"Stanley fly!"

Bo stared at her green friend intently.

"Move!"

He didn't budge.

"Like this!" She grabbed Stanley by the shell and and made him rise and dive and soar through the air before setting him on her carpeted floor once again.

"Your turn." She smiled sweetly at him, chin on the floor so they'd be at eye level. "Don't be scared, I'm right here," she whispered.

Bo Adams gasped and looked up when another child entered her bedroom. It was as much of a shock that another child chose to be in her room as it was that this other child hadn't used the door to enter, thus making her entrance silent. She'd simply appeared.

Allison looked at the blonde haired kid in front of her and asked, "Where's Roman?"

"Who?"

"Roman!" She yelled.

When Bo gave her a confused look, Allison shook her head in annoyance and ran to the door. With confidence that her loved person would be there she threw it open. No one was there. Allison was crushed. He wasn't there. Wasn't waiting for her. Still...

"Roman!" She yelled, her voice echoing down the hall and carrying through the large estate.

"Roman?"

No answer.

Where would he be? She thought a moment, then turned back to Bo's room.

Allison ran to the window to get a better view. Scanning the landscape she saw a building that looked familiar, yes, she knew what it was. It had to be the main building. If she could get there, she'd find Skouras.

"Hey, where are you going?"

Allison ignored Bo, who was now useless to her, and ran past her, her feet pounding on the floor and making a rhythm pattern down the stairs as she raced to the building's exit. Throwing the front door open, she ran outside into the snow. Not slowing down an inch, she ran across the yard, across the unpaved street and up the steep embankment covered in long blades of dead prairie grass and deep patches of white snow.

Yellow braids flying behind her, Allison gasped for breath, her lungs burning for air, her legs aching for a break. But Allison gave neither. Her goal was the only thing that mattered. Finally seeing the stone bricks and high roof of the main building filled her with new energy.

THis is it. He's here!

Her shoes crunched on the gravel drive then patted on the cement walkway. Another step and the heavy wooden door was before her. Allison reached above her head, grabbed onto the solid lead latch and pulled. It didn't move. Grabbing it with both hands, she braced herself and pulled backward with all her weight. Nothing.

Finally, desperate and angry she banged on the door with her fist.

"Open up!" She screamed, her voice sounding bloodied.

She knocked again and pulled, and when nothing happened she decided she was just going to have to break down the door. WIth every intention of destroying it, she heaved her arm backward, ready to break the door down with her bare hands. Her fist approached the hardwood again, and the door swung open as if intimidated.

Happy, Allison's eyes were wide and round, her mouth an o' of awe as she stepped into the front room of the building that felt so familiar. And then, it was. She knew where she was. She knew where Roman's office was. And like that she took off running, making a left hand turn at the breakoff of the main room. And suddenly the memories came back of all the other times she'd run down a hall just like this one, seeking out Roman Skouras.

"Uncle Roman!" She cried, breathless, expecting him to pop out from his office for a joyous and unexpected reunion.

But no one stuck their head out into the hall. Confused and disappointed, Allison didn't let either emotion stop her. Last room on the right.

And there it was. "Dr. Roman Skouras" engraved in plate. Without knocking and with a squeal of joy she flung the door open.

"Roman!" She cried, her face alight with a joy she hadn't felt in years.

Silence and an empty room greeted her. She walked up to the desk chair, clasped onto the thick leather and inhaled deeply. It smelled like him. He had to be nearby. Nearly crying with a mixture of disappointment and panic that she couldn't place, Allison forced herself to close her eyes and concentrate. To find Roman SKouras.

"Little girl?"

Allison gasped, eyes flying open and her concentration popping like a soap bubble. Not that it mattered. She hadn't felt Roman anywhere.

A woman with short red hair stood in front of her.

"Little girl," she smiled, "can I help you?"

Allison didn't recognize her, didn't feel any connection, and this confused her all the more. Something was very very wrong here.

"I," her voice faltered, "I want Roman."

"Dr. Skouras?" The woman's eyes lighted with recognition.

"Zoe! Is the girl in there?" A man's voice called from the hall. The woman turned her face back to the voice, and Allison could hear footsteps. Maybe it was Uncle Roman. She beamed, biting her lower lip and bouncing slightly with barely bridled joy. She'd run to him when he came through the door. When the footsteps came closer and a shadow crossed the threshold, Allison made ready to pounce like a tiger.

She was in mid-movement when a young man, a boy with dark curly hair appeared. The sound that came out of Allison as she forced a stop to her forward momentum was a squeaking mixture of disgust and shock. She drew away from the strange man, stepping backwards towards Roman's chair, reaching out for it blindly behind her, as it could help.

"Who is she?" The boy whispered.

The grown-up woman crouched down on the floor. "Little girl, what's your name?"

Allison opened her mouth to answer, feeling a sense of terror, like a cornered animal. She wasn't safe here, but that was impossible. This was the only safe place she had why would it ever feel anything but safe?

Get out of there! You have to get out of there! Get away from those people! Run! These people are not safe! You're in danger! Run!

A woman's stern and insistent voice filled the room. When Allison looked around for its source and found none she realized the voice, that sounded oddly like a mother's, an angry mother's, was in her own head.

"If they find out who you are you will be hurt. Run away Alyssa!"

The feeling that she needed to run away became so strong that she obeyed it. In an instant she was dodging the grasping and grabbing arms of the woman and man and running the opposite way down the hall. She passed a dark skinned man that she also didn't recognize, but kept on running. She knew at the end of the hall she'd be safe.

