NOTE: The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. To the extent any real names of individuals, locations, or organizations are included in the book, they are used fictitiously and not intended to be taken otherwise.
OTHER BOOKS OF THE AUTHOR:
Chasing After My Wife (Completed)
She's My Sleeping Pill (Ongoing, Sequel to Chasing After My Wife)
Say You'll Love Me Again (Fantasy Romance; slow burn)
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"Run! Run! Just keep running!" Sofia told herself as she moved her little legs across the road. She didn't care about the cars passing by. She just cared for the wallet she got from one of the tourists she found. "Run, Sofi." She chanted to herself once again. She jumped over the hood of the parked car at the road side, made a turn on an alley, jumped over trash bins and scared the stray cats eating. She just continued to run in order to escape the people pursuing her.
"One last hurdle." Sofia calmly stated and looked at the wall in front of her. She jumped on to the huge garbage cable and jumped onto the wall, hanging on to her dear life. She was holding the wallet with her mouth, afraid that it would fall.
"Whoa!" Sofia landed on the ground on the other side of the wall and finally calmed her heart. She walked to the dense forest at the back of the commercial building and sat on a huge tree root. She opened the wallet and found a picture of a couple which made her frown. "Why do I always get wallets like this? Are all people in the world in love?" She told herself but she still looked at the content anyway.
There were several bills that she can use, bank cards and other items that only adults know what to do. She stashed away the bills and placed it on a can container before hiding it under the ground near the tree she was at. She took of the bonnet hat she was using as a mask and changed into another ragged clothing she has.
After getting the money on the wallets, Sofia would always go to police stations nearby but she won't go to a police station twice. She knew that they would suspect her if she keeps showing up with different wallets. She walked alone in the bustling streets while people avoided her, thinking she was too dirty. Well, she was indeed dirty.
She continued to walk while looking at the signages on the streets. She wasn't watching where she was stepping and her slippers were very thin already. One poke from and sharp object and her feet will bleed. And it did.
Sofia yelped in pain which made other people look at her but it was only for a moment before they continued to walk and mind on their own business. She was limping as she walked towards an alley and sat on the ground, uncaring of the filth. If it was before, she would overreact in small little dirt on her but now, she would even eat food thrown by people in the garbage can.
Her mother died when Sofia was four years old. Her father was ill and because he worried that he will die soon, leaving his daughter alone, he remarried. Life was hard enough when her mother died. Three years later, Sofia's father died as well, leaving her to become an orphan with a mistress who wasn't blood related to her.
"Why didn't my grandparents reported me missing?" Sofia asked herself while looking at the rusty nail sticking on the sole of her foot. "Why didn't anyone look for me?" The pain from the nail was making her think a lot of things and they were painful.
It's been three years since she was thrown away by her stepmother and she had no idea how to go back home. She didn't know her complete address and she didn't know the complete name of her grandparents. She lost everything. No money. No friends. Nothing. She was now among the poorest people.
"Are you alright?"
"Can't you see this nail?! It's stuck in my foot and you're asking me if I'm alright? Do you want to try having this on your foot to see how it feels?!" Sofia rumbled on without lifting her head. She was so upset that she was met with bad karma when she was trying to do a good thing. She has completely forgotten that she actually stole the wallet that she was trying to return.
The little boy didn't go away even after he was yelled at. He looked at Sofia with curious eyes before stretching his hand to her. "Come, I'll take you to the nearest clinic."
"I'm poor. I don't have money to pay."
"What about that wallet you're holding? Doesn't it have money?"
"No, there's none. I picked it up earlier and was finding a police station to return it. If there's money on it, I would have bought a lot of food already." Sofia added, lying to the little boy with a straight face.
Three years. She learned all sort of things in these three years just to survive. She scavenged for food at first but she kept getting diarrhea and stomach ache. Then, she watched people pickpocket. At first, she'd get caught and was reprimanded but after doing it a lot of times, she became good at it. She didn't like working with other people, too. She didn't want to be betrayed once again. The innocent girl has learned to lie as well. In the last three years, she's fully aware that all she did were bad things.
"If there's no money on that wallet, I'll pay." The little boy's words pulled Sofia back to her painful reality. "If we don't treat it immediately, you will lose your leg. Do you want to lose your leg?"
"No, I don't want to."
"Then, come with me to the clinic." The little boy was still stretching out his hand for Sofia to hold but knowing how dirty she was, she kept her hands on her side and limped her way, following the boy to the nearest clinic with a nail stuck on her feet. They didn't dare take it out because they don't have any medical knowledge.
'Cling! Cling! Cling!'
The wind chimes sounded when the little boy opened the door to the clinic. He didn't look out of place and he was very calm. "Excuse me, I'd like you to treat her wound carefully and make sure to disinfect it. I will pay for the bill."
The receptionist looked at the boy and then looked towards the unkempt girl whose blood was trailing behind her. "Just give me a moment. I'll get a doctor for you." The woman left them so the boy ushered Sofia to sit on the chair.
"It will get dirty." Sofia stated with a nervous expression. She was afraid to sit on a pristine chair when she was so dirty from a slum.
"I'm paying for them. It doesn't matter." He sat on the chair and Sofia sat beside him. "Can I see that wallet you have?"
"Sure." Sofia handed it to him and watched him open the wallet. She caught sight of that picture in the wallet again and she couldn't stop herself from sneering. However, the more she looked at the picture of the woman, the more she found it familiar. "Eh?"
"What?" the little boy looked at her with a faint smile. "Did you notice?"
"Are they your parents?" Sofia asked and the little boy nodded. She felt a little bit guilty now but she didn't want to admit what she did. She'd never tell him that she took the money from the wallet.
Soon, the doctor came and he tended to Sofia's foot while the little boy was sitting in the lobby, waiting for his parents to come. He knew their contact number so he called them using the clinic's telephone number to get them to where he was.
After getting her wound cleaned and disinfected, Sofia went out only to find two adults talking to the little boy. They were the couple on the picture inside the wallet.
"Thank you for finding my wallet, sweetheart. Where do you live?" The big man asked while looking at Sofia but she didn't answer. "Do you want to eat with us?" She still didn't answer.
The little boy looked at his father in disdain before facing the little girl in front of him. "Do you want to eat with us? I'll buy you a new pair of slippers, too."
"There's no need." Sofia responded softly.
"How about you tell us where you live and we can buy groceries for you." The little boy insisted but Sofia only smiled at him. "You don't want groceries, too?"
"I'm fine. You can just go on with your life. Thank you for helping me."
The little boy looked at her in worry. In the end, he took out a silver chain necklace with a blue butterfly pendant from his pocket. "You can have this as payment for getting my father's wallet." The little boy placed the necklace on Sofia's dirty little hands. "Fighting. No matter what happens, just keep fighting and live."
"Thanks." Sofia took the necklace and watched the family leave. She pocketed the necklace and walked away as well, returning to her den which was at the forest. "I don't want to pickpocket anymore." Sofia cried while holding on to the necklace she received. In the three years of wandering in the street, the little boy was the first person who showed her kindness and she will forever treasure it.
But her cruel fate didn't end there. When she decided to change, she was kidnapped.