, he silently guessed how many unread messages and alerts from online friends he might have received. One hundred? Five hundred? When at last he booted up his e-mail account, he found a grand total of fifteen... which gave him his first laugh since parting ways with Soarin... and it was a dry, somber chuckle at that.
Some things would not hurt to leave behind.
The first thing he did was delete all his previous messages—along with browser history and available links. Next, he signed on to the website of the family's chosen bank. It took a few clicks for him to access the two accounts under his name: both savings and checking. He funneled all the money from his savings—the entire remaining profit from having sold his car almost a year ago—and shoved it into his bank account. When that was done, he scrambled all his passwords, set his computer to reformat, and then automatically shut off.
It almost felt like putting a dying pet out of its misery. In any case, Flash hoisted his bags of belongings with him and left his room for the last time. There were not parting glances left to savor. It was drowning in dust for a reason, after all.