Emilie P.o.V.:
December 2016

My feet were hurting and it was cold. I didn't really knew how long I had been walking around the city but it was slowly getting dark.

Well at least the sun was going to sleep cause as it seemed I wouldn't find my way back home and even I knew that sleeping on the streets is dangerous.
I was walking close to the river in the hope finding the bridge that I needed to take home but I didn't even know if I'm anywhere close to the bridge I'm looking for.

I could hear the cars on the road to my right. The park I was walking in was at least not open to cars. If it would've been open I might have to explain why I was walking alone around here.
There weren't a lot of people around and I totally got why. It was really cold outside and with the snow on the streets it wasn't really nice to be outside. Especially not when it rained the other day and the snow was more a watery mud than the nice snow you'd like to play in.

In the far away I could see a bridge. There were dozens of lights making the bridge shine so that everyone could see it. I started to walk a lot faster.

"Hey kid where are you going?" A man on a bike stoped in front of me.
"To my mom and dad." I quickly lied and pointed at a couple a little further away.

He nodded and I ran in the direction I pointed. I could feel his eyes following me so I continued to run. At a little hill made of snow I stopped and started to 'play' in it so I wouldn't have to run to the couple. Looking up I saw the biker driving away and with a sigh I continued to make my way to the bridge.

Almost at the bridge I had to go up to the street to get to the entrance to the walkway.

There was it just one more crosswalk and then I'd be there. I waited till some grown ups were crossing the crosswalk before running over the street. The grown ups didn't seem to notice me so I just started walking in the walkway, what nobody else did. All of them crossed to the other side of the street. I just shrugged and continued the way over the bridge.

Bad idea.

With the snowy mud it was slippery. The wind was blowing and it was hard to walk without falling down for me.
It probably would be a easier if I'd be taller so I'd be able to hold onto the railing.

But I just walked on and when I reached the first of the two bridge piers I took a small break and sat down. Here the wind was not as hard as the pier kinda worked as a wind shield.
I curled myself up to warm myself up a little bit but of course it was to cold outside.

With a sigh I got up and continued my walk to the other pier. By the time I reached the second pier it was completely dark and the only light that was still shining came from the street lights.

I was shaking from the cold, my teeth started chattering and I couldn't feel most of my body because it was so cold.
In the shield of the second pier I once again tried to warm up a bit, which worked a little bit as I at least didn't stand in the freezing wind anymore.
Don't know how long I was standing there in the cold, but after a little bit of time I heard the clacking of shoes on the bridge.

I curled myself closer against the shadow of the wall in the effort to make myself invisible to who ever was coming my way.

But apparently I wasn't good enough at hiding because only a few seconds later the footsteps stopped and woman crouched down in front of me.

"Hey sweet girl. What are you doing here?" The woman was blonde and had sparkly blue eyes. She looked at me but I just moved back from her.

"Don't worry I won't hurt you." She immediately promised.

"I just want to help you. Do you maybe now the number to call your mommy?" She asked but I shook my head.

"Don't have a mommy." Her eyes that originally sparkled in bright blue were now laced in concern.

"What about your daddy?" I shook my head again. I still was shaking.

"Okay. Do you know the number of the place where you live?" I shook my head again.

She sighed and nodded. Her hands started to undo her scarf, which was really big, and she started to wrap me in the scarf.

"We need to get you to warmer place."
I shook my head scared. I wouldn't go with her anywhere. She was a stranger and even people I knew where bad so why should I go with someone I didn't knew who was probably just as bad. She sighed and nodded.

"Okay. Do you know where you live? Like the name of the place?" I nodded.
"Can you tell me?" I shook my head again. "I can't leave you out here so you need to come with me or tell me who to call to pick you up." She said looking distressed.

"Miss Higgins Orphanage for Girls." I mumbled and she gave me a short smile.

"Okay I'll see if I can reach someone." She pulled out a phone and started to type into it. I heard the phone ring but nobody picked up.

