Fleeing Away

A six-year-old girl ran into the depths of an eerie forest, panting hard. Her mind was in chaos as she just ran and ran. The girl had no destination in particular, but she just wanted to run away as far as possible.

The girl soon collapsed in exhaustion. Her face was covered in mud and tears were streaming out. Small sounds of sobbing could be heard in the desolate forest.

"Why... just why must Mama and Papa be so cruel?"

------

Earlier in the morning, the young girl had overheard a conversation...

"Dear! Why must raise somebody else's child?!" the woman exclaimed.

"Sweetie, you know that oweing a favor from that family would be beneficial for us, right?" the man explained.

"Well, that useless girl costs money to raise and she does nothing but laze around! Can't we just sell her to a slave trader? At least she''ll get us some money this way!"

"Okay, okay, you're right. If they come for her, we can just say that she died of some kind of incurable illness."

"I love you, dear!" The woman pounced onto the man's arms.

After hearing conversation, the young girl gasped and quickly covered her mouth to prevent herself from being too loud.

"So... Mama and Papa aren't my Mama and Papa? This can't be true! Maybe they're talking about somebody else... After all, they didn't say my name." Although the young girl denied it, somewhere in the depths of her mind thought that it could be true because it would explain a lot of things.

Her older brother and sister were spoiled by her parents while she was not loved and was made to do menial chores. Despite her efforts of trying to be smarter and working harder, rather than being praised, she was scorned.

"Sweetie, I have called the slave trader for you and they will be arriving in ten minutes, so..." The man looked at the woman in his arms slyly. "Shouldn't you give me a reward?"

The man lifted the chin of the woman and proceeded to kiss her. The woman turned away shyly and said, "We can't... The slave trader will arrive soon." Despite her protests, the woman's eyes were full of desire.

Obscene sounds soon filled the room, but the figure of the little girl was nowhere to be seen.

In fact, as soon as the little girl heard the man say that the slave traders were going to arrive, she had already fled away with only a small bag.

------

The girl calmed down after crying for a long time. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths. A pair of determined blue eyes appeared on the girl's dirty face.

"Eva, you got this!" she encouraged herself. Eva Woodland was the name of the young girl, but ever since she fled from her fake Mama and Papa, she decided to abandon her surname.

(If fake Mama and Papa want to use me for their benefit, I should make it so that they can't! First, I should disguise myself!)

Eva looked in her bag for her disguise. She took out a wig made out of her blond hair and a set of clothing that she sewed using scraps of cloth. Eva had used this disguise to go to town many times since her fake Mama and Papa forbid her from going anywhere. In the past, Eva wanted to be praised by her "parents," but that didn't stop her from doing what she wanted.

She thought that as long as she was not caught, then everything would be okay. After all, her fake parents' words were, "If you let me catch you going a single step out of our property, then you will be punished." In other words, just don't get caught.

Eva closed her eyes and listened for the sound of water. She found a small stream and used it to wash herself. After cleaning the dirt off her body, Eva donned her disguise and started walking towards the direction of the town.