Hope sighed as the principal lectured her again. He going on and on about something. She'd lost interest a long time ago and was staring out the window at sky.
What was it like to fly? she wondered. What was it like up there in the clouds? Logic told her it would be rather humid as clouds are just condensed water, and she'd a significantly hard time breathing due to the lack of oxygen.
Hope hated logic. It was such a dream killer. She looked at the clock on the far end of the room. It was almost time to go. Her Papa would be mad if she didn't come home immediately after school.
She fidgeted with her school uniform's skirt, waiting desperately for the bell to ring. She wanted to go home to her Papa's mansion, with all her friends and her tutor, Mr. Brunner.
Hope loved the stories Mr. Brunner taught her, they were all about heroes and gods and goddess and great myths and legends. He would always laugh kindly when she'd pretend her pencil was a sword and attack the air, but still he scolded her and had her do her work.
Just a few more seconds now, then....BRRRIIIIING!!!! The bell signaling the end of the school day. Hope jumped to her feet and grabbed her school bag.
"Sorry Mr. Davis!" she apologized polity. "Papa says I always must report home, immediately after school." She ran out the door, and down the hall, down the stairs and out the door, where her usual escorts waited.
The Stoll brothers. Why she needed escorts, and why they were hers, she didn't know or care. All she knew is that they were, and that they always had a treat for her.
Conner tossed her today's treat--a massive lollipop, the kind you only see in the movies. "Let's get going kid," he called.
"You can from upstairs," Travis noticed.
Hope flinched. "It's nothing," she muttered. "Really."
The boys didn't move. They weren't buying it. "There are no classrooms up there, only faculty offices."
"What did you do?" Conner asked.
"Nothing, much," Hope muttered. "I just sort of got into a fight with some boys, and they had to go the....hospital." She said that last part quietly and slowly like she was hoping they wouldn't hear.
They did.
"Why we're you fighting?" Conner asked.
"They were hurting someone, I couldn't just stand by!" Hope protested.

"You know how strong you are!" scolded Travis. "You need to keep out of trouble let like this!"
Hope glared at the ground. "They were hurting Nick, I couldn't just stand there and do nothing!"
"You are supposed to go get a teacher!" Conner told her.
Hope didn't reply anymore. They had this argument almost every day. She was tired of it. She sniffled. Not again. Why was she just a cry baby? She looked hard at the ground and tears started to flow down her cheeks.
"Oh come, now, don't cry!" They protested. "It's nothing to cry about!"
Hope was done with them. She thought about running from them before, but she never tried it. She was too afraid.
Not anymore. Hope could be fast if she wanted to. And Hope could most certainly be brave if she wanted to. She set her face, stopping the water works and whipping the tracks from her face. No more.
She shoved the two boys away from her, and took off running as fast as she could. No one could catch her. She just wanted to be alone.
Conner and Travis looked at each other, from the ground. Hope had flung them away from her harder than she thought. They'd been throw back several yards and ended up on the ground. They stared after Hope, but she was long gone and running too fast for them.
That was a problem. A massive problem. They contacted Chiron. "She's run off."
Hope should never have run.

---

Hope slumped down on a park bench. She was lost. Her lip trembled as she fought back yet more tears. She was scared. She didn't know where she was or how she managed to come here, all she remembered doing was running away from the Stoll brothers.

She pulled the lollipop Conner had given her out of her school bag. It wasn't really food but she was hungry and it was all she had. She started to lick at the sweet candy. It going to take days before she'd be able to finish it. Maybe even months.
She never got the chance to find out. Something lumbered past her that made her drop her candy, shattering it against the pavement. Was that a cyclops? She thought they were only myths. But how?
Fear coursed through Hope's body for the thousandth time. Why was she always afraid? Hope was always scared, it infuriated her. Why couldn't she be more brave?
"Papa?" she called out timidly, even though she never he would never be able to hear her. He was at home, and she was lost. The cyclops ignored her though and kept lumbering on down the street like the was nothing new.
Hope sneezed. Something smelled terrible. What was that? She turned to see a giant hell hound sniffing at some garbage. But that wasn't the only thing. A girl appeared straight out of a tree, fixed her branches slightly and walked back into the tree.
Something wasn't right. These things shouldn't be real. They shouldn't exist. She sneezed again as the other whelming scent of a hotdog vender filled the air. Hope clamped her fingers over her nose and searched for the vender. He was an entire block away! Hope shouldn't be able to smell that.
Body odors of people near her began to fill her nose, suffocating her. She choked on the foul air and sounds rushed to her ears.
Sounds of horns honking and dogs barking and people talking. She could hear it all. Every last sound in the city of Manhattan. And it hurt. Her head pulsed with the pain of too much noise. It was too much. Just too much.
Before another sense kicked in, Hope fainted. The last thing she saw was her Tudor, Mr. Brunner staring down at her with concern etched on his face.
What was happening to her?

Notes

I couldn't sleep and this happened--Yay me!

Well, you know the drill

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--Kim