She sighed and brushed her hand through her hair. She tried again but still nobody picked up, should I tell her that they wouldn't care if I was here and that noone would come to pick me up. It took me sometime but I opened my mouth.

"Miss. They won't care." I mumbled and she looked up again. "What do you mean? They sure would care if such a sweet little girl is running alone around the town." She smiled and I looked down.

I shook my head and she gently pushed my face back so that she could look at me. "Okay I'll call once again and leave them a voicemail. Afterwards I'll take you to my place it's just over the Brooklyn Bridge and then a few minutes further."

Before I could say something she had started to call again. This time she started talking. "Hey. My name is Taylor. I was walking on Brooklyn Bridge, when I found one of the children in your care alone. I've been trying to reach you but nobody picked up. Please call me back." She looked at me. "What's your name?" She formed with her lips. "Emilie" I answered and she smiled once again.

"The girl I mean is called Emilie. I'll take her with me for tonight as I don't feel comfortable leaving such a little girl alone on the streets. If I don't hear from you I'm gonna bring her home tomorrow."

She hung up and looked at me.
"Okay Emilie let's get you to a nice warm place." She smiled and stood up, but I just shook my head.

"Sweet Girl I won't hurt you or anything but I can't leave you alone in the dark. It's dangerous and it's really cold. Look at you you're already shaking because of the cold." She tried to get me to stand up by myself but I just looked at her warily.

"Promise?" I asked and now she looked at me weirdly.

"What do you want me to promise?" She asked while kneeling back down.
"That you won't hurt me." I mumbled and looked down. She nodded and held out her pinky.

"Pinky Promise." She said and smiled. "What's a pinky promise?" I asked back and she sighed.

"It's a promise. We link our pinkies and I promise it. A pinky promise can never be broken you know." I nodded understanding what it meant.
"Okay pinky promise." I linked my pinky with hers.

"Well then let's go." I stood up. Taylor held out her hand for me. I gave her a weird look and she sighed before she pulled it back.

We started walking to the end of bridge but only a few steps after we left the wind shield if the pier I started to stumble.

In the time we had talked the wind had gotten stronger. Taylor noticed it and stopped. "Can I pick you up? I'll only carry you till the end of the bridge." I hestiated and nodded.

She picked me up and put me on her hip. I snaked my arms around her neck.
She pulled me closer to her and I could feel the warmth she radiated warming me up.

Taylor was walking fast much faster than she did with me walking by myself and soon enough we reached the end of the bridge.

"If you want I'll set you down now." She said but I shook my head nuzzling my head into her neck. I could hear her chuckle.

"Alright then I'll carry you." She said.
Now that I didn't have to walk I could feel the pain in my feet and how sore my legs were from walking for so long. I could feel the pain in back that I had since one of the workers in the orphanage had tripped me before hitting me this morning.

Taylor continued walking down the streets before taking a turn right. She continued to walk before she finally stopped in front of a brick house.

"I'll set you down so I can unlock the door." She set me down and fished her keys out of her bag. As soon as the door was unlocked she pushed me inside.
"We need to go upstairs." She said and I followed her up the stairs, having slight trouble with how big the steps were.
"You okay there?" I nodded and continued following her.

"So this is the door to my apartment." She explained unlocking the door and I nodded. Taylor closed the door behind me and smiled.

"Alright sweet girl do you want to take a bath and get dressed in some warmer clothes?" I looked at her weirdly.
"I took a shower a week ago. I don't need one."

Now in the light of the apartment I could clearly see how her blue eyes were wandering over me.

"I think you should take a nice warm bubble bath. Wouldn't that be nice?" She asked. I shrugged instead of saying something. I've never in my life had a bubble bath so I don't know if that would be nice.

"Come I'll show you to the bathroom." I just nodded. "Okay I'll run you a bath and lay out some clothes for you." I nodded again just standing there.

When Taylor came back to the room she was holding a pink long sleeved Pjyama and grey pants. Over the shirt was written Meow! and the pants had kittens over them.

