~Penny
Panting, the little girl ran through the mucky swamp, clambering over rotting logs and slipping on the slimy moss underfoot. Her tattered teddy bear's leg caught on a protruding, broken branch, and she paused for a moment to tear it free. It was a costly hesitation: behind her, she could hear something rapidly approaching, and the distant, shrill call of her foster mother, Medusa.
Her longs couldn't carry her any faster, so she tried to make a turn to throw off her pursuers. Instead, she lost her footing and fell, sliding bodily down a short embankment and ruining her clothes. As she struggled to her feet, she noticed a shoe was missing, but there was no time to search for it.
Penny cast her gaze about wildly, looking for a hiding place. She saw a blue box, a little outhouse, she thought, and moved toward it. Maybe they wouldn't find her there!
She passed through the open door, which swung shut behind.