Chapter One

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A small shadow moved silently from bush to bush. The bushes lined a high wall that enclosed the juvenile detention center for orphans. The small shadow made its way quickly towards the front gate. It reached up and skillfully picked the large lock with ease. The lock clicked open and the shadow lifted it up. Holding the chain it held together with one hand and taking off the lock with the other it successfully unlocked the gate.

The lock fell to the ground with a dull thud and the shadow carefully, and as quietly as possible, separate the two end of the chain and slid it through the loops in the gate.

"And just where do you think you're going young lady?" asked a heavy voice from behind. The small shadow squeaked and ran. The guard that had spoken yelled for backup and chased after the small form that was ducking from bush to bush.

Suddenly lights flashed on and flooded the courtyard lined with bushes. Several more guards ran out of the building and looked around for the runaway.

"It's Sarah again." Said the first guard looking at the last bush he had seen her jump behind. Suddenly he realized the girl had moved and was yanking the chain from the gate and pulling the heavy thing open as fast as she could. All the guards leaped and raced to try and catch her but she was already slipping through the crack she had made between the two heavy doors of the gate.

They pulled the gate open and ran out on to the streets. The spread out and began running down the road towards a shadow at the end of the lane. They were so intent on catching the man unloading his groceries that they overlooked the small child running between two tall buildings.

Sarah, for that was the shadow's name, ran with all her might towards the bright lights that were the city. She had never gotten this far before and she was not about to go back to her prison now that she had finally escaped. She reached the edge of town, which was filled with badly lit bars and had questionable people lining the side walks.

A car came racing down the road nearly missing the little girl who luckily jumped to the side of the road just in time to hear tires squeal just near her toes.

"What the hell is this?" a man shouted getting out of the car. He was tall and well dressed and a bit upset about something nearly touching his car. He looked over the top of his car to see a shivering eight year old lying on the side of the road covering her head in shock.

"Oh my god! You killed her!" exclaimed the man's friend who was jumping out of the passenger's side of the car rushing to the little girl's side. He gently picked her skinny form up from the ground and looked down to see her shocked expression.

"No man she's good. I bit shaken maybe but good." He said lifting her up.

"You're not the police are you?" she asked him getting a good look at his face. It was a bit hard looking but he seemed worried about her.

"No I'm not the police. Why you askin'?"

""Cause if they catch me they'll take me back to jail." She told him.

"Well you and me both then. Where's your mama?"

"Don't got one. And no I don't have a daddy either."

"Well then maybe you'd better come with us." He said carrying her to the car.

"Cameron, what are you doing?" the driver asked still standing and looking over the car.

"She's coming with us, she's probably come from the juvey down the road. Cops will be after her too." That was all the prodding he needed as Cameron pulled his seat forward and put Sarah behind it in the back seat of the car.

"Let's go before the catch up!" he yelled getting back into the car and slamming the door. As soon as both men were in the gas pedal was pushed to the floor and the car raced down the road towards town with Sarah inside.

"So what's your name kid?" Cameron asked turning in his seat.

"Sarah, where are you taking me?"

"We're taking you to my house, then we can figure out what to do with you."

"Please don't tell the police! Please don't!" she started crying.

"Don't worry, we won't send you back unless it's your family that needs you."

"But I don't have any family."

"No? Well then we'll have to figure something else out. Watch it man!" he turned back to the driver who had just taken a very sharp turn while still going seventy.

"You shouldn't have taken the kid Cameron. What you gonna be her daddy now? Listen it's sad she don't want to go back to juvey but that place has some potential."

"She's only a little kid, how much you wanna bet she's in there for no reason except for being a little kid?"

"Not now I'm driving!" he shouted. The turned into a very nice community and he slowed down a bit as he turned into the circular driveway of a magnificent house.

"Come on Sarah let's take you inside and get you settled." Cameron said getting out of the car then pushing the seat forward so she could get out. He took her small hand then swung her out and up so that he was carrying her again. He brought her to the doorway at the base of the massive house and unlocked it with his key.

