Prologue
Three burly men came running through the corridor out into the open ground where they came across what seemed to be almost an open fisted - no holds bar - boxing match between two young boys. All the other kids surrounded the fist fighters as the two carried on punching each other. One of the men, who looked like he had been drinking all night and was hung-over, seemed to have a disgruntled look with what he saw - two boys, just going at each other like no tomorrow, with the dark-haired one clearly taking lead.
When the word of the fight between two boys got around, Steve Holden the warden at the orphanage had a gut feeling that one of them would be the new kid.
'What is his problem?' Steve grimaced. 'Can't he make it through one day without creating chaos?'
It had only been two weeks since the new boy arrived at New Haven Orphanage and Steve knew he was trouble, kept getting into fights almost every day. Abandoned at the orphanage and pushed from one foster home to the other they said. 'Now I know why...' thought Steve. There was bound to be blood and injuries at the rate at which they were going.
"Stop that maniac before Bobby gets battered to death!" yelled Steve, motioning the other two men to pull the dark-haired kid away from the other boy.
Last thing he wanted to do was explain to the management as to why there was a dead kid at the facility. The other two men tried hard to pull the boy, who now was sitting on the other boy's middle and using his face as a punching bag, away from Bobby. It took them all their might to lift the kid and separate the two. The boy tried to charge forward to attack again but soon fell backwards as Steve hit him with a baton to his stomach. The boy dipped downwards in pain and groaned.
"Just getting what you deserve, Golden Gloves." said Steve. "Look at Bobby. What could he have possibly done, for you to go all ballistic on him?"
Steve turned to Bobby, he was a 14 year old runaway caught stealing a toy car from a toy store and was sent to the orphanage 3 years ago. No one searching for him, he was parentless and alone. He was a large kid, huge for his age. All the other kids were scared of him and did whatever he asked them to do. No one opposed, up until now. And he was clearly not liking it.
"He started it Mr. Holden!" cried a bloodied Bobby. "I just asked him to give me the ball and he pounced on me.", he continued holding on to his now broken nose.
"No way, you asshole!" yelled the other kid, trying to lunge forward only to be pulled back by the two men holding him.
"You're sayin' he came at you for a ball?...You're kidding me, right?" Steve asked Bobby. Before Bobby could answer a small voice answered in his place.
"He's lying! That's not what happened, Sir."
Everyone looked in the direction of the sound. It came from a small girl with dark brown hair, in braids till her shoulders, wearing a pink cotton dress with small flowers on it.
Only 7 years old, the girl had arrived around the same time as the trouble maker. Her behaviour was far different from the boy's. She kept to herself, spoke little and stayed far away from the other kids. But she was trouble no less, used to wake up in the middle of the night screaming about monsters and scary things. 'They are all around us and want to hurt me.' she said. 'Talk 'bout fruit basket' thought Steve. It took the nurse hours to calm her down. No one knew her name, even her own self. And it occurred to no one to give her a one. It was always 'Honey' 'Sweetie' ' Princess'.
She was always clutching onto a rag doll as if it was her security blanket, her only possession that survived the huge fire at her previous orphanage that left several other kids homeless too.
"What did you say, sweetie?" asked Steve, hoping that this dispute would end as soon as possible.
"Bobby is lying. He was pulling my braid, calling me a scaredy-cat and said I was a freak for believing in monsters. I asked him to stop but he wouldn't listen." cried the girl.
"He tried to hit me when I pushed him back."
"That's when I punched him. It's no way to behave with a girl.", the boy in custody intervened.
"They are lying Mr. Holden. I swear! It's his fault, he started it. " defended Bobby causing the girl to get furious and punch him in his gut.
"You jerk! Tell 'em the truth!, she yelled.
"That's enough!" Steve had enough of this 'he said - she said' crap. "I don't care as to who started it but I swear, if you three don't quit right now...you will know who ended it."
Turning to the other two men he said "Take Mr. Fist Fighter over here to the solitary confinement. One day in there and he will come back to his senses." He then looked at Bobby and shook his head, 'This kid is gonna need quite a few bandages' he thought. "Take Bobby to the nurse afterwards. He might need a couple of stitches."
Turning to the girl he said, "And you young lady, this is your first time getting into a scuffle so I am gonna let you go. But next time, I won't be so generous" Saying that he walked away leaving the girl with a scared expression on her face.
