The Runaway | Supernatural | ✓

Author's Note

Dear Readers,

I would like to thank you all for taking the time to read through this - and hopefully enjoy it as the story unfolded. I just... I have so much I want to say and I'm not quite sure how to phrase it. So I'm going to try. This is going to be really scattered, but I think it will get the point across.

First off, editing the story will be a slow, monotonous process. I will not edit right away for the fact that I have a lot of other stories I want to get rolling and I just now became free for a lot of time. (Summer vacation is only fun when your senior year doesn't roll around right after it... ahhh!) So, I will do my best to edit, but I also have to edit/write/finish 'Budapest', start 'Revenge' officially, and write/post my abundance of one-shots and short stories I have building up in my google drive.

This story began as an escape from reality for me. Leila was a character I chipped off of the cement block that is yours truly. I used this as a way to imagine an alternate reality for myself and crawl out of the black hole I'd fallen into. I wanted to meet the Winchesters and never have to deal with my problems again, though secretly I knew they'd always come back. But even with that knowledge, I wanted my time with them to play out. Supernatural has always been a way to escape for me, I live on the hope that one day I will be whisked off for a hunt by Sam and Dean and never return to the life I had before. And I'd do that in a heartbeat. Cause, like Leila, those boys mean the fucking world to me.

There are events in this story - rewritten with creative license - that actually happened in my life, ones that led me down a scary path. I actually had a friend kill himself when I was in ninth grade, and I still to this day don't know why. And I really did have another friend who I talked out of killing herself over the phone one night. Scariest thing I've ever experienced; you know that if you stumble on one word, it could mean the end. During that time, I locked myself in my room for hours at a time, and cuddled in blankets while crying because I really didn't know how to function. Even if we weren't close, the loss of someone you've known since kindergarten seriously takes its toll on a person. I was 14, how was I supposed to know how to deal with death? We're too busy in school learning what a polynomial is in math to learn that. Hell, I didn't think that girl was going to make it through the night either. But I had to try, even if I ended up failing. Some things just can't be ignored, even if they're terrifying. Dean knew that, and that's why he did everything he could.

I never attempted to kill myself, that I can promise all of you. I came close to planning everything a couple times though, which I think is terrifying enough. When you're in that mindset... I honestly don't know how we can make it out. It's incredibly scary. You're just bawling and curled up into a ball and the will to live is fading quickly. But you know what? I'm here and you're here and that's really all that matters, isn't it? Dean's here. Sam's here. And hell if that's not enough to get you through. You will make it, no matter what. We got this.

I never in a million years thought that this would take off and be a novel that people would relate to, picture as an actual episode, and even love Leila because she was so 'real' compared to some Mary Sues out there. I just wanted an escape, and in a way, I feel like you readers did too. Leila's relatable, and we can all see a little bit of ourselves in her. A stressed teenage girl that decided to run away from her problems and keeps every emotion stuffed down inside of her where no one can find it? Sounds a lot like many people I know, myself included. We all want the Winchesters as a part of our lives. As brothers, friends, lovers, whatever, we found Supernatural and used it as a way to escape from reality, if only for a little while. I think that sometimes, an escape is really all that we need. Even if reality beckons us back, we can always feel nostalgic and think about where we were in a better place. These boys, even if the show gets cancelled, will always be there. In our hearts, our minds, and our collectors edition DVD sets.

Now's the time to say it, I suppose... 'The Runaway' is officially done. I am both happy and sad, and I'm still trying to figure out how that could be. (Any 'Perks Of Being A Wallflower' fans out there? No? Damn. I highly recommend that book and/or movie!) I had so much fun taking you guys on this adventure with me, and I hope that you enjoyed it as much as I did. Besides all the cliff hangers I gave you guys and then made you wait eons to figure out what happened next... I wish you all magical lives and, for one last time...

Stay safe, hunters and warriors.

Love, Thalia
[ October 14, 2013 - July 8, 2015 ]

PS, About that "for one last time" thing... Yeah, that's total bullshit on my part. There's going to be a sequel. I'm not that cruel to you people. Leila Connors will return in... THE DEVIL WENT DOWN TO GEORGIA. I'll post a teaser here at some point. Love you guys, and you know what this means? Y'all can't kill me just yet. ;) I don't know when it will be posted, but I promise you guys I'll try to get it up as soon as I can.