The wind wisps her hair around, gently brushing her face and trailing behind her gracefully. Her barren feet pound out a rhythm into the ground as she runs down the dirt path, passing blurs of fauna as she strides. The scenery around her stretches out and over the horizon, covered in a tall layer of lush grass and the occasional sparse tree, soundless except for harsh breathing and the footsteps of the young girl. Her expression portrays a mix of fear and delight, of hopelessness and freedom. From great distance behind her emerge the faint shouts and calls of her pursuers. A wry grin spreads across the girl's face, completely covering the terror that laid there for so long. The lines in her face that don't belong on such a young child are lifted as she smiles. Her legs leap further and her arms swing faster, and her dark hair whips around more violently, and the sounds of commotion behind her dull to a low hum, utterly inaudible to her. For the first time in what feels forever, she lets out a loud laugh, and spreads her arms wide.
She is free.
She is one hundred percent free. The chains that confined her before are unknown to her now. The shackles that once clung to her wrists were left behind; all that exists now is the world around her. She has no name, no history, no memories from a life prior. She is living in the present, which is the only world that matters anymore. Her deep blue eyes glint with a joy that had not been there before.
Even if it will only last a week, or a day - even a mere moment, this feeling that lifts her heavy heart is enough to make life worth living. It returns to her the hope she had lost along with her companions so long ago, when the world was at war. The army that took her from home and controlled her every move was now far behind her, though, and regardless of what awaits her in her future she feels hope.
So she runs, as far as her weakened legs will take her. And as she runs, she smiles, because a new life awaits her just beyond the horizon.