Getting back to her own bedroom was now her goal. Somehow she knew if she could get there, she'd be safe.

When she collided with the heavy stone wall she understood that something was really as wrong as it felt.

"Where's the door?"

She felt along the stone and felt no latch, no opening. Looking to the left and right, she saw no other door, no entrance to the other section of the building, no evidence that there was such a path to her house.

"Where's my room?"

There should have been two doors in front of her, but there were none.

"Get out of there!"

The voice cried in her head. Turning around she saw the adults coming out of the office heading towards her. The red haired woman, the dark haired boy and the dark skinned old man. She could hear them talking.

"I don't know who she is, I've never seen her before in my life."

"Some relative? Some relative of one of the subjects here visiting?"

"No one visits here," the dark man's voice was troubled.

"But she knows who Skouras is."

"And she broke through the security door with her mind."

"If she isn't a subject here, then who is she?"

"She clearly needs to be if she isn't."

"Even Bo isn't that strong."

Bo! Seeing the adults approaching, Allison made a mad drive behind a large potted shrub at the side of the hall. Then with all the desperate need inside her she focused on finding the little girl again.

And she was right back in the sunny safe bedroom she'd originally arrived at.

"You're back." Bo looked up from floor where she was sitting and playing with her pet Stanley. Then she asked, "Who are you?"

"Who are you?" Allison repeated, moving past the maze of her toys to stand in front of the girl.

"Bo," she answered.

Allison looked behind her to Bo's bedroom door. With a sigh of relief she answered,

"I'm Allison,"

"Why are you here?" Bo began to look closely at the other girl. Something wasn't right about her. Like a puzzle with pieces put together the wrong way. All the pieces were there, but still... something was wrong with the picture.

"I don't like where I'm living," Allison answered. "And I need to find my Uncle Roman and another place to stay. So, I thought of a place I felt safe and ended up here. With you."

Bo's eyes lit up. "That's it!" She yelled. "That's what's wrong!"

Allison drew away at the emotional response, recoiling from it.

"That's not your name!" She cried.

"Yes it is," Allison insisted. "I know my own name."

Bo shook her head, a smile spreading along her lips. "No," she answered giddy. "But you don't! You don't!" Her smile turned to a grin as she realized that this was the truth, one of the missing puzzle pieces.

"Look, little girl. I know my own fucking name, okay?"

Bo cringed at Allison's word choice. "How old are you?" She knew she had to be a teenager. She was clearly older than herself.

"I'm six." Allison sat down on Bo's bed as she answered.

No sooner had Allison Cramer sat down on Bo Adams' floral covered bed then the high window flew open, a blue butterfly floating into the room. In a moment the butterfly wasn't a butterfly at all, but Nina Adams, standing in front of the children, wearing her favorite blue kimono top, jeans and butterfly pendant.

Allison stared. But Bo beamed and ran to the woman, arms outstretched.

"Mommy!" She cried and embraced her. Nina, however, put Bo aside, eyes on Allison.

"I told you you can't come back here."

Allison simply looked confused.

"Maybe you don't remember." Nina spoke softly to herself.

"If you found your way back...if Skouras finds you..." She shook her head resolutely then spoke again with conviction. "No. I can't allow that. Whatever else will happen to you in the future, it's better than being dead. If you stay... Skouras will kill you too. He won't mean to, but he will."

Then she knelt down and looked into Bo's eyes.

"I need you to do something for me sweetie, okay?"

Bo nodded eagerly.

"I need you to make this be a dream for her. I need you to take her memories of Skouras and you away so she can't ever come back here again. Take her memories of her mama and papa and home. Take them all away."

"Will she get them back?"

Nina nodded. "When she sees you again, she will."

"Do this for me, Bo. Help her."

Then Nina looked with a mixture of love and anguish at Allison.
"And I will tell you when it's safe to find Bo again. You made a promise to me when you were little," she prompted, "about Bo."

"I don't know you," Allison was off the bed and backing away, afraid again for a reason unknown to her. "You're a stranger."

Nina simply smiled at her. "Or a dream." She nodded to Bo. Bo walked up to Allison and put a hand over her forehead.

When Allison opened her eyes she was greeted by the ceiling of the orphanage.

"Hey Orphan Annie," Stephanie Davis' voice cried. "How 'bout you get all of us a Daddy Warbucks?"

Heavy laughter followed.

Confused, Allison stood up. In her hand she clutched the torn-out piece of newspaper that contained Roman Skouras' picture and story, the thing that had caused this newest teasing bout.

"That's my dad!" Jeffie's voice immitated, and Allison looked at the picture in her hand. She didn't know why she'd said that. She'd never seen the man in her life.

"You don't have a dad!" Stephanie's voice echoed. "That's why you're here!"

"Yeah, you're an orphan- nobody wants you!"

Allison sighed and crumpled the paper into her tiny hand. Just a dream she realized sadly.

Hi, guys! It took a while for this idea to come to me. Not perfect but you've been waiting so long I wanted to give you all something. Also I thought I should tell the two of you who are still reading that my dad just died, part of the reason I stopped writing. Our relationship was complicated, unfortunately complicated. As far as this story is concerned, I drew everything about Allison's relationship with Skouras from that with my own father. I don't know how this will affect the story or my writing, but I have a feeling that it will. You've been warned.