Pansy was grumpy, but that was old news. The older girls she was staying with wouldn't give her any cantalope unless she cleaned up the kitchen for them. So Pansy wasn't grumpy, she was mad. She was only seven! Too small to reach the sink without a stool, and not good at scrubbing things. The big girls were lazy butts and she wasn't going to help them.
Pansy knew she was sneaky enough. She'd take some of the food, then leave and let them clean up for themselves.
The downstairs was empty, dark, and quiet, because the big girls were upstairs talking. Empty, dark, and quiet were good things when you were trying to sneak.
She already had a backpack. It was her old one from when she still went to school. Pansy had filled it with her favorite sweater, a water bottle, some other things, and her stuffed elephant. She always carried the elephant around nowdays. It reminded her of her mom.
Before the grown-ups had disappeared, Pansy had called the toy 'Ellie'. When her mom was gone, Pansy changed the name to 'Einstein'. That was the name her mom had suggested when she first got the elephant, so that was the name the elephant would have forever.
In the kitchen, Pansy climbed on top of the counter to reach the melon the other girls had tried to put out of her reach. But Pansy was too smart for them. She stuffed the entire melon into the bag, then grabbed the big knife hanging by the door. One of the big girls always carried it with her when she went out, so Pansy would do the same.
She didn't really know where to go, but Pansy knew she was too smart to get lost. That's what her mom used to say. The front door squeaked when she opened it, so she slipped out as quickly as she could and started walking down the road.
It was always completely dark at night, because some dummy had shut off all the lights. Well, there were a few weird green lights, but they didn't do too much. But Pansy knew the way down the street, at least for a little bit.
Then she couldn't remember which way she was walking, or think of where she should be walking. She bumped her head on a pole, and almost tripped over the sidewalk. After that, she had walked much more carefully, then just kept walking until she was too tired to move any more. Then she just slept.
A voice and a hand woke Pansy up.
"Hey sweetie, are you okay?"
"Why does she have a knife, Lauren? Mom says knifes are bad."
"Shut up, Rose."
"Ivy, that's not nice."
Pansy opened her eyes, and quickly saw a group of kids around her. There was one big girl, and two little big girls, a girl who looked younger than her, and four boys. She didn't want to look at the boys too long. They might give her eyeballs cooties.
"I'm Lauren," said the big girl. "What's your name?"
"Pansy."
"Did you come from the town?"
"Yeah," Pansy said, frowning a little bit. "But I don't like my house there. The people are mean."
"Well, Pansy, how about you come inside. You can stay with us."
Pansy didn't want to stay with more people who might get mean all of a sudden, and she didn't want cooties, but she also didn't have any other ideas. "Okay," she said, and followed the others inside.
