Not abandonment

Not like a complete abandonment, this wasn't that. He was not a traitor, he would never disappoint the people who had put their trust in him to protect them and look after them. Well...protect them financially anyway. They had enough...accessories to protect themselves from any physical thread that could ever possibly befall them. They had enough equipment in their...well, arsenal was as good a word as it got even though it made them sound like hillybilly gun nuts which he didn't like admitting but knew they were that...they had enough in their arsenal to defeat an army of a small country. His father had been working on his secret project. He hadn't gotten anywhere useful with it, thankfully, or else they'd have a more formidable airforce than most countries too. Having access to all the land and wealth you could ask for helped. Come to think of it, their wealth if it were to be liquidated at market prices, which wasn't realistic because no one wanted vast tract of desert land but an interesting thought nonetheless, they'd be better off than a few of those tiny countries too. They were quite well by themselves, they didn't need him for that.

And yet. Despite their differences, they needed him. They agreed to never talk politics in the house again, and to even vote for the candidates of his choice if he didn't abandon them. Abandon. Such a heavy word, so many connotations. There was no abandonment, he was a person by himself he needed a life of his own, to bootstrap himself like they always reminded him. He didn't care for all the wealth and riches they offered. He wanted to be with his kind of people, live the kind of life he wanted. He was not interested in the life of a hillybilly guerrilla fighter.

And now he was stuck with them. Out of all the times, throughout the history when this could have happened.... Right as he was about to leave them for good. He had found a nice place not too far away from the city center. He'd be sharing it with two other guys he knew from college, not good friends but people he could live with. He was ready to find love, explore his passions! Roam the streets of the city, eat from its foodcarts, struggle be down on his luck and then come back, rise and grow and succeed. And if not that, he always had this, the backup. The place he would come to only when at the threshold of death. That was the plan anyway. Before the thing, whatever you wanted to call it he was tired of how annoying they were getting by the day, before the thing happened. Conspired. Began.

There was escape, if he wanted. Flights hadn't stopped, he could drive, take the train or maybe get there on bus. But no. They were old and gullible. They were coming around in recent days, the difference between what they were told on the tv and what they saw in real life was far too much to dismiss even for them. This was a gradual process and he couldn't speed it up or they'd just refuse to admit. Someone would have to do groceries, stop them from endangering themselves needlessly. This was the worst possible time to abandon them.

I can't come, can't leave my parents while all of this is happening, he texted to Abed. Till when, came the reply right away. Until this gets better. Could be months, Abed replied. Yeah, he typed and sent, could be months could be years worse comes to worse, gotta keep my life on hold, sorry.