Runaway- CaptainSwan AU

• Chapter 7 •

When Emma went home that day, she was so ready. Ready to finally get out of the horrible house she was stuck in. She lucked out more than she thought was possible. Neither Don nor Brittney were home when she got there.

A note was on the fridge.

Emma

Try anything, and you'll be sorry. We'll be home by five.

It was three thirty. Emma sprinted upstairs and grabbed her ready bag from under the bed, then piled some pillows under the covers to look like her body.

This was it. She was about to leave forever. About to embark on a new path, all on her own.

What about Killian?

He'd been the only light in her life. Her only friend. It might have gotten awkward earlier in the day, but he was still the best thing that ever happened to her. What could she do?

She couldn't stay in this placement. Not with the Barkleys. It was too much. It was... it was too much.

Run.

She ran. Out the house and around the corner. The cold November air but her skin, but she hardly noticed.

Run.

She ran. Past Killian's house, and three blocks more. Her run slowed to a jog, and her jog to a walk.

She ended up in the park. Emma made her way to the farthest end, where a park bench was hidden amongst the trees.

She ran. She ran away. But... she stayed in the town. Emma was far enough to be hidden from the Barkleys, yet close enough to still see Killian. She only hoped the Barkleys wouldn't find her.

That bench became home sweet home. Emma hid her things in an abandoned squirrel home in a tree, then laid down on the bench with a heavy sigh.

She did it.

Three weeks passed. Emma was running out of pages in her diary to write in, but she couldn't care less. The Barkleys hasn't found her yet, and it seemed like they wouldn't.

Killian was worried sick. He'd seen Emma around school, and yes they'd talked, but she'd stopped walking home with him. She was getting skinnier by the day. He guessed that the Barkelys had stopped feeding her altogether. She looked tired all the time, and seemed to be constantly sick, but wouldn't tell him what was going on.

It was lunch time, and the two of them sat in total silence. Killian fiddled with a piece of paper, folding it this way and that.

"What are you making?" Emma mumbled, watching him.

"Here," Killian said, making the final fold. He handed her his little creation.

An origami Swan.

"For me?" Emma asked, her eyebrows shooting up.

"Aye," Killian grinned, hoping to coax a smile out of her.

It didn't work.

"Talk to me," Killian blurted out. "And eat this," he said, setting a tray of food in front of her.

Emma had given up on fighting him about food a long time ago.

"Talk about what?" she asked, taking a bite of the school's lasagna.

"What's going on with you?"

"Nothing."

"Something," Killian scowled.