I don't own Home Alone

Enjoy!

Kevin slipped out of the suitcase when he felt the carriage coming to a halt. He couldn't continue to hide in the carriage and have the two riders find out that he was hiding in there. Upon his surroundings, this place was not at all familiar from the places that he visited with Becky. At the thought of his sister, Kevin shivered. It would take him days if he was going to find her and the trouble was that he didn't know where to begin looking for her. The only logical thing that he could think of was to contact the police but with the fraud that they committed with the credit card, Kevin didn't want to have the police after him. If he thought about it, the bandits had to be somewhere in midtown Manhattan if they were able to run into each other. Therefore, they couldn't be in any other boroughs.

Taking a deep breath and snuggling up in his coat, Kevin knew that he had to begin his search. The moment that he would find her, they were going to make a run for it again and there was no way that he was going to let her out of his sight. He looked up at the sky knowing that if he wasn't going to start his search soon, he wasn't going to accomplish in finding her.

Wanting to let out an excruciating scream was at the tip of Becky's tongue as she tried to keep up with the bandits. Were people oblivious to not see that she was kidnapped? Was her terrified expression not enough for them to see what was happening?

"How much further are we?" Marv asked, growing a bit tired from all the walking. The street had some familiarity, but he couldn't make out that abandoned building that they were hiding in.

"We're almost there," Harry said, not bothering to look over at Marv.

"Finally," Marv said, "I was hoping we could drop by Sonny's and grab a bite to eat before we go to Duncan's."

Harry stopped in his tracks and gave his partner a nudge on the shoulder, causing the other to flinch. "Marv!" he snapped at him, "didn't I just tell you to shut up about that? Don't want this little missy to hear anything about that."

Marv couldn't help but give his partner a grin. "She won't go blabbing about this to anyone. Not after the rats are through with her in the basement."

The thought of dirty rodents crawling onto her, caused Becky to shiver in disgust. She had heard about New York rats being huge in size, but were they as vicious as these two said they were?

The three of them suddenly made a turn into another alley and they came upon the abandoned building. "Go ahead and put her in there," Harry said to Marv.

"But Harry," Marv started, a bit frightened, "have you...have you seen those rats in there?"

Harry gave his partner a slight glare, not knowing whether he was being serious or whether he was trying to scare the girl. He saw as Becky blanched at the mention of those 'rats' and played along with Marv. "I have and they're hungry." When Marv didn't move from his spot, it was then that Harry realized that Marv wasn't joking at all about being fearful of those rats. "Geeze Marv! The dark, spiders, rats, what aren't you afraid of?" He reached over and grabbed Becky by the arm and escorted her down the stairs and into the basement.

Her attempts on resisting were futile as Harry pushed her into the basement and locked the door behind her. Becky ran forward and grabbed onto the doorknob, twisting and pulling it but to no avail. "God," she whispered. The aroma of the basement was stale and moldy with loads of abandoned furniture stowed into the room. Who knows how long this place had been abandoned and what other objects lied within.

Her eyes bounced from one furniture to the next until her eyes landed on a window that was slightly cracked open. She quickly ran over to the window and attempted to jump, only to feel her body slam against the concrete wall and her wrist to scratch against it. Well, that attempt was not the brightest idea. She needed a little bit of a boost to get up to that window.

The furniture! Becky thought. Immediately she ran over to see what the basement offered her. There were plenty of wooden chairs, an old couch with pillows that were falling apart, torn blankets, and a small washing machine. What would Kevin do? Becky thought, wishing that she had the same imagination as her little brother did. If he was here, he would be able to whip up an escape route in no time.

A light skittering noise made Becky whip around as she caught sight of a small shadow run past. She needed to hurry up with that escape route, if she wasn't going to have any rats crawling onto her.

The day has turned into night faster than Kevin had expected. Anything that looked innocent, had turned into something terrifying. The branches from the trees that he passed looked as if they were reaching out to grab him and the people that he walked past were alarming. He passed by a person that was talking to himself, then another man who was warming himself up by the fire. I wanna go home Kevin thought to himself. I need to get home...I will get back home...but I need to get out of here. Even those words were not consoling enough.