She watched them take the other boy towards the building. The boy turned his head around, his arms still held by the two men and gave her a small smile as if to say 'It's alright, I believe you. I will keep you safe.' Soon he was gone, leaving her to her thoughts.
' I hope they don't hurt him' she prayed and with her head bent to the ground walked into the corridor hoping he would be alright.
That night she dreamt of demons and evil again but this time around, she wasn't alone. HE was there, fighting them and keeping them away from her like he promised.
Six months later
It's a dark winter night, cold and chilly but they have no choice. Running away from the orphanage had been easy but surviving on the streets was not. The streets are where they live. 'For now at least.', he thought.
Where else would they go? Who would trust an 11 year old boy with a 7 year old girl in tow? And who would believe in things they saw? No one. They would call the two crazy and have them sent to a mental institution. That's the last thing they needed.
He had promised to keep her safe and this is where they were safe for now, together.
The news anchor on the TV in the electronic store window said that it was the coldest winter the city had seen in the past 20 years. Everyone is hurrying home trying to escape the chilly wind. 'Well, at least they have home.' he thought looking at his surroundings. The back alley to a restaurant had been his unofficial home for the past few weeks. Before that, it was squatting at some empty house. 'We could try that again.' he pondered when he felt the jacket covering him getting pulled to one side and slightly sleepy face looked at him.
"I am hungry, Tony." she said.
Well, it had been tough getting food that day. No cart, no van, no delivery truck was left unguarded. He felt his stomach grumble too.
"I promise we'll eat tomorrow. Now go to sleep." he told her trying to cover himself and her with the jacket as much as possible.
She looked at him and saw his dark hair, blue eyes and his trademark smirk. He wore a red pendant in his neck. ' I wonder where he got that.', she thought. She was younger than him but he was little too, yet he took care of her. And she believed in him.
She gave him small smile and giggled, " You promise?"
" Yeah, Piggles. I promise. Now sleep."
She giggled again and shifted in his arms to rest her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. She trusted him well enough that when he told her he was planning to run away from the orphanage and asked her if she would come with him, she immediately said yes.
Freedom was sweet but staying free was hard. The police found it easy to blame petty crimes on runaway, homeless children and they were always targeted.
Just this evening while trying to steal a loaf of bread, Tony was almost caught. But managed to slip away. And now there was no food. ' I must find something tomorrow.'
Just when he was in the middle of his thoughts, he heard a lot of commotion and turned to look at the opening to the street. And a few people pointing at them and yelling one after the other.
"There they are!"
"I am sure it's one of them. "
"It's him, he tried to steal from my van."
Tony recognized the man, his eyes wide open and he shook the girl awake and said, " Piggles! We gotta get outta here." She woke up startled just in time to see a couple of cops headed their way.
Tony was already standing, pulling her up to her feet. He took her hand into his and started running in the opposite direction.
"Come on, Piggles! Run!"
They kept on running with cops on their tail, turning from street to street trying to give them a slip. But the cops pursued relentlessly.
" Don't let him get away, Carl", one of them shouted. They chased the two kids' right into an abandoned alley with a metal fence at the other end. The kids turned around to the cops as if in defeat but swiftly ran away from them towards the fence.
As soon as they reached the fence, Tony dropped to his knees and pulled the broken end just enough for one of them to pass through.
" I'll go forward, you follow me. Okay, Piggles." The girl nodded in agreement. Tony quickly went through the opening and turned around to pull her through. All the while the cops got closer and closer.
"Hurry, Piggles!" he yelled stretching his hand out to grab her.
She dropped down, entered the opening and was about to give her hand in his, when she felt two hands grab her leg. She panicked, eyes wide and screamed as the cop pulled her away from the fence, away from him.
"Tony! Run! Get away from here."
" No!" he screamed. His eyes wide in shock, disbelieving at what just happened.
"I got her Carl. But the boy made it to the other side. Damn fool crawled right through." said one cop to the other. They gave up trying to catch him but took the girl away.
He watched them take her away with her kicking and screaming the whole way to the cop car. As he stood on the other side of the fence staring at them he thought ' I'll get you out, Piggles. I will.'
That's the last time he ever saw her.