On the shell-encrusted sands, sat a man lost in deep thought. It was a pleasant summer evening, the sky a beautiful shade of blue and the breeze flirty and cool. The man was savouring his last few moments of freedom. It wouldn’t be too long before the police tracked him down. Fraud, swindler, thief…yes, he was many things, but a neglectful father was not one of them. Even while he spent the rest of his life in a prison cell, his daughter would be able to go on living a comfortable life. ‘My father, the embezzler’, unfortunately that’s how she would always remember him. He sighed heavily and looked up at the sky. Probably the next time he stared at the sky, he would be doing it from within the electric-fenced, barb-wired, heavily guarded confines of the prison yard. Ah freedom! How easily he had taken it for granted, until today when it was at stake. He took a deep breath of salty air. But how free had he really been? Trapped in a failing marriage, grief stricken at the possibility of losing his daughter for good, burdened with the guilt of his criminal ways. He could almost hear the police sirens now. He could still run, but for how long? No, he would not put up a fight this time. He had known it would come to this sooner or later. It was the correct thing to do and he would be doing something right for the first time in his life. The sirens were louder now. He stood up and dusted himself. He was ready to surrender. He raised his hands in the air and waited for the police to find him. They found him in the water a day later, face down and bloated, but finally free.