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Disclaimer: I don't own any of Disney's characters, the ones that aren't mine are also borrowed from my dear listees.
Emily pressed her face against the glass window. Her mouth began to water as she saw hundreds of pastries lined up for selling. She was soon reminded that it had been two days since she had last eaten. While other girls were enjoying the luxuries of five course meals, beautiful dresses and many dolls to play with, her and her two sisters had to work in a factory to help earn money for the family.
They lived in a tiny apartment in the middle of downtown Chicago, which always reeked of something terribly rancid. Emily did her best to occupy herself outside the house as much as possible, not only to get away from the dirty apartment, but the awful temper of her father. He was especially irritable these days, less and less money coming in. Her mother had to stop working because she was pregnant and could not handle her factory job anymore. Emily did what she could to earn extra money by selling stolen flowers or various other items, but it wasn't enough for their family of five.
The routine that Emily used to steal was quite simple and unfortunately involved the use of her little six-year old sister. She was a spitting image of Emily and they were often confused as being mother and daughter, even though they were only ten years apart in age.
"Emily?" Samantha said, tugging on the end of her sister's dirty, patched dress, snapping the elder girl out of the trance.
"Yes, Sammy?" she asked impatiently.
"I'se hungry," Sammy replied, rubbing her belly and looking up at Emily with a pleading look.
"I know, Sam, we all are," she said. She tried to fight the idea of stealing, but it was just too easy and could very well fill her family's stomachs. One loaf of bread wouldn't hurt, she thought to herself.
"Ok Sammy, come wit me an' when we get inside, go an' talk to the nice lady at the counter, ok?" she said, taking Sam's small hand into hers. Samantha nodded and adjusted her cute little dress with her other hand. Her dress was not quite as dirty as Emily's and a few years newer than hers.
The lady frowned at first, but seeing the adorable, six year old Samantha, she lit up with a smile. Emily gently let go of Samantha's hand and started looking around as if she were going to buy something.
Samantha went up to the lady and talked about how 'mommy has a baby in her tummy' along with other things. Emily waited until the moment the lady was completely drawn into the little girl. She quickly snatched the loaf of bread and put it in her pocket, unaware that someone had seen her.
A boy from the kitchen had been watching her closely; really more interested in her looks than anything else, but when he saw the act she committed, he ran out instantly to find the police.
Emily patiently waited for Samantha to finish her conversation and took her hand as they exited the bakery. She scanned the crowd as they stepped out the door. She saw a boy talking to three policemen and her eyes widened as the boy began to point towards them. "Shit," she muttered to herself. She knelt down to her little sister and looked into the big blue eyes that matched her own. "Sammy, I know you don't want ta leave me, but ya hafta, ok. Run home to Mommy an' Lizzy and don't stop until you get there, ok?" she said to her.
Sammy started to try to ask something, but Emily hushed her and gave her a shove towards home and began to run in the other direction, the police right behind her. She ran and ran, not knowing where she was going. She felt herself falling over her feet and hit the ground, face first.
A tall boy with an evil grin on his face stared down upon her. She recognized him by the scar that ran across his face. He was the leader of the most vicious gang that lived in Chicago. "Whaddya runnin' from, sweetie?" he asked, dragging her up to a standing position.
She looked behind her shoulder nervously and said, "De police."
The boy smiled, "Well, I'se kin hide ya, but fer a price," he said. He whistled long and sharp and soon she found about five goons appear behind him. "We jist might hafta keep ya fer a while an' have a little fun," he added, gently playing with her soft, brown hair. She shivered as he said that and began backing up, away from him. He jumped at her as she turned to run. He caught her by the leg and she kicked out at him. She finally got free of his grasp and ran back the way she had come from.
Emily did not have to run far, soon finding herself in the company of the bulls. She stopped and they roughly pushed her against the wall of an alley and bound her hands behind her with a rusty pair of handcuffs. She grimaced as they began to cut into her small wrists. She looked back to see the boy staring after her and she smiled proudly as her petite body was being dragged away.
* * *
Emily was sixteen and in most cities they had jails for kids, but Chicago did not. She did not even get a chance to tell her story to the judge; he just set her sentence at three months for stealing. She sighed as she was pulled away from the court building that was connected to the jail.
The policeman who had to escort her to the jailhouse from there was an older disgusting looking man of about forty and he eyed her carefully, outlining her petite, but curvy body with his eyes. She was thankful when they reached the jailhouse, which was worse than she thought it would be. There was a horrible green mold that dripped down from the wooden doorway as they walked through it and the walls were rotting. The stench of the jail overcame her, being an awful combination of urine, body odor, and a smell that smelled almost like dead fish, but much worse.
Emily soon found everyone's eyes upon her and soon wished that she did not exist. She tried not to stare at the awful looking people that seemed as if they had decayed over the years they had been there. The policeman explained to her that there was not a different section for women, so she would most likely have her own 'stall'. The word he used for the jail cells made her shiver, not making the awful experience any better. The only things that kept the men from her were a few metal bars between the different 'stalls'.
The worst part for Emily was when the jail warden came and told her to follow him. He was a short, plump man who was balding horrible and smelled awful. He introduced himself as Steve and didn't take his eyes off her for a moment. She felt completely violated just by his awful gray eyes looking upon her. He took her to the showering room, which consisted of one rusty showerhead in the middle of the open room. Steve told her to take off all her clothes and when she had handed him the clothing he gave her a bar of soap, never taking his awful eyes off of her naked body.
