Jack ran as fast as he could. He couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't take the bullying, the beating, the abuse. He just wanted to leave this world behind and live in a new one.
Jack was running away from an orphanage where he had lived since he was three years old. His parents had die in a car crash a few months before he was put there. At the orphanage, Jack was beaten, abused, and bullied daily. Now he wants to get away from this world. Maybe he could commit suicide.
No, never that, he thought, stopping by a tree and catching his breath. Never that, ever.
He ran on some more, losing all sense of direction except for strait ahead. He tripped over a tree root sticking out of the ground, grunting as he hit the ground. He got up and leaned against a tree, seeing that he had scraped his arm on the ground.
The wind rustled the trees around him and he heard a cracking branch in the distance. He started walking towards the sound, as it was his natural curiosity for the world around him that drew him to it.
Jack was smart. In fact, he had the average IQ of a 10th grader, and he had just turned 11 two days ago. He was bullied by this a lot. One of the many reasons he had run away from the orphanage.
The sound led him to a big rabbit hole next to an oak tree. He looked at it curiously, wondering what type of rabbit could have done this. He peered in, using the edge of the hole for leverage.
"Hello?" He called into the hole. "Is anyone there?"
There was no reply, so Jack leaned in closer. He felt the earth beneath his hands crumble and he was falling into a deep dark abyss. He screamed and flailed around, spinning around over and over. His glasses nearly slipped off his face, and his shaggy black hair flew around in the air.
He fell in darkness for at least ten minutes, screaming the whole way. Then there was a light, faint but there.
"HELP MEEEE!" Jack yelled as the light grew closer. Then he wasn't falling but sliding. The light became closer and closer and Jack screamed and braved himself for impact.
He screamed and flew out of the hole in the wall that magically opened. He flew past someone but couldn't see who it was, but he heard them yell in surprise. Then Jack was falling down a set of stairs.
"EEK, ACK, OOF, OW!" He cried out as he fell down the stairs and rolled into what looked like a living room. He groaned and laid there, dazed and aching. Then a fox came around the corner.
That can't be right, I must still be too dazed, thought Jack. Or am I? Maybe I got my wish?
The fox saw Jack and ran over, leaning over Jack with a worried look on his face.
"Are you ok kid?!" The fox asked.
"Where am I," Jack replied, trying to sit up.
"You're in our house, of course!" Replied the fox.
"Who's house?"
"Our house, I don't know how else to explain it really. I don't believe I've told you my name. I'm Ffionn. What's yours?"
"My name is Jack," he replied. Then he broke into a coughing fit.
"My, my, my that was a nasty fall you must've taken," said Ffionn, helping Jack up.
"I have so many questions," said Jack, pushing up his glasses and realizing on of the lens was broken.
"Oh, we'll get that fixed, don't worry!" Ffionn said with a smile.
"Why are you being so nice to me? Is this a trick?" Jack asked. He grew up in an invironment with no love at all, so he was not used to this kind of treatment.
"Why, of course not! I would never trick you, uuuhhh, Jack, was it?"
"Yeah that's it."
"I could take you to see Stephan. He's an excellent doctor and a great friend of mine!" Ffionn said cheerfully.
"Yeah, ok," replied Jack, still getting his bearings.
"Do you need help getting there?" Ffionn asked.
"I think so," Jack replied, holding his forehead and rubbing it.
"I'll be glad to help you, here," Ffionn put his arm around Jack's waist, "now you put your arm around my shoulder."
Jack put his arm around Ffionn's shoulder and they headed to Stephan's room.
