The Peacetime Pantomime

"Huff... huff..."

Jamie ran, wobbling back and forth along the sidewalk until her lungs burned. She turned down a side street and quickly dodged into an alley that she knew would double back to the opposite side of the bar, she only had to push some garbage cans out of the way and squeeze under a fence and she was free. Even if they tried to follow her, they would have no chance of catching her. They wouldn't even know where to look.

She had to put as much distance between her and that neighborhood as she could, but she couldn't take a train. She'd have to run the whole way, and her head didn't feel so good. She felt like running across the side of a hill. She ran until she knew no one would ever find her and she could hardly breathe. She was too scared to go inside anywhere, so she stayed out. It wasn't that cold, and it she found something to cover up with her legs wouldn't even get goosebumpy.

She hunkered down against a wall in the darkest part of an alley, where she was completely hidden, and hugged her knees to her chest. She stayed up for the whole night, eyes wide and filled with the dark, listening to every little sound.