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Naomi was running. She was running faster than she had ever run before. She felt the sweat dripping from her forehead and her heart was pounding so hard, it felt like it was going to beat out of her chest. She had the backpack and was nervously looking over her shoulder, eyes darting every, which way, to see if anyone was following her. She was not quite sure if anyone had seen her, but she was not going to take any chances either. Her dirty, old runners were pounding the dirt and small rocks were flying everywhere. She stopped. Her labored breathing caught in her chest, which was heaving dramatically. She stood leaning on the large gum tree in front of her and just waited, slowing her breathing down and anticipating a chase. Naomi peered out from the tree, was anyone following her? Did anyone see her? Her eyes darting around, locking in on a man sweeping his driveway and a small dog chasing a young boy on his bike. Nobody seemed to be chasing her. Did she really just get away with that?

Naomi crouched down on the ground in her dirty trousers, marked with soil and so many creases. She slowly studied the backpack. It was dark grey with some small pockets but with big, padded straps for the shoulders. Naomi opened the zip to see what was inside and removed a black and brown checkered scarf. It was soft to touch and looked expensive, like it was cashmere or one of those exotic materials. She placed it gently on the grass next to her. There was also a green apple. Oh nice! She would have that later. She had not had any fruit for a while now. She would keep this for dinner and savor every bite. Her eyes stopped on a little black book which she pulled out curiously. You could tell it was expensive and looked like real leather. Naomi ran her hand slowly over the front of it. It was a notebook. It looked elegant, like the kind of notebook that a businessman would have or the lady who went to lunch a lot at one of those fancy restaurants she would nervously walk past and see her laugh with their friends while sipping champagne. Naomi opened the notebook. The handwriting in there was small and neat but it looked so elegant and flowed so nicely on the pages. But none of it made sense to her. It was all just names and dates and some figures. Maybe it was appointments or meetings? She could not work out what it all meant. She placed the notebook onto the scarf on the ground and peered deeper into the backpack. There was something else at the bottom, in a smaller black, plastic bag, which she removed.

Naomi slowly opened this bag and gasped in shock! Her eyes were wide, and she could not believe what she was seeing. It was money! Lots and lots of money! One-hundred-dollar bills, all tied up into nice, neat, even bundles. She had never seen so much money in her life, especially in the last six month’s she had been living on the streets. She was used to performing these snatches and grabs now with people or shops to hopefully find something worth selling, so she could buy some extra food that week or find enough money to buy a warm coat for the winter. The nights were always so cold. Nights were when she regretted leaving home the most, but still, she could not have stayed anyway. Not in that house. Not ever.

She started to giggle; this was amazing! It was finally pay day! All those cold nights and feeling hungry all the time and now she had so much money. She didn’t know how much it was, but it looked like thousands! At least, ten maybe twenty thousand dollars! Enough to get away, enough to find a safe place to stay and certainly enough to go and buy some decent food and feel like those ladies in the restaurant. Maybe she would even buy some champagne! Huh.

Naomi was so excited, thinking about all the amazing food she could buy with this money and she remembered the motel nearby she could check into that night and have a long bath, when she heard him. A deep, loud, commanding voice that yelled in her direction. “Hey, you there with the backpack”! He sounded so angry and as Naomi looked up, she realised it was the man from the dodgy pawn shop she had stolen it from. He was coming straight for her. Oh, no, she had to run! She could not get caught with this, but she could not give it back to him either. She needed this money. It could help her so much, not just for the night with a warm bed to stay in and a hot meal, but she could go back and see her brother, like she promised. He could come away with her and they could find somewhere safe to live together. She owed him that at least. The man was lurching towards her at a rapid pace now, so Naomi threw the cash back into the backpack, grabbed the diary and scarf and jumped to her feet and just ran, like she had never run in her life. This was her one and only chance for a better life. She felt like she had just been given the most amazing gift in her life and she was definitely going to take it. So, she ran.