You, Me, and Riley

chapter 1

"Another year another carnival." I said to myself "Alone again!"

It's pretty much always been just me for as long as I can remember but overtime I became okay with that. Probably because unlike some of the other kids around me I had something to hold on to. I did have awesome parents once, parents who loved me until I was 5 years old, and then they got in a car crash one night and everything changed. I didn't have any grandparents or aunts and uncles so I went into the system. My life wasn't terrible at first I bounced from house to house for a while until I ended up in a group home when I was 11. That's when things got rough I've always been small so it was always easy for the kids to take advantage of me and for some of the meaner kids to...well you know what bullies do. I had a lot of rough and lonely nights. I counted down the days until I would leave that place.  I aged out at 18 packed up what little stuff I had and here I am not even a year later. I'm proud of who I am and what I have today, which is practically nothing but that's ok!

I started walking into the fairgrounds getting shuffled into the big crowd of people as always. My small frame didn't help me make it to my destination. At 4 feet 11 inches and 100 pounds soaking wet I had little chance of ever pushing my way through a crowd.

"Excuse me." I said trying to avoid elbows and shoulders as I attempted to make it to the ticket booth. And that's when a saw it a large path to my destination I didn't take the time to think about how odd my luck was before I quickly set my shoulders and set out on a mad dash. I got about half way there before I realized my mistake I took a hard elbow to the face and fell backwards, I felt a pain shoot up my arm as I tried to brace my fall. Yup! Lady's and gentleman I just ran right in the middle of a giant fight. I was a mixture of stunned, confused, and at a complete loss of what to do next because I could feel and hear people screaming and fighting over me when I felt a strong pair of hands grab me under the armpits and pull me out from under the fighting.

"Let me go." I screamed and wiggled trying to remove myself from whoever was holding me.

"Hey Hey. It's okay." A calming female voice said. I stopped trying to get out of her grasp as she brushed the hair out of my face. "I saw you on the ground and I thought you could use some help. My names Dana."

"I'm Riley." I said softly distractedly looking at the ticket booth." I was just trying to get to the booth, so I didn't see the fight. It's right there." I said pointing at the sign with a smile. When Dana pulled me out of the fight she had pulled us closer to the booth, so we were standing right next to it.

"I see that." Dana said with a smile. I just now noticed that she had kneeled in front of me and still had both of her hands on my waist. "Did you get hurt in the brawl at all Riley?" she asked.

"No, I'm fine." I said thinking of my hand that was stinging a little bit where it was grasping my backpack strap. "Thank you for the help though." I said smiling at her.

"No problem sweatheart." She said standing up and gently pushing me towards the booth. "Have fun and be careful next time."

I waved at Dana as she turned around and walked into the carnival I laughed at all the stupid men and woman being led away by police officers. I opened my backpack and pushed aside my stuffie Leo to find my wallet so I could pay for a few tickets. when I slipped my wallet back into my backpack I saw there was a business card next to Leo's ear.

"What do you have there Leo?" I whispered. Dana somehow slipped her business card into my backpack when I wasn't paying attention. Not only that but she was the CEO of the biggest compony in our city. Why did the richest woman I could think of want me to call her? I thought to myself. "What is going on Leo?" I said as I slipped the card back into the bag.

Another thought for another day I said to myself as I skipped into the front gates to enjoy the rest of the night.