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ASH
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Days had gone by. Days spent avoiding where I came from. It wasn't a difficult thing to do, and I knew what places to stay away from if I didn't want to run into that kind of crowd. Considering how much I was trying to make something respectable of my life, the only places I regularly went to, outside of seeing my mother, were work, the library, the neighborhood supermarket, and home. Every so often, I'd go for a run, but that depended on if I had stress to relieve.

You always have stress to relieve.

Which brought me to now. To jogging.

Turning down the street that led to the local park, I readjusted my earbuds to keep them from slipping out as I ran. It was fairly chilly out, and I only had on leggings and an oversized hoodie, but the workout kept me warm. Once my blood started pumping and my heart rate picked up, not even the cold was a good enough reason to stop. Only when my legs grew too heavy and my lungs started hurting would I feel like I finished my workout.

To some, it may've seemed a bit extra, but this was like my therapy. My energy draining, limb straining therapy.

I was just jogging past the old playground when I heard two people arguing. Their voices were loud, obnoxious in my eyes considering I could hear them over my music and they were in public. Glancing up ahead, in their direction, I saw who it was.

A man, probably not much older than myself, stood with his arms crossed tensely, his pale face toward me under a dark skully. In front of him stood a woman, and all I could tell of her was that she had bright red hair, due to her back facing me. The way they were going at it, I figured they were a couple, especially when she shifted and I noticed her hands held her stomach protectively, hinting that she was pregnant.

The man didn't seem like the abusive type, from where I was, and as I got closer, he actually seemed worried. Keeping my eyes off them, not wanting to be in their business, my gaze landed on the next person behind them.

A little girl.

I watched as she jumped around, in her own little world, completely oblivious to the what was around her, and I found myself envious. It was a shameful feeling, to be jealous of a toddler, but I was. It wasn't even her fault. She was adorable, with her dark brown pigtails and rosey cheeks. The smile on her face made me want to reciprocate the expression, but I hardly had a reason to. I hoped she would always be able to find a reason to smile, though. Every child should. Even if I didn't.

Her life's probably not as fucked up as yours was at that age.

I was just about to pass the child by when I noticed how close to the edge of the sidewalk she was getting. All her jumping seemed to have made her dizzy, and she was fumbling around to keep from falling. Fear formed in the pit of my stomach when she tripped and fell on her knees, landing in the street.

"Shit!" I shouted, sprinting the few feet it took to get to her.

Scooping her up and out of harms way just in time to avoid oncoming traffic, I held her shaking frame.

"You're okay, sweetheart," I cooed, rubbing her back as her little hands held the back of my neck. She wasn't making a sound, mostly in shock of what happened, trying to make sense of it. Hell, I was still processing all of it, but I focused on keeping myself together, for her sake. "You're okay."

"Oh my God!" a woman cried, rushing over to us. Turning my head to look at her, I realized it was the red haired woman who'd been arguing with her boyfriend just moments ago. "Mazie! Mazie, baby, are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"No, Mommy," she said softly as I let her go. In seconds, the man was there as well, on his knees reaching for her.

Standing up, I found myself snapping, "But, she could have been."

The woman's light brown eyes watered when she looked at my angry face, nodding her head. "I know. You're right. I should have been paying closer attention to her."

"Yeah, you should have. Do you realize there are more dangerous things in this town than just the cars on the road?" With squinted eyes, I looked the girl's parents in the face, hard, and reminded them, "There's no such thing as an age limit with traffickers."

The amount of young girls I'd seen sent out on tricks or advertised online was sickening. I would have been one of them, if it wasn't for who my father was. Looking down at the scared girl in front of me, I thought back to how innocent and carefree she was, just a minute ago. I wanted her to stay that way.

"Woah, woah," the man chided, meeting my gaze with furrowed brows. "Could you calm down long enough for us to at least thank you for saving our daughter?"

"You don't need to thank me," I shook my head, looking away. "Just take care of the girl. Please."

And even if I may have been out of line, I didn't regret a word I said, because it was all true.

You're never too young to have your world ripped away.

It only takes a second, and then you're never the same.

Jogging away, I adjusted my earbuds and turned the music up, needing to drown in the sound. Life was too hard sometimes, and after what just happened, I needed to distract myself from the memories bubbling to the surface. Memories of the many times my innocence was ripped away.

If I could somehow keep the same things from happening to another little girl, I surely would.