A Smaller Savior

1 - Storybrooke

The girl watched the scenery fly by from her seat on the bus. It was her fifteenth birthday but she didn't feel like celebrating. The moon shined overhead accompanied by the countless pinpricks of stars. But she couldn't find the beauty in it. Not anymore. She was alone. Glancing at the empty seat next to her, the seat that wasn't supposed to be empty, anger filled her veins as grief gripped her heart.

"I got the tickets!" Henry told her excitedly. She shushed him but could barely contain her own excitement. They were actually going to do it. They were going to escape. Together. Doubt weighed her down though.

"Are you sure this will work?" she asked him.

"I'm positive, Emma, don't worry so much. Once we clear Boston, we're home free," he told her confidently. "Then we just have to stay under the radar until we turn eighteen." He always talked about it like it was so easy. But he was that way with everything. Nothing was impossible to him.

"It just seemed so impossible but now it's becoming reality," she explained. He smiled softly pulling her into a hug.

"That's because what is possible is limited only by our imagination. And I have enough of that for the both of us," he pulled away and ruffled her hair. "Now come on, we have to make dinner before they get back. She nodded and followed him downstairs.

Pulling back out of the memory, she felt tears running down her cheeks. Immediately she wiped them away. This is what he would have wanted. This is what he told her to do. She would achieve freedom, for the both of them now.

It wasn't too much longer before the bus driver was calling for the last stop. She had been on the bus for hours and although she wanted to get off, she was also apprehensive about what to do next. Henry had talked about heading toward Canada. She didn't know why but it was just always a part of the plan.

When the bus stopped, the grabbed her worn backpack and heading down the stairs onto the street. She walked over the information board trying to look confident. There weren't many people around but she didn't want to draw any unwanted attention. Attention meant that people remembered her, and that meant they could tell the police where to find her. She couldn't risk that.

She studied the map, realizing that the road that ran by the bus station headed straight for the Canadian border. It would take her several days to walk there but it was nothing she couldn't handle. The cool night air was nippy but manageable. It wouldn't be long before it was dangerous. She would need to find shelter for those nights.

Determination filled her veins as she set off. She walked and walked and walked. When the morning sun peaked up past the horizon, she continued to walk only stopping once to drink some of the water from her single bottle. She needed to make it last.

The problem was she only had a couple hundred dollars. That wouldn't last her long. She needed to find an income source but no one in their right mind would hire a fifteen year old runaway.

Her legs began to burn but she just pushed through. It was about an hour past sunrise that she came across a large green sign on the right side of the road: Entering Storybrooke.

She had never heard of the town but that wasn't a surprise. School had never been that important to her. She was much more interested in learning practical skills, things she could actually use. For example, picking a lock.

It took a while but finally she saw buildings in the distance. Very few people were moving around. She walked forward again trying to project a sense of confidence. She passed a couple who did a double take as they walked by. Maybe she should keep going.