Emily turned on the cold rusty water and quickly washed herself, trying to hide her body from the old warden. Once she was done she quickly swiped her clothes back and put them on, not caring if they became wet, as long as she was clothed. She felt better once she had her clothes back on and ignored the stare of the older man. He took her back to her 'stall' and she was thankful that he did not try to do anything to her.
She sat down on her thin mattress and soon found herself lying down upon the flat pillow and crying herself to sleep.
Emily awoke to a loud rattling of metal and found that there was food there for her to eat. She dug into it ravenously, not caring whether others were looking at her strangely. She had not had food in forever it seemed and was satisfied with the little bit she had been given.
Emily began to shove the empty plate between the metal bars when a rough voice spoke up to her. "Ya should save dat, dear," an old man said from the stall next to hers. He grinned as she turned to stare at him. All of his teeth were rotting, most of them black and three missing in the front. She tried not to stare at his teeth, afraid of why he may be in the jail in the first place.
"Why do you suggest dat?" she asked, staring down at the empty plate. She wasn't even given silverware, but she was used to eating with her hands, no matter what kind of meal, that's how she had grown up. Her parents' barely had enough money for food, nonetheless silverware.
"I'll show ya latah," he said quietly, heavy footsteps soon approaching. She shoved the plate under her pillow and pretended to be asleep, learning quickly from the other prisoners' actions.
Emily squeezed her eyelids shut as the footsteps became slower as they neared her. It was tempting not to open her eyes to see who was outside of her jail cell. She let herself breathe once the footsteps trailed off slowly. She let herself drift into deep sleep, not knowing what adventures or scares the night may hold.
She soon awoke to the old man in the cell next to her calling to her. "Oh pretty girl, wake from your sleep you little beauty," he whispered, his raspy voice soon waking her. "My oh my, she finally decides to join us in reality," he said as she got up, yawning.
"Whaddya want?" she asked sleepily, barely able to open her eyes.
The old man laughed at her sleepiness, but soon got serious. "You'se bettah wake up, goily, we got a long night ahead of us. I don't wantcha falling asleep while ya running from de bulls," he said, smiling at the thought of that happening.
"We'se breakin' out?" Emily asked, suddenly becoming well awake.
"Shhhh," the man said, hushing her, "We don't want de likes of dem to know, now do we?" he asked, motioning to the sleeping men and guards.
Emily shook her head; shutting her mouth and listening to him explain the plan. The old man had been digging a hole in his cell for years and had even been able to cut some of the bars between the two cells. She looked at him funny when he said that and he just sighed, not particularly wanting to go into the story.
"Ta keep it short," he said, looking around nervously, "Me ol' partner and I started dis plan a few years ago, but unfortunately he had a deadly disease and died two months after being in dat dere jail cell, I decided from den on dat I would take de person in his ol' cell whenevah I got finished with de tunnel."
Emily nodded, smiling at the thought of being free. "So what's de plan?" she asked quietly. He told her every little detail that he had perfectly planned out. The time came for them to leave. On the stroke of midnight one last guard walked by, checking the cells. Between him and the next guard, there was a thirty minute space because of shift changes and gave them enough time to escape undetected. Emily watched as the guard disappeared and threw all her weight into helping the bars give way. The old man told her to grab her plate as she broke through. She grabbed it quickly and once she was in the old man's cell, he placed the bars back and quickly removed a dirty towel to show the narrow tunnel he had dug in the ground of the cell. He grabbed the plate from her and put it in a brown, dirty bag. He smiled as she looked at him strangely. "I like ta keep 'em," he said with a smile.
Without any further speaking, he helped the petite girl get down into the tunnel and soon followed her, putting the towel over his head as he descended into the tunnel. They moved quickly through the dark tunnel, trying to make as little noise as possible.
Emily began to see light ahead and quickened her pace. When she reached the opening she fell about ten feet down, a cushy bunch of bushes making her landing more pleasant. She waited for the old man to come down. He never came and she later guessed that he had forgotten some of his plates and went back to retrieve them. She waited a minute or two more and then tried to see up in the tunnel, but he was still nowhere to be found. She quickly hid behind some trees, wondering where she was. She took in the place around her. The ground was covered with wet grass, the night reaching its coldest point and she soon discovered an old wooden tower that seemed abandoned.
She was soon proven wrong as figures began moving about on the tower quickly, as if something was wrong. There was a gate next to it, that seemed old and rusted and this made her hope that it had holes in it. She turned to look behind her and realized that she was facing the stone jailhouse. She wasted no time, knowing she would have to make it to the gate and under it in no more than a minute or two. She ran among the trees and bushes keeping her eyes out for guards. Her legs served her well, carrying her to the other side in less than thirty seconds. She edged her way to the gate, watching the tower closely as she went.
Scanning the old, metal gate, Emily soon found a hole just big enough to fit a thin girl like her through it. Once she had made it through the hole she heard yelling behind her and knew the only thing to do was run. She flew across the empty wasteland with no trouble and didn't stop, not even when she had completely lost the jail guards.
Emily ran the whole night through. She began to slow as she saw the familiar train-tracks. She had no idea where she would go, but she knew she could not stay here in Chicago where the bulls would be looking for her.
Emily was in luck; a train was just beginning to pull into the yard. She could see figures' flocking towards it, knowing that it would not stop but only slow as it made it's way past Chicago. She ran towards it and as it was picking up speed she jumped. She soon found a hand being held out to her. She grabbed it and was pulled into the car.
"Thanks," she said, out of breath.
"No problem," a female voice said. The car was dark, but Emily could still see a pair of green eyes and the outline of the girl's stocky body. "C'mon, take a seat, it'll be quite a ride," she said, disappearing into the darkness.
