CAMILLA

After running for half an hour, then a whole hour of a panic attack behind a dumpster, I finally managed to find a place to sleep. It was early spring in Denmark, which meant short days, and it was safer to sleep when normal citizens were still outside.

Even though I managed to calm myself down that day, Erika and Aiden kept haunting me. And not just in dreams and thoughts, but in the real world too. I kept seeing them in the crowd. Sometimes walking, sometimes standing, sometimes sitting, but always, always, looking. I knew they were looking for me. Maybe they were undercover cops or social workers. I even thought they were long lost relatives, trying to find me, but I highly doubted that. My mother’s family disowned her and any relatives from my father’s side would have spoken Danish to me.

Or maybe they were my mother’s relatives, come to collect what she left behind. Jokes on them, I am not going with them, no matter who they are.

I am very used to hiding from someone. When I was young, still living with my parents, I went to a small public school. I didn't get along with any of the kids there, so I’d spend every break hiding behind the trees on the playground, reading books or playing with sticks. Sometimes just sitting there, thinking. I don't remember what I thought about, I just remember the feeling of it. Life felt infinite, but yet so small. The whole world existed in that corner of the playground, and the whole world existed inside my thoughts.

I still feel like that sometimes, but now it leaves me sad. It's a cruel memory of the kid I used to be, who still lives inside of me. I guess this is the price of living as I do.

Seeing Erika and Aiden again today, I sigh in annoyance. They are standing in front of the fast-food joint where I had been hoping Stuart might be working. The old man sometimes gave me a box of chicken nuggets when there were leftovers.

Instead of approaching the pair, I snuck into the shop beside me. It was one of the mint-white colored shops, with a big sign on the front saying Normal. This place was like heaven for a homeless kid with little to no money. I didn't like begging, but when I did, I usually ended up spending my finds inside of this shop. It had everything, from rows and rows of every kind of soap, maxi size and travel size, there were toiletries, underwear, snacks, and tampons.

Those last two were what caught my eye. I had woken up today with a stain in my sleeping back and only two tampons left, and for the snacks, well I was always in the mood for pringles when my period hit.

Staring at the items of my desire did little to no good since I didn't have the money to buy it. In fact, I only had a couple of kroner in my pockets, not even enough for a pack of gum. So I did what I always did, I took them. Shoplifting was a skill I had as good as perfected. It was all about blending in with the other customers. I took two packets of tampons to compare them, but only one of them ended up back on the self. The other was smoothly placed in the worn-out net that I had taken with me today. I did the same thing with deodorant and pringles but stayed a bit longer to browse the shelves. Better not to rush out and raise suspicion.

After a minute or two, I left the shop with a confident smile on my lips. I couldn't wait to go back to where I hid my backpack and sleeping bag, so I could open up my Pringles can and devour them, one spicy chip after the other.

I wasn't that lucky, however, because as soon as I left the shop, I ran face-first into an old friend of mine. Officer Sunglasses. I didn't know his real name, never intended on finding out, but the truth was that he was the worst of all the pigs who patrolled the area. Officer Sunglasses had something against me personally. He knew I was homeless and had tried to help me get back into the foster system when he first took me in stealing a jacket, but I ran away from him successfully. One escape became twenty, and Officer Sunglasses' hatred of me grew more and more.

“Din lille-” He said. You little. The start of an insult he never got to finish, for I ran as fast as I could as soon as I saw him. Judging by his angry tone and the footsteps behind me, he had followed me.

I followed the quiet streets with fewer people to run into and fewer cars to run me over. I was fast, faster than him, so I used that to my advantage. If I was completely honest with myself, which I rarely was, I enjoyed this. I could feel the adrenaline inside myself, it felt like it drowned out every molecule of blood in my body. The wind felt nice too, it wasn't windy today at all, but as I ran the air cooled me down pleasantly.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

It didn't take me long to shake Officer Sunglasses off my tail, but then I ran into another misfortune.

As I rounded a corner, I was suddenly standing in an alleyway, with Aiden standing in front of me, smiling.

“Hey, glad you made it.” He greeted me like we were old friends. I tilted my head in mock confusion and prepared to fight. I was sure that if I turned around, I’d see that Erika girl standing behind me.

