The Lion Tamer

Prologue

Run. I run as fast as my legs could carry me. I run till I drop. I run till I'm safe, so it may be a while till I stop. They've been chasing me for months. My feet pound against the slick concrete road as I run. The rain making it hard to see what's in front of me, but I knew what was behind me. What had started all of this.

I knew I never should have trusted them; I knew they were bad news. Yet, I couldn't help myself, they promised me the one thing I've always wanted, a home, family, friends. I should have known it was too good to be true, that anyone would want me. All they wanted was a new toy, a minion. They wanted someone they could order to do the dirty work for them. I would do as they said to make them happy, to make them want and love me. I should have known what they were up to. But, how could I? I was just a child when they took me in. I didn't have a home, family, or friends. I didn't have anyone waiting for me to return because I didn't have anything to return to. Hell, I didn't even have a pet to love me. I had never known my parents never made any friends. Everyone just looked at me as a freak. The girl whose own parents didn't want her, the girl who no one ever dared talk to. In fear of becoming a freak themselves.

I wanted everything everyone else had, a support system. I never had anyone to look up to so I always did whatever I wanted. No one was there to tell me right from wrong, so I never knew there was a right or wrong. All I knew was what I wanted, so I took whatever I wanted and got really good at getting away with it. I was never there to see the results of my actions. I didn't see the pain I had caused, so I kept doing it. Eventually, though my luck ran out.

I thing I was 10 at the time, I was picking the pocket of a boy I "bumped" into on the busy streets of Atlanta, Georgia. I had thought I got away with it. That was, until that boy and a group of his friends followed me into the abandoned building, I was calling home at the time. I was on the second story when they found me. They cornered me and made me watch as they took the boy's possessions back as well as the other things I had stolen from people. I was furious. I screamed and yelled as they took and took. They were taking everything I had. I didn't have anything of my own, just what I had stolen. They were laughing at me as I yelled all the while.

One of the boys looked at me and it was like a lightbulb turned on. He quickly got the other boys together to talk to them in a huddle like fashion. It wasn't until later that I discovered they saw the potential in me, and wanted to use my skills for their own personal gain. Once they were finished talking, they walked back over to me as I was cowering into a corner. They said they felt sorry for me and my situation and wanted to take back with them to whatever hole they crawled out of. They wiped my tears and gave me my things back. They acted sincere. Being the naïve child I was, I agreed. They promised to be my friends and to take care of me as if I was their little sister.

At first, I loved it. They would take me with them to "play" in the local mall. The game was to see who could take more from the unsuspecting people. We took and took and took. We would cover the entire mall and stole from anyone we could. It didn't matter if they were a man, woman, or child. Then, we would meet up to compare our loot, they were astonished to see that I had taken more than all of them. I was really good at getting what I wanted, so I used my talents to make myself apart of their group. I didn't know it was wrong to take from people the way I did. Hell, I didn't even think of it. I just wanted them to love me.

I soon learned they were in a gang called the panthers. After a while they decided to make me a part of it so they could use me to get whatever they wanted. They taught me how to pick locks and blend into the shadows whenever I was being followed. They had me do small jobs, like shoplifting and vandalism, I would do whatever they asked of me just to stay with them. They said that if I refused, they would leave me. I couldn't bear the thought of being left alone again. I did everything I could to make sure that never happened. I did everything they said, I worked as hard as I could. They taught me how to fight and how to take care of myself out on the streets. And this continued, for years. Until, one night I said no.