"What are you doing up there?" Effy asks, narrowing her blue eyes at the girl sitting in the tree. She doesn't recognise her but can't be older than 8 years old; the same age as Effy herself, definitely too young to be alone in the park this late in the evening.
"I ran away from home," the little red head replies defiantly.
"Cool," Effy smirks slightly. She studies the tree for a second before grabbing a low hanging branch and pulling herself into the tree. Looking at the girl now Effy finds herself looking into the most adorable brown eyes she has ever seen. "I'm Effy."
"Emily," she tells her, holding out her hand to her new friend. Effy struggles to hide her amusement at the formality of it all as she takes Emily's hand in her own.
"So why did you run away?" Effy asks, genuinely curious.
"My family are all stupid!" she complains, her little lips forming a perfect pout. Effy says nothing but tilts her head to the side encouraging her to elaborate.
"My sister Katie just thinks she can tell me what to do all time just because she's older than me but only by 6 minutes! That's not even that much! We always have to do everything she wants to do. It's not fair! So today I said 'Katie, no' and she went and told my mum I said a swear word and I got shouted at. I didn't even say a swear word but she didn't listen she just believed Katie. She always takes Katie's side. She sent me to my room and that's when I packed my bag and snuck out the back door when they were having dinner," she explains to Effy who listens intently.
"And now what?" Effy asks.
"I don't know," Emily shrugs, "I didn't think this far ahead," she admits sheepishly.
"Well you can't sleep in this tree," Effy chuckles.
"I'd probably fall out," Emily agrees.
"You can come to my house if you want," Effy suggests, grabbing hold of a nearby branch and jumping out of the tree. Emily struggles to dismount the tree gracefully and barely manages to land on her feet beside Effy.
"Really?" Emily looks taken aback.
"Come on," Effy rolled her eyes and laced her fingers through the smaller girl's pulling her in the direction of her house.
###
"Where have you been?"
Effy sighs when she sees her older brother sitting at the table doing his homework. She rolls her eyes at him when she tells him she was at the park. She watches his blue eyes travel from her to Emily (whose hand she is still holding) before the fall back on her questioningly. She tugs gently on Emily's hand, pulling her forward to introduce her to Tony. The small girl smiles shyly at him.
"This is Emily," she tells him. "She's running away from home."
"Cool," Tony shrugs and returns his attention to his homework. Another tug on Emily's hand and Effy is leading her up the stairs to her bedroom.
"Why did you invite me back to your house?" Emily asks, looking surprised by the sound of her own voice.
"Well you couldn't very well sleep in the park," Effy explains. Again Emily looks at her expectantly, waiting for further explanation which never comes. She frowns slightly in frustration.
"But you didn't have to invite me back to your house, I mean my family don't care if I sleep in the park so why should you?" she says sadly.
"It's not safe in the park," Effy tells her. "There are bad people there, people who might take you away and hurt you. You're too nice to get hurt."
Emily smiles and her brown eyes sparkle like gemstones shining in the sunshine.
###
Effy's mum comes in later to make sure Effy's getting ready for bed. She almost dies of shock when she sees Emily. Despite all of Effy's pleading Anthea insists on calling Emily's parents to come and get her. Effy looks at her apologetically, sorry she has ruined her plans to run away from home.
"It's alright," Emily tells her. "I probably should go home. I have to go to school tomorrow anyway. Thanks for inviting me round though...it was nice to do something without Katie being there for a change."
"You're welcome," Effy says, she can't stop looking in Emily's eyes; it's like they're hypnotic or something. "Well you know where I live now, if you ever want to do something without Katie again."
Emily grins widely. "I've never had a friend who was just my friend before. Katie always says the only reason people are my friend is because I'm her sister."
"I'll be your friend," Effy says quietly. "Your friend who is just yours."
Effy doesn't know why but she moves forward and brings her lips to graze Emily's, just for a second before stepping back again. Emily blinks a few times and takes a deep breath before smiling.
"I'd like that Effy."
Their lips meet softly once more before Anthea shouts that Rob is here to collect Emily. Effy stands sullenly at the top of the stairs and watches the largely muscular man escort Emily out of the house. He doesn't shout at her though and Effy is glad. She didn't want Emily to be in trouble. Her mother sits her down and explains why she had to call Emily's parents before kissing the top of her head and sending her off to bed. She doesn't know when she'll see Emily again, or if she'll ever see Emily again, but she knows she really wants to. But that's really out of her control now; all she can do is hope and see deep brown eyes whenever she closes her own.