I was not an “eloper”, necessarily, but even from early childhood I was a “wanderer” and it was easy for me to either a) get caught up in some sort of script or narrative in my head and wander away from my parents
b) be convinced to do something by a friend (once my friend convinced me to walk 9 km/5.5 miles to meet her at the beach when i was ten, another time someone else convinced me to ride my bike 4 km/2 miles to go to the pool, and throughout junior high and high school my dad would pick me up from 7-11 in the middle of the night (luckily only 1 km from the house) because my friends were bored and asked me to meet them there.
c) come up with an idea by myself and attempt to do it.
when i was three or four, my dad walked his friends home when they had been drinking at our house. i came down the stairs and asked to go, my dad said no and put me back upstairs. my mom went to bed, i followed my dad out the door. i THOUGHT i knew the way to his friend’s house, but of course, i had no idea.
someone else walking one of their friends home saw me, recognized me, and brought me home.
when i was eleven-ish, my friend and i (the one who convinced me to walk to the beach —she’d been dropped off in the morning) were in a city visiting family. we decided to go for a walk, got lost, and were gone for seven hours. the police were called, luckily my uncle found us.
i would regularly tell my parents i was riding my bike to the branch of the library that was 2 km from the house and then change my mind midway through and ride to one of the other locations, 8 and 5 km away.
i wanted to buy a doll when i was around 10, and my parents wouldn’t take me til the next day, so i walked to the mall, 5 km away, to purchase the doll myself.
i would often, when visiting friends, tell my parents i was going to the park near their house and then attempt to go to a park closer to another friend’s house because i preferred to play there with my dolls. usually someone who knew me would see me and bring me back to the friends’ house.
i think it’s entirely possible that sebastian got an idea in his head and just walked away. especially if he saw the flashlight people, then they were gone, and he just kept walking, and met some end that way.
it could’ve happened to me—i was just immensely lucky to have grown up in a small community where my dad was well known.