She ducked behind a barn and licked her lips as a crop of delicious looking golden corn. Her stomach grumbled loudly and she groaned in exasperation. She'd been on the run for nearly six months now, and gone with out food for about a week as well. Just a little bit of corn . . . this farm won't miss it that much, right?
Her hunger took over and sprinted for the cornfield. She grabbed desperately at the stalks, and chomped furiously at the raw ear of corn.
“Hello?” A deep voice called, “Is someone there?”
Shit, she thought as she shoved all of her harvested corn into her messenger bag. She gulped and ran silently into the rest of the field. Her martial arts training helped her sneak stealthily through the corn. She heard rustling not far behind her and sped up her pace. She couldn't be caught . . . or discovered.
“Can't afford your own groceries?” A voice asked as she ran into a solid chest.
Her vision collided against a pair of solid, broad, shoulders and a blue T-shirt.
“I-how? But you were-weren't you behind me just a few seconds ago?” She asked in shock as she tilted her head upward to see her captor's face. Her breath caught. He was cute, dark hair, blue eyes, square jaw.
He squinted at her, and observed her ragged appearance. Her black baby tee was worn and tattered around the base of the shirt and edges of the sleeves, her jeans were torn and smudged with all kinds of dark stains and mud, her pink chuck sneakers had hole in the heels and the toes and the sole had begun to peel away from the rest of the shoe.
“Who are you?” He asked her with a bit of concern growing in her eyes.
“Somebody who is running away from you.” She snapped as she swiped her leg across his calves and caused him to fall backwards, and took off into the corn again.
A few feet later she collided with the same chest, and this time the force caused her to fall on to her butt, “If you need food my mom and I will give you food. You don't need to steal it.”
“I don't need any charity, thanks.” She said bitterly as she pulled herself up.
“No offense, but it doesn't look that way.” He said with a small grin.
“What the hell are you anyway? No one on Earth can possibly run that fast.” She said as she continued to dust herself off.
“Oh, I can think of at least one.” He said with a chuckle.
A Caged Bird:
