It was 11 o'clock at night when Sasha heard the footsteps she grew to fear over these past few weeks she's been living with her new foster family. They were the heavy steps of her new "father". This is how he insists she calls him. Especially when he comes to visit her at night, where he wakes her up just to 'talk'. But Sasha sees something very concerning in his eyes. It's like the nice and overweight family father suddenly became a Tiger on the hunt. It's an hungry, predatorial look that makes her stomach twist itself. So this is why, at 16 years old, she decides to grab the Bag she has always packed and climb through the window into an unknown future.

She was new in this part of the valley, but she remembers that she lived up in the North Hills, before the CPS took her away from her family. She had barely any memories left of her mother and slightly older twin brother. She was just 8 years old when her mother got too drunk to pick them up from elementary school, again. It was the 3rd time that week and the principal had already issued multiple warnings to their guardian and allegedly even contacted their father but she never heard anything from him. He was probably just as drunk as their mum. The few times she saw him were so short and awkward that she did her best to forget him. All she could remember was that he has blonde hair and a faint voice calling her "Baby": Dirty Dancing was her favourite movie ever. She had fond memories of watching it with her brother, whose middle name was inspired by Patrick Swayze.

But those times of bickering in front of the television and throwing popcorn at each other were long gone. They got separated when she was just 11 years old when their group home closed and she's been hopping from foster family to group homes back to another foster family ever since. One time she overheard her social worker saying that her Mom got custody of him. She hasn't gotten any information about her brother since then. But now she was free, could go wherever she wanted to, and she was hell bent on finding her long lost best friend.

With her skateboard in hand and backpack over one shoulder she set out to go north.

She spent the first night freezing on a park bench near the airport. After being woken up by the first plane out around 6 a.m. she gets up to go find some food and figure out what to do next. After roaming the streets for a couple of hours she finds a soup kitchen, but it doesn't open until 1 o'clock. So she decides to put her waiting time to good use and find a place to do some yoga and stretch properly. A few years back she lived with a family whose daughter was really into ballet. So they forced her to do the same. To accompany the golden child to all her practices, recitals and help her warm up in the mornings and stretch right before bed. It might have been a tough schedule and the parents were everything but warm to her but at least it brought something good.

It helped her become stronger, more flexible and find her balance. When the CPS found out that Sasha was treated like a personal assistant for the better part of a year, they took her back and placed her in yet another group home. Even Though she never found another training partner, she kept up the habit and continued to enjoy the workout. It also helped with her skating as she tended to pick up new tricks pretty fast, which gave her an advantage when participating in bets and competitions.

Skating is something she picked up with her brother back in the day, and every time when she gets back on a board she remembers how they both started out. How free they felt when they first managed to go a mile without face planting, or how he held her in his arms when she took a hard fall again. Every time they got in trouble for ripping another hole in their pants or coming home with bruises all over their body, he stood in front of her and took the blame on him. He was her hero. Always protecting her from the fury of their guardians.

Last week she found out that there will be a free competition for amateurs in a skatepark near Encino. It wouldn't be for another day but she decided to go check out the location in advance.

The skate park was already closed due to preparations for the competition when she got there in the early evening. To kill the time she found a comfortable looking spot in the grass and took out her sketchbook. When it got chilly out, she put on her flanell and found a spot in the woods near the LA River to crash.

Waking up with twigs in her hair she does her best to comb her wild curls without any tools. She makes her way back to the skatepark and buys some cheap sandwich in a diner close by while waiting for the competition to start.

When the afternoon came around she already made it into the finals and was finally able to show her favorite tricks in the pool. She kills it. Landing every aerial, flip and jump when she finishes with a perfect airwalk in the end. The crowd went wild and for a short second she even thought to see a familiar head of brown hair in the mass. But before she can follow it to see if it is actually Robby, the organizer came to give her the prize money. He was a scrawny man with a baseball cap and tattoos all over his arms.

"Hey Kid! Congrats, good work out there. Never seen such an impressive airwalk in this kind of competition."

"Thanks."

"I've also never seen a design like that on a board. Can I look at it?"

She hands him the board with a nod while trying to find the boy she spotted earlier. But he was gone. She was still complaining whether it could have been him when the voice of the man forced her to stop her search.

"That's beautiful. And obviously painted. The shadowing is impressive and the motive so daunting. I love it. Can you tell me who did it?"

Still distracted, she finally looks at the man more closely. He looks between 30 and 40 years old and has some wrinkles around his eyes. The tattoos on his arms are numerous and well made. She suspected that he did some of them himself.

"I did."

"You're talented. I like it. Do you have more of these?"

Without a word, she hands him her sketchbook from her backpack near the judging table.

He flips through it and sometimes stops to inspect the drawing closer.

"These are really damn good, Kid. But they could also use some more technique. I could give you some lessons if you're interested?"

"Thanks, but I can't afford it."

"Didn't say I want money. I give some free lessons on Wednesdays in the afternoon. Just come over when you're interested. You can find me at Rico's Tattoos just one block from here. I'm Rico, by the way."

He held out his hand and after some short contemplation she took it.

"Sasha."

"A girl of few words. I like it. I hope to see you soon!"