"Here this is probably way to big but it's the smallest I found." She set it down on a side table close to the bath tub, that she had filled with water.

She put a towel next to it and looked at me, before putting some kind of powder into the water. "What's that?" I asked. "Soap to make bubbles." She answered smiling while I watched how the soap started to make bubbles.

"I'll leave now okay? If you need help yell for me alright." I nodded but hestitated on what to do next.
She seemed to notice what was going inside my mind.

"Do you want me to stay?" She asked. That was a first. Never in my life someone had offered me help or wanted to help taking care of me.
I nodded with some hestitation as I really didn't know what to do.

The 'showers' we got once a month weren't even showers. The people in the orphanage would just hose us off in the backyard. We didn't get soap or anything just water. I've never in my life used soap to more than just wash my hands. I didn't even knew that there was soap to make the water bubbly.

"Emilie? What's going on inside your pretty little head?" She asked.
I looked down and felt my cheeks burn up. "I've never taken a bath."

"It's okay. I'll turn around while you get undressed into the bathtub and when you're ready you'll tell me to turn around." I nodded and as soon as she turned around I started to get undressed. As soon as I entered the bath tub I could feel the heat of the water. Not once in my life had I used hot water to clean myself so I was surprised.

I slowly set myself down into the hot water. When I was sitting completly I pulled my knees close to my chest.
"You can turn around now." I said and the woman turned towards me.
"Alright. Do you want to wash me to wash your hair for you?" I nodded slowly.

"Okay. I have different shampoos which one do you want? I have that smells like rose, another that smells like apple and a third one that smells like peppermint."

I looked up at her. "So many options?" She nodded and gave me a warm smile.
"Yeah you can choose."
"Really?" She nodded again.
"Uhm Rose please." I finally answered and she gave me warm smile back.
"Alrighty." I watched as she took a bottle and put it on the floor next to her.

"Turn around Sweet Girl." I turned around and heard her inhale sharply. I looked at her and she just gave me a sad smile. "Turn around." Soon enough felt water in my hair.

"I'll rinse it first before I'll put the shampoo." I nodded.
I felt her hand starting to part some of my hair to make sure that she had wet all of my hair.

"Now I'll put the shampoo. If you get some in your eye tell me immediately." I nodded before I felt her fingers starting to massage the shampoo into my scalp. I had to admit that it was incredibly relaxing. Never in my life I've had someone doing my hair.

"I'm gonna wash the shampoo out now alright?" I gave her a short nod and she started to rinse my hair again. She made sure that she had rinsed every back part of my hair. "Can you lean back and close your eyes please? I don't want you to get soap into your eyes."
I leaned back and closed my eyes before I felt her hand on the front part of my hair.

I could feel her hand on my forehead before she started to slowly rinse out my the front part of my hair.
"I'm done. You can open your eyes again." She smiled as I opened my eyes to turn around and look at her.

"Look at how light your hair now looks." She was right now that my hair was really washed out it was really light.

"I'll get you a cloth with some soap so you can wash your body." She said already rummaging through one of the cabinets.

"There we go." She handed me cloth she had wetted and put some soap onto it.
"I'll go change into a Pjyama. Call me if you need me." I nodded and soon after she left I started washing my body with the cloth.

After I finished I just stayed in the bath tub. It was so nice and warm and god knows if I'll ever be able to take such a nice bath again.

"Hey there I'm gonna come in." I heard Taylor say before she opened the door and came back in.

She had changed into Pjyamas and her lips didn't look so red anymore.
"Let's get you out if the bathtub. Alright?" I nodded and after she gave me the towel I climbed out of the bathtub quickly covering myself in the towel.

"I'll blow-dry your hair so you won't get to cold." She said while she plucked some weird looking thing in.
Then she started using at by pointing it at my hair. At first I was afraid but then I realized that it only was hot air coming out of the thing.

Taylor took her time drying my hair and after she was satisfied she left telling me to change into the stuff she layed out for me.
I did so before walking out in the hallway.
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