Jasen hummed a quirky nameless tune as he ran his fingers along the brick wall's crevices. It wasn't really an enjoyable feeling, the rough grainy texture made his soft pale skin feel like a cloud from Heaven in comparison.
Jasen had run away three days ago, although it felt like years. His mother was a typical worrier and had called the police after Jasen being absent for three hours past his curfew. He laughed softly, recalling the night in his head, and rubbing the scar on his shoulder, a memento of his father. He looked at his attire and realized that a pinstripe blazer and sweatpants probably wasn't the greatest outfit idea for a great escape.
Now Jasen was leaning against a wall of an elementary school, feeling safe... for now. There was a large playground to the right of the school. It reminded him of his own peaceful childhood, before his stepfather moved in. A smile spread over his chapped lips, but it was quickly broken as he noticed the silhouette of a person at the top of a slide on the playground. It was too dark to distinguish anything about the stranger, but Jasen could tell that they were staring directly at him.

Seeing that she had been spotted, Anna froze on the spot, her long blonde tresses the only thing moving in the cold November wind. She could tell that the boy didn't have a home. What other reason would he be wandering around for at least a day, ducking behind things when police cars rolled by? She had been following the stranger for at least 12 hours now, and being found so easily made her frustrated, but he was captivating and she had let her guard down. She looked down from the slide across the parking lot to look at the boy again. He seemed to think that if he held still enough, she would not be able to see him. Chuckling softly, Anna jumped off of the abnormally high platform she was standing on and landed on her feet silently like a black cat. Dusting the sand and snow off of her stockings, she proceeded to slowly stand up and walk towards the unknown male.

Jasen's mind was drawing a blank. He had no idea what do to in a situation like this. The only thought that kept crossing his mind was,
She knows who you are! Run, you fool!
All of a sudden his feet moved, and he was sprinting to the other side of the building. He crossed the front door, nearly stumbling over some abandoned textbook on the ground, and continued to run out to the back.
Jasen was not a very athletic person. Just a few minutes of running was giving him severe chest pains, and he collapsed on the ground, panting hard. He was scared, and he wasn't afraid to admit it. Crazy ideas were going through his head, like hitchhiking out of this town, or even murdering the girl chasing him. As his breath slowed back down again, however, he noticed that the girl had not appeared again.
Pulling himself up to a seated position, Jasen surveyed the area around him. There were many houses surrounding the school that he could take refuge in, but he knew that most people in the vicinity knew he was missing... Though most of them were apathetic towards the situation. Crawling behind an elevated stone walkway, Jasen curled up into a ball and looked at the frosted grass hopelessly.[/i]

Anna leaned against the bar of the stone walkway, looking down upon the very curious boy she had just calmly pursued. Although her outfit (which consisted of a frilly short lolita dress and dollie shoes) wasn't fit for what she was about to do, Anna lept over the side of the bar and landed right on top of the man. At first, he didn't even react to her, and she looked at him to see that he was staring off into space with a cold, dead look on his face. Taken aback, she loosened her grip around him and sat up to see what he was staring at so fiercly.

Jasen's heart was pounding against his chest. It took all of his might not to yell when the girl landed on top of him. Now she had looked up for a second, and he sprung to life, shoving her off of him and throwing her on the ground nervously. He pinned both her arms down and glared at her through narrowed eyes. He knew his sharp features were useful for looking intimidating in times like this, as was his unkempt jet-black hair. He fought the urge just to hit her, as he definitely did not want to cause a scene in a quiet neighborhood. It was in this moment that he took a clear look at his victim and was momentarily captivated. She was almost too dressed-up to be wandering outside at night. Jasen was tempted to brush her waist-length hair out of the way, partly because its sheen was distracting him from the situation. He counted to three in his head, releasing the young woman and quickly backing up so that he would not be surprised like that again. Slowly and quietly, he asked her,
"Who are you?"

"Anna."
She chose to give a one-word response, because the boy looked as if he had been hit by a train, and there really was no point as to going into details when he was in a state like this.
She gave a little curtsy as a hello to the boy, who, after seeing his face close-up, realized that it was none other than Jasen Willows, the runaway that was on television frequently as of late. Not that Anna watched a lot of television (in fact, she loathed it), but sometimes her escapee group would update others on the main local news.
Anna didn't know how to say anything else to Jasen at this point, even though she did not fear him.
He could be a new recruit...
she thought, trying to collect her thoughts to say ANYTHING to him. The minutes ticked by, and they continued to stare at each other with a mix between fascination and fear. Finally, Anna spoke up.
"Jasen. That's your name, isn't it? Well, anyway. I can tell that you've been running away from something, and my bet is it's your home, right? Right. Well, if you want to be safe from being put back in that hellhole you ran from, I suggest you come with me. Hell, you can even follow from a distance if it makes you feel safer."
With that said, Anna turned completely around and began walking back to the front of the school.

Well... This is abrupt.
Jasen watched, stunned, as Anna started walking slowly away. At first, he wanted to run the other way, but there was something promising about her. Something that he couldn't quite put his finger on. Even if he did run, she could just go call the police and his little three-day adventure would be over. He warily took a few steps toward her, and then gained confidence after that. Eventually he increased his pace to be a few strides behind Anna. Once in a while, Jasen swore he heard a third set of footsteps, but as soon as he listened for it, they would disappeared. Shrugging it off, he put his life in this newfound girl's hands, and he pressed on.