The moon emerged from the clouds and soft golden rays shone through the lace curtains of the attic room. The rays moved deeper into the small space, reaching a wooden, worn floor. They encountered a gray blanket on the bed, a dressing table, a nightstand and an old chair, and finally touched one of the red braids belonging to a girl kneeling in a corner.

Midnight was closer and closer and she even sped up, trying not to waste her time. Everything she couldn't pack during the day, she now stuffed into a
backpack that she secretly sewed herself. 

Finally, she closed it and stood up, looking around to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything important. 

Some clothes.

A hairbrush. 

An old trooper figurine she had since birth. 

Her dad's favourite book.

Letters.

A knife stolen from the kitchen. 

And ballet shoes tied to the backpack's handle that she couldn't leave, even though they were too small for her. But they were a gift from her mother. 

The girl reached for a threadbare jacket and a beret waiting on a chair and quickly put them on. She approached the window and opened it, taking a deep breath. 

She had one chance, only one chance to escape the Mulberry Fields Orphanage. Only one month left - and she'll be homeless. 

In this orphanage children over fifteen were being simply kicked out, and she was almost sixteen. It was a blessing that she - as the oldest child - got her own small room in the attic. And that she was able to escape.

She leaned out the window and sat astride the parapet.

That was easy:

Left leg.

Right leg.

Inhale.

Slowly move along the roof under the window.

Exhale.

Left leg.

Right leg.

Inhale.

Left leg.

Right leg.

Exhale.

And over again. 

The girl tripped and almost fell, several roof tiles rolled down, hitting the ground with a thud. She choked back a scream.

That was easy...

Inhale.

Exhale.

"Fuck!"

She froze, trying not to lose her balance.

"Stupid, don't swear, just go on" she mumbled to herself.

She crouched down, grabbing the edge of the gutter. Her foot reached the rivet protruding from a vertical gutter running along the wall and she clung to it, moving away from the edge of the roof. Now just slide down two floors - and she'll be free.

Sounded too easy.

She almost forced herself to take her foot off the roof and started sliding down. Lucky - the building was old, so protruding bricks provided additional support for the feet.

 She also thanked herself she had thought about wearing gloves, otherwise the rivets on the gutter would have cut her hands. Actually, it wasn't physically difficult to escape the orphanage - because who'd escape from such a place? Theoretically, she had nowhere to stay. 

But that was just theoretically.

Cause in fact, she had one place to go, and thanks to this, her childhood dreams could come true. She always wanted to become a contortionist, and now she had a chance. Because she was running away to join a circus.

She had seen it through the window for years, and it had become her biggest dream, even bigger when the kids from Mulberry Fields had been allowed to go to a show three years earlier. 

That was when she found out what happens to kids turning sixteen, and the same thing happened to her best friend Bary. On the day he left, he confessed he was not supposed to be adopted but being thrown out - and then he just disappeared, leaving her heartbroken.

She wanted to know what happened to him as much as she didn't want to. But she didn't miss him anymore - it was her time to go.

The girl almost screamed in relief as her feet touched the ground and immediately took a few steps back to get away from the building.

She couldn't believe it... 

She did it.