Chapter 4 - The Poor Kid

Gypsy felt a throbbing pain in her head, as she slowly blinked her eyes open. The room she woke up in was pretty dark, and she could barely move; she gasped when she realized she was in a dark jail cell, and heavy stone and spiked shackles were locked on both her wrists. But the shackles didn't bother her much, as she was strong enough to withstand much more weight, and she stood up and looked around.

"W-where am I? Y-you messed with the wrong girl! You better let me go, or I'm gonna kick your-!" But just before Gypsy could finish threatening her captor, she paused when she saw two shadowy figures slowly approach from the other side of the bars.

"Peepers."

"Yes, Sir?"

"THAT'S NOT WANDER!"

"I know, Sir! That's what I've been trying to tell you!"

"Whatever, Peepers! This is all your fault anyway!" Gypsy heard the more guttural voice let out a sigh of disappointment, and then the owner of that voice stepped closer, making himself more visible; he was a tall, skeletal creature wearing a bright black and red cloak with lightning bolt tufts and matching yellow rubber gloves, and his piercing green eyes were almost really intimidating.

The skeleton leaned closer to the bars to get a better look at Gypsy, and he scanned her up and down before pulled out a balled up paper in his hand.

"Do you know why you're here?" he asked.

"N-no…"

"You're here because I, Lord Hater, was looking for someone, someone with a HUGE bounty on his head."

"Bounty? From who?"

"Me. But that's not the point—YOU tricked my top soldier-!"

"No, she didn't, Sir."

"-And because of you, he failed to capture the ONE person in the entire galaxy that I want dead! But before I torture you, I want you to see who was responsible for your misery."

With that, Lord Hater unwrinkled the paper in his hand, which was soon revealed to by a wanted poster…and what Gypsy saw illustrated on the poster made the doubts she had had all her life suddenly debatable.

Drawn on the wanted poster was a furry creature, just like her, the only difference was the orange fur, and he was wearing a large green hat. But Gypsy thought she was the only one of her kind…were there really more like here?

No, forget that! Right now, Gypsy wanted to escape, and she not only had her captor to blame for mistaking her for another person, but she blamed heavily on the creature on the poster.

It's HIS fault that she was separated from Sylvia, and that she might not even see her family again…or if she'll never know what happened to her best friend and only sister. Gypsy shed a tear at that last thought, but Hater didn't care.

"Yes, that's it! Cry as much as you can 'cause it's all you can do now!" Lord Hater laughed evilly, but it soon died down to a dark chuckle, "And do you know what else you're about to lose?"

He actually paused to give her a moment to respond, but Gypsy could only shake her head.

"Contact with the outside world, so you better remember this face 'cause it's the last one you're EVER gonna see," the skeleton chuckled evilly while pointing at his face, and as he rubbed it in, Gypsy suddenly fell back down out of shock.

She really was never going to see her family again.

And after Lord Hater and Commander Peepers quietly left, Gypsy couldn't help but start to sob and lean against the wall, hugging her knees close so she could burry her face in them.

Gypsy could lift a lot of physical heavy weights with ease, but this weight on her heart is one she may not be able to lift with her strength…one truly is the loneliest and most weakening number.

A lone Watchdog on Hater's ship was bringing a plate of potato chips and ham and cheese sandwiches down to the newest prisoner on the ship; the Watchdog had never heard of or even seen the prisoner, he only knew that they'd been on the ship, alone, in the very same cell, for at least a month now.

A Watchdog would take turns bringing down food or drinks down to the prisoner in order to keep them alive, which really confused the Watchdogs. Why didn't Lord Hater just kill them already?

Oh, well…thought the Watchdog, as he finally arrived at the prisoner's cell, and he bent the paper plate through the bars while squinting into the dark cell to get a better look at the prisoner.

But at first, all he could see was a pitch black cage, as he saw no prisoner. Did Hater lie?

