one summers day

Annaleise had managed to escape from her teachers so far, and she had no intentions of running back anytime soon. She just wanted to explore her new territory. How could the big people ship her off to a new island and expect her to be happy cooped up in a tiny classroom all day? She had not managed to find any kids her age yet, though, and she was absolutely dying to find a crew on this stupid island. Even a big person as a friend wouldn't be awful. They could smuggle her into places she couldn't normally go, which would be a good bonus.

Making her way into the campus stables, Annaleise marveled at all the horses in their boxes, neighing nervously as soon as the scent of a stranger hit them. The straw shuffled beneath her tiny white shoes, and she stomped merrily through the crackling reeds, making the horses even more concerned with her presence. Stopping her antics for the ponies, Annaleise squatted, her light green dress pooling around her ankles, as her hand fished through the scattered hay, collecting a small piece of what looked like a horse treat. Clutching it tightly in her small fist, Annaleise held it safely against her breast, examining each horse to determine the prettiest one. She stopped at one of the end stalls, inspecting the large creature that stared warily back at her. Shoving her fist out at the animal, she stood on her very tip toes, trying to reach the equine's nose, squeaking and drawing back rapidly when she felt the twitching velveteen muzzle brush her fingers. Unsure of how exactly to feed the creature, she stared stubbornly up at it, looking back to her fist, and back to the horse, deciding on the best tactics to slip it the food she had found.

Staring irritably down at her clenched fist, Anna wished horses weren't so big. She had seen far bigger and fiercer animals of course, but that didn't make the possibility of getting bitten any more desirable. She had managed to work it out in her mind that the horse would probably be able to eat it if she left the treat on top of his stall, but the problem was reaching the top.

Moving closer to the box, Anna heard a voice behind her and whirled around, staring at a stranger petting and talking to the horses. She seemed to be trying to calm them down, and Annaleise almost went back to her issue, but was spoken to before she could.

Unsure of how to answer the stranger, Anna gave a feral hiss before taking a running leap at some nearby hay bales. Clambering to the top, she froze as the stacked hay wobbled under her weight, and exhaled as the hay settled finally. Perched upon her makeshift throne, Anna felt safer looking down on her intruder. "Playing with the horses. What are you doing? I'm not supposed to talk to strangers, and you're a stranger." Her hands found their way to her hips, and she stared down defiantly at the woman who dared interrupt her little horse session. She wasn't doing anything terribly important, and taking a quick glance at her hand, she realised that she still had a treat to feed the horse she had picked. Narrowing her eyes at the stranger, Anna clutched the treat to her breast, prepared to use it as a projectile if need be.

Anna stretched her neck a little higher, envious that the stranger was able to reach the horses so easily. She couldn't wait when she would be that tall and able to reach things. Staring down from her lofty perch, Annaleise decided that Sena's story was a likely one. She couldn't really blame her for skipping classes. "You're new...?" Her teachers had always told her to be kind to the new students. She had gotten punished pretty severely the last time she tried to bite one for patting her head.

Scooting down a barrel, Annaleise perched precariously on the second haybale down, her toes pressing her back into the bale she had just come down off of. "I'm Annaleise." Slowly, Anna dropped down one more barrel, slowly inching her way back down to the floor. The stranger was slowly making her more and more curious, and Anna almost couldn't help but go have a closer look. As she was about to say something else, Anna could hear someone calling out her name. Knowing that it was probably a teacher that was unlucky enough to be picked to search for her, Anna dropped behind her hay bale, peeking out to watch a teacher storm past the stables, heading around to the lake. Once she assumed the coast was clear, Anna emerged from her spot, clutching fistfuls of hay. "I'm not 'sposed to be here, but they'll never find me."