After running away from your abusive father, you find yourself in the dark and all alone. That is, until a strange man approaches you.
His drunken yells were nearly drowned out by the rapid beat of your heart. Your feet slapped against the rough pavement as you ran down the street and away from the man who had tried to hurt you. You didn't dare look back, terrified of what might be behind you. You knew he couldn't have caught up to you due to his influenced state, but the fear overpowered any rational thoughts. You just needed to get away as fast as possible.
Your father was drunk. Again. It wasn't uncommon. You were more than used to having him having too much to drink and getting into such a state, but the violence you could never grow accustomed to. It didn't happen incredibly often, the violence, but when it did, you tried to hide away as best you could. Sometimes, like on that night, you would run away from your place of residence —you would never call it a home— and wander the streets until morning. Mornings were safe. He was sober. He was better to you. You weren't as scared. Your father was like Jekyll and Hyde. He was good during the day, but when night found it's way to him, he changed. He was a monster, a demon that you couldn't escape.
In his good times, he would go off to work, leaving you to enjoy the hours of safety. That was when you would do it. You knew better than to harm yourself while he was around. If he saw you hurting yourself, saw the scars that littered your body, saw the tears that dripped down your face, he would flip. You wouldn't dare risk letting him catch you.
But that didn't matter. He still had seen them, your clothing shifting after he had knocked you into a table, your scars being revealed to him. His face went mad with fury as his alcohol-soddened mind analyzed what he saw. Then he rushed towards you, his hands balled into fists and his eyes full of fire. You got out of the way before he could reach you and you ran towards the door, never looking back.
You ran for as long as you could, never once stopping or slowing down until your lungs begged for more air and your heart overpowered any other noises. You leaned against a building wall as you tried to catch your breath, your closed eyes creating a river of tears. The gasps for air soon turned into sobs. You slid down the wall until you were sitting, the sobs becoming more powerful each second. Your heart hurt, from both the overexertion and the pain of your own father wanting to hurt you.
You didn't know how long it took for the sobs to calm down into sniffles. All you knew was that you were out in the streets alone in nothing but your nightwear. You suddenly became painfully aware of this, fear setting into your body once again. Being out all alone at night in nothing but pajamas was bad. You couldn't go back, that much was obvious. You had no other family or friends nearby, and all of the shelters were full by that time. You stood slowly, using the wall as support. You were tired, dehydrated, and scared, but you knew you couldn't stay there. There had to be somewhere for you to go, and you needed to find it. Fast.
You began to walk down the street, hugging yourself as tight as you possibly could, trying to comfort yourself. Your eyes darted left and right, keeping an eye out for someone who could help you or perhaps a place for you to go. You told yourself you didn't care who it was who would help you, as long as it was someone. You wanted to believe that you could trust others and that you could get into a better situation. But then you started realizing that couldn't happen. What if the person you found knew your father and took you home to him? What if the person you found had bad intentions and wanted to hurt you further? What if they took you in and helped you, but wanted nothing to do with you after seeing your scars? What if the person was a man?
More and more scenarios rattled around in your brain, each one worse than the next. You began to breathe faster, your heart rate rising once again as your steps quickened. You were no longer sure if you wanted anyone to find you, but you didn't want to be all alone on the streets. Your nails dug into your arms as you tried to hold yourself tighter, but you didn't feel the pain. All you knew was that you were scared and unsure of what to do. You lost yourself in your mind, trying to come up with a solution. You were so deep inside your head that you didn't see the man coming out of a blue police box. You didn't see the look of concern as you paced by, a look of distraught on your own face. You didn't even notice that he was wearing Converse with a suit. What you did notice was his voice calling you out of your trance.
