Title: The Life & Times of Sara Sidle

Rating: T

Summary: (You all know by now)

Disclaimer: And I am still sitting here in my room running on caffeinated beverages to write fanfiction! Don't sue!

September 1, 1984

School wasn't going over too well. She tried to hide her injuries as best as she could, but she wasn't doing a very good job of it. Surprisingly, though, Child Services had not been called into the picture.

Sara paced back and forth through her room, her hands folded behind her back as she walked. It was cloudy and her room was dark except for the small beams of light shining through the blinds in her room. She just walked- back and forth, back and forth. There was not much else to do, her father was home that day from a terrible hangover; he had stayed out all night and when he got home he spent almost hours emptying the contents of his stomach...in the bathroom right next to Sara's room.

Her mother was busy cleaning, of course. She wanted to avoid contact with her husband as much as Sara did. Sara felt trapped- home was hell, the outside world was hell. She went outside, she was exposed to people. She stayed home, she was exposed to only two people.

She opened her door and went to the kitchen. Silently, she opened the fridge and poured herself a glass of orange juice. She sipped it quickly, savoring the taste and the cool feeling of the liquid sliding down her throat. She washed the glass out and put it in the dishwasher before walking back into her room.

She laid on her bed and stared at the ceiling. She turned to look at the small window next to her room. She could, she thought, just open the window and jump out. She could start a new life somewhere under a new alias. She could start a group of rebel pre-teens and teenagers who ran away from home. They could have a crazy name and wear black leather jackets. They could be a street gang.

She shook her head, laughing a little at the crazy thought that had crossed her mind. Still, however, she didn't think that being against the law would be so bad. She was intelligent enough to avoid being caught, that was for sure, and also, what had the law done for her that was so grand?

She could run away that night. She doubted her mother and father would've noticed she was gone until the next day. Maybe...maybe she could leave that night. She could go somewhere else, go to school, and when she was old enough, get a job to pay her college tuition. The thought brought a smile to her face- what would college be like? She assumed it would be a lot better than grammar school or middle school- she would be with a more mature and developed community.

Sara looked around her room- her eyes latched onto an old book. The stitching to keep the pages in place were falling out and the writing was faded. She stood up and opened the book. It was an old fairy-tale story-book.

Sara almost laughed. Her mother used to read fairy-tales to her. She would hear about the princess in distress and the knight in shining armor who, at the end of the story, rescued her. Every story ended the same- And they lived happily ever after. Why did they live happily ever after? What if the mother-in-laws hated each other? What if the family didn't get along? What if the princess found out her prince charming was cheating on her? They never put those details into the stories.

She closed the book and slid it under her bed. She sat back on her bed and looked down at her feet. The day was going by slowly...Verrrrrry slowly. She looked back at the window on her wall. She stood on her bed and popped the window open. She slid through the window, which she did with ease since she was so skinny.

She landed on her feet. Again she looked down at her feet, eyeing her worn-out sneakers. She shrugged and walked off, making sure she wasn't in the view of her mother or father from the front windows of the house. She walked down the sidewalk, her silky brown hair blowing around behind her. She had her hands in her pockets as she walked- it was still cold.

She walked to the corner of the road. She looked to see a liquor store, which she knew her father frequented often. She could always smell cheap whiskey or brandy on his breath when he walked in through the door. She grimaced and almost gagged as the smell came flooding back to her, bringing along with it the horrible memories she locked in her closet. She had once been told that everyone had skeletons in their closets...but she doubted anyone had the same skeletons in her closet that she had.

She kept walking down the road, but she could've sworn someone was watching her. Every time she turned around, she saw no one. She kept walking. The feeling got stronger and stronger, yet she still saw no one following her. She turned around and started walking backwards. She turned around and started running, but she fell to the ground when she bumped into someone.

"Woah! Hey, kiddo, what's wrong?"

She looked up to see a police officer staring down at her. He helped her up, but she noticed the color drained from his face when he looked at her body.

Shoot, she had forgotten to put something on to cover the bruises on her arms and legs!

"Sweetheart, what happened to you?"

"Uh..." Sara didn't know what to say. The officer was staring right through her.

"Honey, did someone do this to you?"

Sara backed up, almost tripping over her own feet. She ran. She didn't know what to do, so she ran. She felt so stupid, but she turned her heel and ran from the officer.

"Hey! Come back, I want to help you!"

She ignored the officer's voice. She heard in the distance him talking on his walkie-talkie.

"This is officer Hayesworth. There's a minor running around town, female, looks to be about 13, brown hair, brown eyes. She's wearing a black tank-top and blue jeans. Green sneakers."

Sara looked back to see the officer getting in his car and coming after her. Crap, he wouldn't just leave her alone, he was going to chase her. She quickened her pace and ran around the corner. She turned around again to find the car dangerously close to her. She almost screamed as the car came closer and closer. She panted with exhaustion as she continued to run. She turned a corner again and ran still.

"Please, I want to help you!" This was the officer in the car.

Sara shook her head as she continued to run. She tripped and tumbled onto the ground, scraping her arms and legs. She twisted her ankle and soon she was cornered by police cars. She hyperventalated as she tried desperately to get to her feet and run. She got on her good foot and began to limp away, but an officer grabbed her arm so she couldn't go anywhere.

"Let me go, please!"

Her pleads with the officers were useless and she found herself being led over to a squad car. She sat down while the officers called an ambulance.

"Sweetheart."

She turned to look at a female officer who was kneeled down beside her with a concerned expression on her face.

"Sweetheart, can you tell us what happened?"

Sara felt the tears fall down her face and she tried to hide them, but they were falling down too quickly. The female officer wiped the tears from her face and looked in her eyes. "Honey, please- can you tell me what happened?"

Sara shook her head and she heard the ambulance approaching. She was led over to the ambulance and the small cuts on her arms and legs were cleaned and bandaged.

"We're going to take you to the hospital to get some x-rays taken."

Sara just nodded and allowed them to wrap a blanket around her shoulders. They closed the ambulance doors and drove off.

September 1, 1984- Nighttime

Sara sat on the hospital bed hugging her knees like she had done so many times in her life. She was wearing a thin white hospital gown and waiting for the results of her x-rays. She rocked herself back and forth slowly, just like her mother had done when she was younger. She looked around the room- there were cotton swabs, a small metal sink, a small bathroom to the side of the room. There was a TV fixed on the wall of the room. It was on, but she couldn't hear anything coming from it. She was in another place, another realm.

"Sara?"

She looked up at the male doctor walking in with a folder.

"Uh-huh?"

"Can you tell me your last name?"

"S-Sidle...S-I-D-L-E."

"Thank you..."

He headed out, but a nurse stopped him.

"Doctor, what do the x-rays say?"

The doctor tried to speak in a soft tone so that Sara couldn't hear what he had to say, but she could still hear him perfectly.

"A few old broken bones...hairline fractures..."

"Abuse?"

"Possibly. I'm going to notify her parents and let them know she's here...the authorities found her, so they're most likely going to call Child Services in."

The doctor walked off, leaving the nurse standing in the hallway to stare at Sara. She smiled weakly before walking off. Sara knew what was going to happen next.

Her parents would be called. Her drunk father and her mother would come over to the hospital to see her. Then, the police would bring them in for questioning, as of course she would be. Child Services would be called once they found out what went on in her home, and she would most likely go into Foster Care.

She shuddered at the thought. She knew this all-too well. She had read about it in fourth grade. It didn't sound fun, that was for sure.