A passerby slammed against Kevin and without even looking where he was going, Kevin tripped against another person's feet who was sitting on the ground.

"WATCH IT KID!" the man yelled as he began to laugh loudly.

Kevin quickly walked away but it wasn't until he slammed against another person.

"Where you goin' kid?" the person asked as he reached over with a gloved hand and took a hold of Kevin's backpack.

Kevin felt his feet being lifted from the ground but he grabbed a hold of the man's hand and tried to pull his hand away from the backpack. "Let go!" Kevin yelled as he used all the strength he could muster. The man gave the backpack strap and an aggressive pull and Kevin felt his feet staggering to the ground, his knuckles turning white at the tight hold that he had on the other strap of the backpack.

"Hey!" a female voice then rang over to them. "Let him go!"

Kevin didn't have the chance to look over as the man staggered backward from the blow that the woman gave him. The man staggered backwards as the backpack fell on the ground. Kevin scrambled to his feet and kept at a distance from the perpetrator and his savior. When the woman had delivered that first punch, Kevin thought it was that blond woman that he and his sister had met earlier, but this one was a brunette and slightly shorter than the blond. The perpetrator towered over her and he was about to deliver an attack upon her but the woman was quick enough to whip out a small bottle from her purse and spray the man directly in the eyes. A scream escaped from the man as his eyes started to burn.

Taking this as an advantage, the woman turned around and looked at Kevin. "Come on sweetie," she said as she took a hold of his arm, "let's get you out of here."

Kevin didn't have a chance to react to her gentleness. He didn't even know if he could trust her but she had been the only one that had saved him from this man. Without any other choice, Kevin obliged and followed her until they were a good distance away from this section of Manhattan and into a place where it was slightly brighter with the streetlights that hovered above them.

The woman stopped walking as she looked over at Kevin and knelt towards him until she was eye level with him. "Are you alright, sweetie? He didn't hurt you or anything did he?"

Kevin looked at the attire that she was wearing. A pink dress with a white apron. An indication that she was a waitress at a nearby late night diner. "I'm fine," Kevin assured her with a nod of his head, "thanks for saving me from that man."

"What are you doing out in the streets at a time like this?" she asked with a concerned look upon her eyes, "you could have been hurt. Where are your parents?"

Kevin was not willing to tell this woman everything that had happened to him and his sister on this trip. "I'm...I got lost," he answered her, "I've been trying to find my way home."

The woman looked at the attire that this child was wearing. By the look of things, the backpack that he had on his shoulders either indicated that he was returning home from visiting another part of his family or that he was running away. I hope it's not what I think it is the woman thought but she couldn't help asking the question. "You're not running away are you?"

Only from the law Kevin thought. "No ma'am," he said to her with a shake of his head.

"Is there anyone that we can call to come and get you?" she asked as she looked around for a phone booth but there were none in sight. "Oh..." she said, "we would have to find a telephone first. My apartment is not too far away from here. Would you be comfortable coming with me?" she asked him.

Kevin froze for a mere second upon that question. "How can I trust you?" he asked her.

Hmm smart kid the woman thought as a small smile formed upon her lips. "Because I am the one that saved you," she said to him. She wasn't surprised that he reacted that way towards her. She was a stranger after all but even if she did save him, she didn't blame him for his doubts. "And I want to make sure that you find your way back home. It's almost Christmas after all." She was right about that. Upon the thought of Christmas, after everything that had happened to him and his sister, it was the only thing that he knew would help him get through this night. "Not to mention," the woman spoke up as he looked at her, "it is very cold out here and I'm sure you could use something to warm up."

She was right about that. For the past couple of hours, Kevin had been shivering with every step that he took out in these streets. Even if he felt a little bit hesitant to join this woman at her home, he felt that he didn't have any other choice. "Okay," he said to her with a nod of his head but still on alert just for his safety. He saw her gentle smile as she led the way to her apartment.

"What's your name, honey?" the woman asked as they approached her apartment building.

"Kevin," he answered her, "and yours?"

"Amy."