Euphoria (Peter Pan FanFiction)

1. Running

1. Running

The unbarred window was still unbarred. No one ever came to it, no repairmen ever fixed it. The only person who ever stared out of it was the caretaker. James Smith I believe his name was. He knew all the children's names, their likes and dislikes, he knew them and believed that if you keep the place where they left open, they would surely come back. It's been a month since Katie left, and the caretaker was giving up hope. Hope of her returning, hope of her still being alive.

On the bright side, I can say that Katie lives. Her home is a tiny abandoned house at the edge of the city and her job is begging. Not even close to the life any child should ever go through. But it was one she had to endure, and one she did pretty well at. There was a little spot reserved for her everyday by the entrance of a restaurant for her breakfast, lunch and dinner, and in between she would go around to other shops hoping for coins to fill the small hat that she used. On a good day, she would get about 5 pounds, on other days the police would alarm her and make her hide, to run back to her little house. Katie couldn't risk going back into town during those times.

It must have been about 5 months after she left, the snow started to fall again and times became tough. Not much food was around for grabs and snow was piling to be taller than Katie. Her usual spots to sit around were filled with ice and more police were out and about helping others and directing traffic, just helping in any way possible.

Katie didn't have anything to keep her warm enough from frost bite. She was literally running around her hideout and around the town, while trying to stay by restaurants and cafes begging for something warm to eat or drink. She was sweating in her light sweater. It was easy to tell because the sweat drops froze and stuck to her skin. Every pair of eyes that saw her started to feel pity and despair. An unfortunate little soul they saw, but couldn't take in. Money was scarce for many, most people had trouble even having enough to feed themselves.

And for those many months money has been saved, but for the silliest of purposes. Little Katie, almost to the age of eight, saw the prettiest hat she had ever seen and absolutely had to buy it. I think the hat cost about 30 pounds. The price didn't stop her. All the money that begging ever brought her was been saved for that hat. A simple winter blue hat with a puffy ball on the top. That was just the silliness of a seven year old, silliness that was almost fatal.

Skipping to the day of her birthday, September 15, Katie woke at 9am and ran for the shop. Her grumbling stomach didn't bother her today, even though she hasn't eaten in a couple of days. As soon as the owner opened the door, she ran in and picked the hat and ran for the counter, all her coins in hand.

"What may I do for you young lady?" The shop owner asked when she got to the counter.

"I would like this blue hat please." Katie spoke in an incredibly sweet voice.

The owner looked at all the coins and started counting them. She found the amount correct and handed Katie the hat.

"How old are you?" The shop owner asked, curiosity filling her tone.

"Just turned 8 today." Katie answered, put on her hat and ran for the door with the goofiest and happiest smile on her face.

The shop owner immediately went to the phone and dialed the police. She's been watching Katie beg for money for a while now, and saw this as an opportunity to help the lost child.

Katie was skipping down the sidewalk to her home when she heard chatter behind her. For a while she ignored it, she was so used to hearing people talk to each other after seeing her, but this time was different because footsteps started to approach her quickly. Just a slight turn of her head, just in the corner of her eye, she saw the uniform of a policeman and she started running. Her little legs were carrying her as fast as possible. An alley caught her eye and she ran for it. She just barely swerved away from the policeman's grasp, making him slip on ice while she hid under a patch of snow.

Katie must have fell asleep, when her eyes opened, she saw darkness and her body was freezing. Luckily the snow patch kept her warm enough not to die. The small girl ran as fast as her legs and mind would let her. The only light she had to follow were two bright stars in the sky. Those two stars hung over her house like guiding lights.

The dizziness of her head made her fall against the door. She couldn't tell what was going on, but when she opened the door, she definitely heard some footsteps. Within only a couple seconds, someone grabbed her wrist. Katie threw the hardest kick she had ever made, the hand let go of her wrist and she ran. More yelling voices started to approach her. She didn't need light to know that they were police. They finally found her.

Katie was running for an extremely long time. She could feel her legs giving out. But she kept in her head that she was going to keep running no matter what, she was not going back to that orphanage. The sound of water hit her ears. The Thames River was getting close, a small row boat sat at the bay.

Katie quickly got to rowing, following the river out to the ocean, following the stars. She couldn't see any police following her so she slowed her pace and just kept rowing to the open water. But the strangest thing happened, the closer she came to the stars, the closer the one on the right came to the edge of the water, until there was a blinding light. The feeling of falling was all Katie felt until she fell into warm water. She swam to the top trying to catch her breath, when she realized she couldn't swim. Katie could slowly see the surface of the water getting further away.

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Hey hey hey. Sorry it took forever to update but its here now. There's a song on the side that I just like and thought it would sort of fit because of the snow. So check that out. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Vote if you like. comment on whatever. Till the next chapter. Bye :)