"You have a big house." Sarah commented as he flicked a light switch just inside the front door. The light filled the room to unveil a huge room sparingly furnished with expensive leather sofas.

"It is rather big isn't it?" he smiled putting Sarah down and closing the door. His ride was pulling out of the driveway and driving away as he closed it. "Come on let's get you something to drink." He beckoned walking towards the kitchen. Sarah, having no idea what else she should do followed the young man as he went through a large dining room with a long wooden table and nearly thirty chairs and into the high tech kitchen.

"You want some juice? Are you hungry?" he asked her. She nodded her head and he smiled as he reached into his refrigerator and took out some juice and food. He set it out on the counter and helped Sarah up onto a stool to eat the piece of cake and grape juice while he picked up the phone.

"Wait here I'll be right back." Cameron told Sarah as he went out into the living room. He punched in some numbers into the phone as he sat down on one of his sofas.

"Hello?" came a female voice.

"This is Cameron I need to talk to Nelson please."

"I'm gonna need your security number please."

"Sure." He took out his wallet and took out a card with several numbers on it. He read off one line of numbers and the operator thanked him and connected his call.

"Nelson."

"Hey it's Cameron, we've got a little problem."

"What sort of problem?"

"Well we were driving earlier and we picked something, or should I say someone, up. She's really cute though."

"Hang on I'll be right over!" Nelson said hanging up.

Cameron shook his head and clicked the phone off. Suddenly there was a huge crash! He ran to the source of the sound in the kitchen and found it in a mess.

"What in the hell!" he shouted finding his entire wine collection in pieces and puddles all over the kitchen floor.

"Oops." Came a small voice from where the wine cabinet used to be standing.

"What did you do!"

"I was just walking and I dropped something. I bent over and next thing I knew crash! You really shouldn't leave stuff like this out so it could get knocked over like that."

"Why you little imp!" Cameron cried. He stepped over the broken glass and spilled wine and picked Sarah up easily and carried her out of the kitchen.

"Maybe I should take a bath, now I smell like alcohol." She suggested as she was whisked into the living room.

"Maybe, it might keep you out of trouble too. Come on." He put her down and went up the grand staircase with the little girl in tow. He walked down two hallways until he reached the guest bathroom equipped with a swimming pool sized bathtub.

"Here now take a bath." He said opening the door for Sarah.

"But I can't do it myself!" she exclaimed with he hands on her hips. Cameron sighed and went in to turn on the water.

"There now can you do it yourself?" he asked a bit harshly. Sarah nodded and came into the bathroom. Cameron left closing the door behind him. Sarah took of her rather faded clothes and stepped into the huge bathtub.

"I want bubbles." She said to herself. She stepped back out of the tub and began rooting through the cabinets looking for some bubbles. She finally found a bottle with a big 'B' on it and carried it triumphantly back to the water. She dumped in the entire contents of the bottle into the tub which was instantly filled with a mound of bubbles.

Quite satisfied with her work she again got into the tub and began playing with her bubbles.

Meanwhile Cameron was attempting to fix the mess in his kitchen. Not one bottle of his wine had survived and that sure didn't make him any happier. The door bell rang and he dropped several pieces into the trash before going to go open it.

"Cameron! Where is she?"

"She? Oh, I put her in the bathroom." Cameron told his boss.

"Good, you'd better get those cuts bound up while I deal with her. Have you questioned her yet?"

"What? No. Before you go up there's something I should tell you." Cameron tried to explain. But Nelson was already on his way upstairs. Cameron braced himself for the shock which came in the form of two screams. One was that of a grown man, and the other was that of an eight year old girl.

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A/N: New story folks! Well actually it's not that new, it' been sitting in my head for about four years now. Hopefully it works out as well as I planned it to. Please review and let me know what you think!

As before I have to apologize for the bad formatting because Fictionpress and my computer are having a little lover's spat right now and the marriage counselor is not in session