“Let us talk, okay?” Erika appealed. Just as I’d guessed, she was standing right behind me. I turned halfway so I could keep an eye on both of them.

“What do you fucking want?” I raged. I had a pocket knife in my sleeve, and I was itching to pull it, but I had a suspicion that they might pull something worse on me, like a gun. I was completely sure that they were not afraid of fighting me, and I was afraid that I could not take on both of them. I could run, but I was also tired of them. It had been a week since they first approached me, and whatever they wanted to say, I wanted to hear. That last realization was scary.

“I know Aiden here came on a bit strong back in the library,” Erika started.

“Okay in my defense,” Aiden cut in. “We have been looking for her for years, and finally we find her in fucking Denmark!”

I glared at Aiden but didn't bother saying anything.

“Aiden please, we agreed that I’d do this.” Erika pleaded, then looked directly at me with her dark, dark brown eyes. “Camilla, this might sound really strange, and it is, but Aiden and I are a part of an underground…”

“Cult,” Aiden helped.

“No!” Erika yelled at him. “No, it's not a cult. It's like an organization of humans with special abilities.”

“Just say mental disabilities, for helvede.” I cursed, already knowing that this wasn't something I wanted to hear more of. I tried to push away, but suddenly Aiden’s hands were on my shoulders and my back was against the wall.

“See! I said kidnapping her would be easier. She is a stray cat, Erika,” Aiden laughed. I kicked him but that didn't seem to help me at all, as his grip on me got tighter.

“Yes, she is.” Erika agreed. “She is a stray, and we have to feed her before we take her back home.”

“You guys are fucking sick,” I said with disgust.

“I am sorry.” Erika just said. “But if you would just listen to us, we could explain. You are one of us.” She said the last part like it was supposed to mean something to me. I took the liberty of interpretation and shot back with “A fucking psychopath? Stalker? Kidnapper?”

“No,” Erika said while trying to calm me down. I could see that she was getting a bit frustrated with me. Good, I thought, let her feel what I have felt all week.

“Ever wondered why things just,” Erika began explaining, searching for the right words for whatever she wanted to say. “Go your way?”

“Things don't go my way,” I said, gesturing with my restricted hand movement to our surroundings, both indicating my current position between Aiden and the wall, but also my life as of lately, living on the streets in the bold age of nineteen.

“No, not that,” Erika pushed away. “Smaller things. How do you survive out here? And for so long? Without ever being caught?”

I didn't bother to say anything, so Erika continued. “Me, Aiden here and a few other people on this planet, we have a connection to the forces of life.”

“Like a Jedi,” Aiden explained as if that helped me the slightest.

“Yes,” Erika agreed. “Aiden, for example, is very good at controlling heat and can even make fires. Show her.” Erika bumped Aiden with her shoulder.

“Really?” Aiden grinned, letting go of me and pulling up his sleeves. I reached for my knife quietly, as Aiden took a few steps back.

I didn't know what I had expected. That he brought a lighter and started a fire? That he didn't do anything at all? I surely didn't expect him to light his own hands on fire. As soon as I saw the bright lights, I ran, getting a hit on Erika’s shoulder with my knife as I disappeared.

It wasn't the first time I had seen what drugs could do to someone’s mind, but it was the first time I experienced it myself. I couldn't figure out when I had taken them and figured someone must have slipped them into my food or water without me noticing.

As soon as I was sure they were not following me, I headed towards my temporary camp, just wanting to curl up in my sleeping back. Tomorrow I’d be starting my journey out of the capital and heading for another city, maybe Roskilde or Helsingør. Or perhaps this was a sign for me to do the things I had feared for years. Traveling out of Denmark and through Europe. Because of my Italian mother, getting Italian citizenship would be easy, and the prospect of living down in the warmer country sounded delightful, but the journey was what scared me. I didn't even have enough money to buy food in Denmark, let alone a ticket for any kind of train. I’d had to rely on sneaking into places I wasn't supposed to be or walking for hours on end.

I rounded a corner and saw the familiar sight of my baggage hidden behind a trash can, and almost sang in relief. I had enough time to take one step more towards it before I saw the boy sitting on the ground between me and my goal. In his hand was a baseball bat. Never a good sign. He stood up and looked at me, then his watch.

“Two minutes,” he commented. “That’s pretty damn fast.”

Then he swung and everything disappeared.