Snippet #1959204

"Run!"

That was the last thing she had heard as hands pushed her forward. She turned towards her fellow Cirque members, dark charcoal eyes wide with fear.

"Go on. Be free... Run!" Balazar says -- an acrobat who was close with Malina -- she nods, turning away from the white tents, leaving the five years of torture behind her... But, she could not leave the memories. They festered deep in her mind, and she begins to panic, but before she could think another moment, her feet flew across the grass.

A hill sloped downward and in the distance Malina could see bright lights of the city, cars sweeping by. The rain poured from the clouds, Malina's hair sticking to her face, dirt flying as she ran, her feet squishing against the cold ground. She begins to run down the hill, sliding a bit as she falls. Picking herself up, she makes it onto the street, a car flies by and she lets out a scream as they honk and yell.

"Get off the street, freak!" The man calls out from his car window and Malina picks up the hem of her dress, backing up onto the curb of the road, underneath a street light. Her face is streaked with dirt, hands and feet muddy from the run.

"Got a penny to spare?" A hand grasps her shoulder as the raspy voice floats like smoke around her, and she lets out a yelp. Turning to an old man, hunched over, he shakes a cup at her. Her breath was rapid, and shakes her head, her wet curls slapping against her face as she does so.

She continues walking down the side walk, her bare feet slapping against the cobblestone, cut and bruises on her feet matched the ones on her arms. She clutches onto the dream catcher necklace her mother had given her and she felt a small sense of peace as she walks. A clash is heard and Malina flinches, suddenly becoming very scared, but she sees a man struggling with some empty cartons, and he looked much like a baker, or possibly a chef of sort. Malina walks over towards the cartons, just to see if there was any food, but there was none.

The chef -- or baker -- stared at Malina for a moment and waves her away with a hand, "Go on, no mooching for you!"

Her dark eyes widen a bit, and she takes a step back, and continues to walk down the street.

The rain poured down and Malina decided she needed to find shelter, she enters an alleyway and finds an old cardboard box, she tilts it on its side and sits inside it, curling up.

She was alone... and more so than that, she was afraid. She begins to shake, the damp dress making her cold, and she begins to play with her anklet -- a gold chain around her ankle Damien had given her... Her knuckles go white, and she grips the anklet, ripping it off, the chain breaks and she throws it to the side, where it landed under a street light...