I ran when I was 16. Within 3 hours of running I was on a bus to Ontario to my father's house. I lived with him for less than a year and then with the help of a restraining order and a police escort moved out on my own. My dad is/was very volatile and can be very physically violent, but it was by far preferable to AARC or even living with my mother. I'd take my dad's meltdowns any day over my mother's mindfuckery. Anyway, living at my dad's out on this farm in Southern Ontario I had to walk over an hour and a half to get to the bus stop every morning for school and that was on the days that my dad decided to let me go.
The final straw was when he left with no notice for over two weeks to go gambling in the States with his girlfriend. It was the dead of winter in one of the coldest years in recent history in Ontario. He left no money and no food in the house. The electricity was shut off while he was away and all the water and heat were electric. So I built this nest around this old wood stove, hauled wood for three hours after school every day, boiled snow for water, and used the glow of the fire to do my homework.
At school I would linger in the cafeteria at the end of lunch hour and steal the leftovers from other kids lunches. I decided after about two weeks that it was easier to be on my own - and not living in constant fear of my dad finding some reason to hurt me. So I moved out into a tiny hole of an apartment abotu two minutes walk from my school. I had almost no money, but got $525 per month from the government. As part of the agreement with the Ontario government, you can't work while receiving social assistance, but my rent was $550/month and then I had food, school fees, bus tickets, and everything else you need to survive. I tutored high school students (and eventually university students as well) to make up the difference. Somehow I never had enough left over after school fees for food.
I worked my ass off and aced almost every course at school. Running lit this fire in me - the motivation to stay up all night and write essays, to work 7 days a week, to keep myself absolutely spotless till I was at least 18 - so that no one ever could put me away again. Still haven't lost that.