But before the Watchdog knew it, a pair of fists suddenly burst from the darkness and grabbed onto his neck with a vice grip.

"Gimme the keys!" a voice hissed, and the Watchdog struggled to unhook the keys from his belt and give them to the prisoner before suffocating to death.

As soon as Gypsy grabbed the keys, she dropped the Watchdog and he passed out, allowing her to unlock the lock on her cell door and escape with ease.

Gypsy had stolen an escape pod from her captor's ship, and she was luckily able to get away undetected and finally finding sanctuary on a distant forest planet.

But as night fell for the planet, she started a fire to keep herself warm. And as she sat by the fire, staring deep into it and hugging her knees to her chest, her eyes welled up with tears when she finally looked away from the fire and down at her stone shackles. She was able to break the chains in her cell, but she wasn't successful with taking off her wrist shackles, and so the gleaming metal spikes on them were only a reminder of what she had gone through.

For a whole month, she was all alone wishing Sylvia was there…but she, or rescue, never came.

And as she realized that she was even more alone now than ever before, Gypsy just let the tears come, and it didn't take long for her to cry herself to sleep.

5 years later…

She no longer wore her hair in a ponytail, and instead let it all down while keeping it out of her face with a black hair band; she even continued to wear her wrist shackles, given that she has never been able to get them off. But her shackles weren't the only things she kept from her youth, for she also kept her shoes…the ones that Sylvia had given her. She rarely even took them off.

But after all this time, despite always being alone, Gypsy was able to survive on her own. She would stowaway on ships to travel from planet to planet, always having to steal food from markets, or supplies like pillows and blankets and even matches.

She knew stealing was wrong, but she was raised to defend and take care of herself without hesitation. Besides, she never stole from the poor or children; she was desperate, not cruel.

And today was just another day for the purple furry creature. She snuck her way onto a planet that consisted of mostly big and busy cities, and she had to make another grocery run in the markets of the bad side of town.

This wasn't her first time on this planet or this part of the city, and she knew it was dangerous, especially for someone her size. But all she needed was to be smarter. She did so by hiding in an alley way, chucking an empty glass bottle all the way on the other side of a fruit stand. The shattering glass got the stand owner's attention, just like Gypsy expected, and she quickly stuffed as much fruit as she could into a plastic bag.

But just when Gypsy finished getting the fruit she needed, she heard someone across the street shouting.

"Stop, thief! Give those back!" another stand owner called, and Gypsy hid behind a street light to observe the situation. She soon realized it was a hot dog stand owner, and he was chasing a small puppy-like creature dressed in drag as he was trying to get away with a strong of sausages.

"No, stop! I need those!" the puppy cried when the owner grabbed one end of the string and yanked them from them from him.

"I don't care! If you're hungry, than buy the food with money!" the hot dog stand owner shouted angrily.

"B-but…I don't have any money, Sir…"

"That ain't my fault!"

Gypsy couldn't stand to watch the injustice happening in front of her, and she sprinted across the street to build up momentum. And just when the hot dog stand owner saw her in the corner of his eye, she had already punched him in the face and knocked him unconscious.

He spun around after the powerful punch and landed with a loud thud, and Gypsy then grabbed the string of sausages from him.

"Where do you live, Kid?" Gypsy asked the puppy firmly.

"I-In an alley, M-Miss," the puppy whimpered. Gypsy's glare softened and she sighed before giving him the sausages.

"You be care, ok kid?"

"Oh, yes! Thank you so much, Miss!" The puppy suddenly jumped into Gypsy's arms to give her a big hug, and Gypsy was a little too embarrassed and surprised to hug bag, as she merely patted the puppy's back.

Luckily, the puppy ended the hug and disappeared down the street and around the corner.

"Poor kid," Gypsy sighed in disappointment.

Sorry for waiting so long to update!

I hate when I wait too long. Please, forgive me, guys!

Until the next chapter, I'm TRikiD, bye-bye!