Chapter 1

Fourteen-year-old Drea Kay Mackenzie or Kay was awakened by a rough noise under her head where she was sleeping. She was on a train heading who knows where. Ever since her parents had died eleven months back she had been running away from everyone. She had no family left and the county where she was living wanted to place her into foster care, but Kay didn’t want to. She had heard some not so pretty things about foster care and she didn’t want to take any chances. She was aboard the train illegally. She had jumped on it when it was leaving the station and now she was curled up in one of the boxcars trying to get some much needed rest. But a boxcar, as you may know, was not designed for a peaceful trip to dreamland. Every time the train shifted Kay would suddenly awake. This time she gave up.

“Ugh, I wish I could just get five minutes of sleep,” she said as she sat up against an old feed bag that had all her much treasured possessions in it. She didn’t have many, but the ones she did have she guarded them with her life. “It’s so cold,” she shivered as she pulled her brown worn blanket closer to herself. Kay was right, this was probably one of the coldest January days 1944 had seen yet. She walked over to the large metal door. It was opened a crack and she could see the snowy white country side zooming past her. She didn’t know where she was or where she was going, but she didn’t care. Just as long as she got out of where she was before she would be happy.

She sat down again. She was thinking about her name. She would definitely have to change it once she got to where she was going. If she didn’t someone might find out who she really was and send her back.

“Let’s see,” she said to herself, “Anna? No, too plain. Georgiana? No, too extravagant. Marie? No. Susan? No. Martha? No. Jenny? No. Oh I know, how about Naomi? No, too Bibleie. Hey! How about Christy? Yeah, Christy Anna,” she looked at her feed bag that said “Harmon Feed and Seed,” “Harmon,” she said, “Christy Anna Harmon,” she repeated. “Yes that is a lovely name.”

All of a sudden the train jerked to a stop. “Oh no,” she thought, “I need to get off here, and quick.” Kay, or Christy now, rose to her feet and put her blanket, if you could even call it that, into her sack and slung it over her shoulder. She moved slowly to the door. It was nighttime now and it was mostly dark. She looked both ways, she didn’t see anyone. She jumped off the train and onto the ground with a thud. She rolled into the nearby ditch.

“Ow!” She howled. She had hurt her arm. She sat up and clutched her left arm, it was throbbing now. Expected to see a station she looked up. She was in the middle of the woods, no sign of life anywhere. She looked back at the train again, it was moving. “Oh no!” She said out loud. She quickly got up and tried to get on again, but with her bag in her right arm she could not hold on to the train with her left. It was either leave the bag, or don’t go at all. She could not bare to leave the sack behind so she gave up. She stood there gazing at the train with tears in her eyes. She knew now she was truly alone. It reminded her of when she got home that fateful summer day to discover her house robbed and her parents murdered.

She watched as the train faded into the distance.

“Well, I better find a place to sleep,” she said out loud. “It’s too late to move on.” She clutched her fathers old trench coat more tightly around her shoulders. The wind was picking up faster. Kay, or Christy, sat down in the dirty snow and pulled her blanket out. She also pulled out the family bible, even though she didn’t believe there was a God, a picture of her parents, and a tin can. She took the feed bag and made a little “mat” to sleep on. She curled up against a tree and clutched the blanket. “Oh Papa,” she said holding the picture, “why did you and Mama leave me here... alone?”