Dante

O n e

Skye's POV

"Um, excuse me, where did my mom go?" I ask the lady at the check-in counter.

I went to the bathroom while my mother was fetching the tickets, but now she is gone and she has left my bag behind.

"Who is your mom?" the lady behind the counter asks.

"Um, her name is Mary. She was here a little while ago. She has short black hair and green eyes and she was wearing a bright orange dress," I explain, hoping that the bright dress will ring a bell.

"Oh... The lady you are describing just boarded the plane. She only took one ticket. Are you sure you have the right person?"

"Yes, I'm sure. My bag is still here, but she was supposed to check it in."

The lady's eyes fill with sympathy. "I'm sorry, honey. I could check if we can bring her back, but I think the plane has departed already. Do you want me to try anyway?"

I nod. "If the plane hasn't left already, please send a broadcast to the crew to bring her here or remind her that she has a daughter." I can't even call her because my phone was in her handbag.

All I have in my pocket is my identification card and some coins, which doesn't help because that won't get me home. I don't have any money.

It is not possible that my mom would leave me on purpose. This has to be a mistake. She is not like that, and she definitely didn't take me on a holiday to Spain just to leave me here.

"I'm sorry, but the plane has left. We contacted the lady you say is your mother. She said she doesn't have a child. Maybe you have the wrong person?"

"How many middle-aged woman with short black hair and green eyes could be wearing a bright orange dress on a flight to Burlington?" I ask.

The lady shrugs. "She said she doesn't have kids. We can't turn the plane around. I'm sorry."

I sigh and turn around, not sure what to do. How am I going to get home now?

I walk outside, taking my bag with me, and look around. Maybe I can stand here and beg until I have enough money for a ticket.

I really don't want to, but I can't think of anything else I can do to get money fast enough. I feel like crying, but I can't. My life is over. Even if I get home, what then? Will my mom even want me anymore? My life was so perfect and I had everything but now all I have is my stupid suitcase.

I pull out a hat from the suitcase and turn it upside down. As people walk past me to get into the airport, I hold my hat out to them.

"Please? I need to get home," I explain but nobody even looks twice. Only one person in every thirty or so is nice enough to drop a twenty cent coin inside the hat.

I groan. At this rate, I am never going to get home. The ticket costs about a thousand Euros which means I would need more than one hundred thousand people to walk past me before I get enough money to get home.

As the hours pass, my feet start to hurt and my arms get tired of holding up the hat. The sun slowly goes down. I groan, pulling my bag down and sitting on it. I just want my bed. I can't sleep on the street tonight, not even for the experience.

Yeah, experience. Because everyone needs to know what it's like when their mom ditches them in Spain and they have to beg for money and sleep alone outside.

I put my elbows on my knees, still holding up the hat with both arms. I lean my forehead against my wrist, ready to burst into tears.

I was happy with what I had. Now all I have is a bright pink bag full of nothing but clothes and some toiletries.

A few minutes pass and I get a sense that someone is standing in front of me. They drop something in the hat, but it is not a coin — a coin would have made a noise. Maybe it is another idiot trying to leave their cigarette butt in my hat.

I look up and into the hat. Instead of a cigarette, I see one hundred Euros. Immediately glancing up, I find a gorgeous dark-haired man in a tuxedo looking down at me. I stare at him and then look back at the hat, then back up at him. Holy shit, he is hot.

"De nada," he says and chuckles. God, his laugh and his smile are beautiful, too.

I quickly realise I have been staring and haven't said anything. I quickly stand up. "Gracias." He looks really wealthy. Maybe it's his formal attire, or his perfectly styled hair, or maybe because he gave me a hundred Euros for no reason.

Can I ask for more? It's rude, but I'm desperate. "You... You don't happen to have about twenty more of these, do you?" I ask and smile. I hope he speaks English and doesn't just smile and walk away.

He shakes his head. "Well, I do... but not for a homeless girl that I have never met before. Just be happy with what I gave you," he tells me.

He turns and starts to walk away, but I quickly grab his wrist to stop him. "Please? Please, I'm not homeless, I'm trying to get home, but I live in the United States and I have no money to get there. Please? Look, I even have my bag with—" I turn around to show him my bag, but it's gone. "No! No. No. No. Shit!" I scream.

The stranger frowns. "Look, I have a flight to catch so..." He starts walking away again.

"I'll do anything," I beg. "If I sleep on the streets, I'll probably die. If not because of an attacker, then because I'm going to freeze to death since my jacket is now gone. I don't want to do this. Please, I'm begging you, just tell me what you want and I'll give it to you."

He stops walking and turns around to look at me with his eyebrows raised. "Anything? Do you realise what a bad idea that is?"

I nod. "I guess I'm that desperate."

He sighs and nods. "I'm flying to France. Come with me and I'll give you my conditions, okay?"

"What if I don't agree with your conditions?" I ask.

"Then instead of being a homeless person in Spain, you'll be a homeless person in France," he tells me and winks, then starts walking away. "Either follow me or have a good nights rest on the pavement, hobo."

I purse my lips and quickly follow him. Screw it. Right now I've got nothing to lose. Not even a freaking toothbrush.

•=•=•

HOLAAAA MY BEAUTIFUL POTATO SACKS *wiggles eyebrows* AYE, first chapter is finally up!! Sorry if I say some weird shit in my authors notes. I'm not drunk buuuut I am having a sugar high from all the Starbucks cakepops I've been eating so hehehe yeahhhhh okay bye!¡!¡

Also, tag a friend that you think will like this story ;)

T w i t t e r : xPineappleGirlx
I n s t a g r a m : laylaawrites
Y o u t u b e : xThePineappleGirlx

Lots of love and jelly tots - xThePineappleGirlx