“I hate you!” she screeched, throwing her arms towards him in a quick movement to push away whatever was stopping her. She also stepped back from the hands that came closer to her, kicking out with her leg and trying to help herself. He caught it, and she pushed forward once more, somehow finding her way to a sure-foot on his stomach.

With that, Ana tugged her foot free for what she was worth, and turned to run away. She was leaving behind a shoe, but it was more than that; she was leaving behind another part of her life.

And one that would not give up as easily as she wished. He was standing in a moment, running after her, as she tried to move faster and faster.

Ana had known this would happen some point. Her father would go insane, throw himself off a cliff, drive straight into a building, something; something would happen, and she would be forced to move farther away from him, if that was even possible. Her mother had told her once – ’If it wasn’t for your father, you wouldn’t be here. Know this – if he ever leaves, I’m leaving you in the nearest house, with whatever furnishings you need to live your life comfortably. I don’t care if you write for more money, I just never want to see your face again.’

It was always a nice thought. She was never one to trust her mother, though she did trust her to keep to her word; once that woman said something, she knew it would happen, sure as the sun would rise in the morning.

She felt the ground beneath her slip, and she was falling.

Her father was still standing above her, screaming as loud as he can, about how she better haul her ass in before nightfall or he would have her head.

This was nothing more than a weekly occurrence. Ana would grab some money, whatever she knew her parents would not miss, whatever she knew she would miss, and tried to pitch herself as far away from home as she could. Each time was another failure, another walk home in regret, and nothing more than that.

But why would I ever give up? It’s a beautiful life, out there… Something’s waiting, and I can’t take it here.

She could not imagine why she was still falling. Her arms were reaching out, reaching for something, just feeling the air run through her fingertips.

Ana suddenly felt her feet hit the ground, but before she could turn in some effort to help herself stray from injury, she heard a small crack and fell forward.

She also felt her head hit the center of what she thought was a very large boulder, feeling the wet blood pour from the crack.

"Reggie hurry home, dinner will be ready in an hour or so!" Reggie's mom called as he left with the dog. A wave and smile was her only response as the boy and his pet stepped into the small forest behind their house. It was nice to get away from everything, and while the forest was quite empty, it wasn't so bad as to annoy Reggie. Sounds were everywhere and Reggie had his dog with him so he wasn't alone.

The forest ended in a clearing that was turned into a park a few years back, but because it was so out of the way, the place was rarely visited, making it a good place to play with the dog and train him. "Come on Solitaire, up the slide." He goaded the dog up onto the play set and sat down next to him, his legs hanging off the side.

Something didn't sit right though. Patting Solitaire on the head, Reggie stood back up and climbed on top of the set's roof, looking around for what was wrong. However, before he could decide on what it was, Solitaire was up and growling at something in the bushes that seemed more than likely... misplaced to say the least. In fact, it looked a bit like a shoe, but who would have left it? No one but himself and his friends ever came out here, and they sure didn't wear shoes like that.

"I need a closer look." He muttered to no one as he climbed down and moved slowly closer, Solitaire tailing him closely.

Anastasia snorted softly. It hurt to breath, feeling the ground painfully sticking into her stomach, but she tried to push past it and slowly rolled over and onto her back. She rubbed her hand on her forehead, trying to brush off the blood, and rolled the edge of her sweater up to her thumb to use it.

I guess I'll see how long I can make it.

She felt around for her purse, and found it just an arm's reach away. Within it, she was hoping to find anything that would help to clean the rest of the blood off - or help to stop the flow - but she found nothing of use to her, and simply tossed it to the side.

It was all horrid. She hated this; she wanted to go home, to find her harp and sit in a corner somewhere, but she was far beyond the point of giving up.

"Well, fine. I'll do this on my own, and hope this all goes well..."

Ana slowly made herself stand up. She knew it was a horrid choice, to move around when she knew something was broken, but she saw no choice that she had. No one was around, and she fell far enough to only have an idea of how far she could be.

"I... Suppose there's no chance anyone's around, is there?"

Ana, you're such a fool. Don't get your hopes up. She sat back down, and leaned against the rock. It was still painful to stand up.

Reggie turned toward the voice. "Hello?" He called back. As Reggie walked around, he could faintly hear someone talking to themselves. Or maybe him, he wasn't sure. It was a voice, yes, but he couldn't quite make out the words.

"Solitaire, find the voice boy, go on." He prodded his dog to help find the voice, but he wasn't needed. Reggie found the source of the voice within moments just by getting lucky and walking in the right direction.

The source was a girl, well dressed, but scratched up and it looked like she was in pain. His face became concerned immediately. She was leaning up against the a large rock just outside the park's borders.

"Hey what happened? Are you okay?" He asked. Reggie barely got the questions out before he began stammering. He met her eyes, those beautiful brown eyes, hiding just a bit behind her blonde hair. "Umm, I'm Reggie. What, uh... what happened?"

"Hello?"

"Oh, sweet Mary!" Ana exhaled, relaxing slightly.

She closed her eyes. Quickly, the time passed between her hearing the voice far away, and until she realized someone was with her. At first, she made a struggle to stand up. She was startled, scared; she did not know what to expect, but in a blaze of the moment she forget where she was.

"Please, sta-" She broke off, wincing, and collapsed against the ground. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Don't stop breathing...

"Hey what happened? Are you okay?"

She reached her hand out. The colors were swimming before her, a myrrh of rhythms and patterns, all of them amazing her to the point where she could no longer focus.

"I.. I think this is beginning to affect me. I fear I no longer may see straight. For the time, would you aid me? I may not be able to stand, due to my fall..." She let the words trail off. Let him do as he pleased. She would accept the help he would give, if any; and leave when she could. If he chose to do anything else, she would let him. What choice did she have? There was none. She was in no position to decide her fate, and would not believe that her father would have any misery if she was to not come home.