Prologue
"Ashley, honey, its time to wake up," her mother called, opening the door to get the twelve-year-old up and ready for school.
"Mom..." Ashley groaned hoarsely. "I don't feel so great..."
"Why? What's wrong?" Her mother inquired going over to the bed to check on her child. "Are you not feeling well?" Ashley shook her head.
"My throat hurts and my tummy feels bad....." Her mother placed a hand to her forehead and frowned some. "I'm going to get the thermometer and take your temperature, okay?" Ashley nodded silently, closing her eyes to go back to sleep for a few short minutes. A few minutes later, after leaving the room to get the thermometer, her mother returned with it in hand. "Okay, lift your arm," she said, sticking it under her daughter's arm. "Now, hold still." She smiled, as she knew her daughter never liked to lie still for the thermometer to work - but then again, who did? Finally the thermometer beeped and Ashley watched her mother take hold of it and check to see what it read. Her mother shook her head. "I think it's best if you stay home, dear," she told her. "You've a slight fever and there's no point in getting everyone else sick. Besides, I'm sure we can talk your father into bringing our T.V. in here for you, so you can watch while you rest."
“Kay,” Ashley agreed and she watched as her mother disappeared from her room to go talk to her father. Not too long after, he brought the TV in and set it all up before leaving her to rest. She settled back against her pillows and blankets and she grabbed the remote and began flipping through the channels. She suddenly came across the TV show House and she could feel tears beginning to cloud up in her dark brown eyes. House was her sister Kori’s favorite show. Kori is thirteen years old and she mysteriously ran away about a month ago without a trace or an explanation. She and Ashley were very close and she can’t understand why she would run away. She thought she was happy and never saw it coming. Just as Ashley was about to turn the channel she heard a loud crash and her mother scream from downstairs. Curious, Ashley tip-toed to the top of the stairs and crouched down to see just what was going on. She was shocked beyond belief to find a couple of thugs standing in their living room with guns pointed at her parents heads. She squeaked quietly, quickly covering her mouth with her hands. She felt her tears fall, as her mother looked directly at her and mouthed 'love you', right before her father attacked the gunman, only to be shot point blank. Ashley gasped quietly, not wanting to make any more noise than necessary. The gunman then turned and shot her mother right before her eyes. Her eyes went wide, as she tried to blend into the stairwell, hoping they didn't spot her. The thief’s started their thieving, and when no one was looking, Ashley snuck upstairs as quietly as possible and called the cops, locking herself in her room and hiding in her closet.
“It’s not down here - it’s probably upstairs in her bedroom.” One of the thieves announced, and just as they were headed up the stairs, an ambulance and police cars were heard pulling up to the house. The two men stopped dead in their tracks.
“Shit…” one of them blurted out in a panic, and they turned and ran toward the door to the backyard. They opened it up and ran out into the backyard, jumped the wall, and took off running for safety. Police Officers came busting in then, and looked about, frowning when they found the bodies of Ashley's parents on the living room floor. They get the paramedics to tend to them and cover them with sheets, while they go off in search of the child who'd called the robbery in. When they reached the top of the stairs they noticed four bedrooms - all doors opened except for one. Assuming that is the room she is hiding in, they tried the knob only to find that it’s locked.
“Open up the door honey… it’s the cops. We aren’t going to hurt you… we’re here to help.” one of them spoke gently through the door. Ashley remains silent, not so sure she can trust them - what if they weren't really, cops, but just saying that to get her to come out? If she opened the door, she could wind up dead just like her parents, and that would be awful - wouldn't it?
“Come on sweetie, we need you to open the door. We promise that you’re perfectly safe now.” The woman officer spoke this time. Ashley whimpers and sniffles softly, as she finally moves to unlock the door - knowing for a fact that none of the thieves had been female. When the door was open, sure enough just as they promised she found two officers standing there.
“Hi honey…I’m Greta, and this is my partner Hank. What is your name?”
“Ashley…” she spoke softly.
“Did they hurt you at all?” Hank questioned, looking the terrified twelve-year-old over. Ashley shook her head.
“No… th-the-y didn’t even know I was here. What’s going to happen to me?”
"We're not quite sure just yet," Hank admitted. "We'll have to call other family members and stuff."
“While Hank does that, why don’t you come sit down with me and we’ll get to know each other a little better,” Greta offered, and she lead Ashley to her bed to sit down. Hank then left the room to make some phone calls. Ashley and Greta sat on Ashley’s bed and talked, Greta asking her questions but at the same time trying her hardest not to traumatize her more then she already is. When Hank returned about a half n hour later he had a frown on his face. Greta looked at him curiously.
“What’s going on?”
“Ashley, why don’t you pack up all the things you will need honey. I have been asked to bring you back down to the police station,” Was all Hank said.
“Okay…” Ashley replied softly. He then turned his attention back on his partner.
“Greta, come out in the hall with me please. We need to talk.” Greta did as Hank told her to and got up and followed him out of the room. When they were gone Ashley let her tears fall. She already knows they aren’t going to find any other family member to take her in. Both set of Grandparents have disowned both her parents long before she was even born due to the fact that they were strict. They tried to keep Ashley’s parents apart because of prejudice reasons so they ran away together. She can’t be placed in any orphanage or Foster Homes - she won’t let them do it. She thought long and hard about it for a few minutes, and then knew exactly what she had to do. If Kori could get away with it, she could too. She got up and quickly packed a backpack full of clothes and everything she would need. When she finished she opened up her window and looked outside. When she saw no officers were around, she carefully crawled out her window and down to the ground. When she reached the ground she took off running toward the woods near her house. Little did she know, a stranger in the distance was watching her.
Story Notes:
This story was accidentally deleted. I am in the process of re posting all 500+ chapters, so please be patient with me.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Well...I wish I kept track of all of the chapters Lenni co-wrote with me in the documents saved on my computer, but I never expected for this to happen. I do however, know for a fact that she did co-write this one.
