Run, Run, Run, As Fast As You Can

Taken

"Who are you?" I asked the man standing under the canopy of the weeping willow. He obviously wasn't a daddy. If he were he would have been lounging on one of the benches next to the playground instead of lurking in the shadow of the massive tree. I didn't think he could even see the playground through the long switches of leaves. Even if he could somehow see through that mass of green I knew that there were plenty of proud oak trees standing between him and the playground. The reason I knew of his existence was my desire to see if I could find out why the willow was sad.

A minute of silence passed before I asked another question, "What are you doing?"

The strange man sniffed the air a little before looking down at me and smiling, "I'm looking for my puppy," he replied.

I scrunched up my eyebrows in confusion and studied him a little more. He was wearing a pair of dark jeans and a white t-shirt with a leather jacket thrown over it. That didn't seem all that strange but if he was really looking for a puppy he wouldn't have been leaning against the trunk of the tree with a lazy air about him. If he was looking for a puppy, he would have been looking for a puppy. 

"I don't think you're doing it right," I said remembering what my daddy said about strangers and trying to slowly back away from the man who now had a look of dark excitement painted on his face. It was slightly encouraging that he hadn't started to go after me. Instead he just stared as I took another step, and another until I finally reached the wall of green and felt the branches caressing my shoulders and head as I pushed my way through them.

Just as the last one slipped over my head I felt my back hit something soft but unyielding. I turned around slowly and lifted my head to peer into the eyes of what could only be described as a monster.

"Looks like my puppy found me," the silver eyed man said walking toward the beast that had blocked my path and standing beside it.

Next to the man the animal looked less like a beast and more like an unusually large doggy but no doggy I knew had the kind of intelligence that sparkled behind the eyes of the creature I was facing. 

The thing cocked it's head to the side in an inquisitive manner before he started to shake his body. All his hair started to retreat back into his skin as he did so and his limbs started to contort into strange positions. 

I shut my eyes tight against the sight, fighting back a scream that I knew would not go over well with these strangers. 

After a minute or so I heard a new voice. 

"How did you manage to get her so fast?"

Get me? They want to take me?

That scream I was trying to fight nearly escaped me but then I remembered my daddy telling me that the most important thing to do in a bad situation is to remain calm. I felt the frown slipping off my face as pure determination filled my soul. If I listen close enough I might be able to talk them out of whatever they have planned for me. If I can't talk my way out of it I'm less likely to get hurt since there's no way I could fight off either one of them and my short legs wouldn't carry me fast enough to get me back to daddy without me being caught. 

"She wandered over here."

I opened my eyes then and fixed a glare at the pair of people, unconsciously noting that the second man was even bigger than the grey eyed one and had a milk chocolate tone to his skin instead of the tan look that the grey eyed man sported. 

"She sure is quiet isn't she?" the dark one asked the grey eyed one,"I don't think I've ever seen a kid that didn't go ape shit when they saw me change."

"My name is Rose Pixie McFea and my father is going to hunt you like the dogs that you are," I said with as much venom as I could manage. 

"That's so cute coming from a six year old. Where did you learn that kind of language anyway?" the grey eyed one said with a smirk.