I started running through the forest with just the clothes on my back.
Some part of me knew I should avoid roads and towns, since I was fleeing for my life. Other than that, I was just a terrified child with no survival skills.
I had no idea how to find food, other than what I'd hoped was edible plant life, or how to find water, other than the occasional stream I came across.
I was dehydrated, starving, and close to collapse a matter of days later, when I got careless and stumbled too close to what could barely be called a road. A couple strolled by, stopping just short of my hiding spot. I'd been caught.
The two of them not-quite-whispered to each other.
The man wanted to leave me, thinking I was some sort of beggar child. (I'll admit that I probably looked the part, after the journey I'd had.) His wife managed to convince him to take me in.
To be honest, at that point, I was starting to be glad of my mistake. I was hungry, thirsty, exhausted, and lonely.
The woman coaxed me all the way out of the trees and took my hand. She told me I'd be feeling something funny, and that I shouldn't be afraid.
That was the first time I'd had any experience with Apparating, though guided. We'd ended up at the couple's home.
I say home, though that term is rather understated. My own family was moderately wealthy, but my childhood home paled in comparison to this.
I didn't have all that much time to take in my surroundings at the time. I'd been cleaned up, physically mended, reclothed, and sent to bed, all in rather quick succession.
Lord knows I'd needed all of that.