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Fifteen year old Poppy Partrige was on a walk though her neighborhood. She had lived in this small town all her life, she even knew every road and shortcut there was. However, she wasn't too familiar with her neighbors. While Poppy loved being with people and was a naturally kind (and cautious) person, her parents weren't too keen on her talking with others. She respected her parents opinions, though didn't agree with them since there weren't even too many other people who lived with them, and was careful while out on walks, making sure not to talk with anyone while she was away from her parents.
However, while she was on this specific stroll, Poppy noticed a small child who she figured couldn't be any older than three or four that was alone in a wooded area of the neighborhood, and crying. Nervously glancing around to make sure that nobody, especially her parents, were looking at her, she broke from the path, and moved towards the small child. She walked as lightly as she could, not wanting to alarm the kid and make him cry further. Once she was only a few feet away from him, she stopped and spoke gently. "Hey, kid.. Are you okay?" Poppy asked, crouching down to meet his face. The crying child looked up at her, his face both red and wet from the tears that were still flowing down his face. He sniffed and rubbed his face, trying to stop the tears from falling, but it didn't work. "Hey, kid. It's okay.." Poppy said, scooting just a bit closer to him, and bringing a sleeve-covered hand up to meet his wet cheek. Using the fabric of her colourful sweater, Poppy wiped the childs tears away. "Now, what's the matter?" She asked sincerely, and the child sniffed once more. "U-Um.." He hesitated, looking away.
"Kid?" Poppy asked, moving a bit so she could sit down. She waited for a minute longer, but when the kid wouldn't answered, she sighed. "It's okay if you don't want to tell me, I know that it can be hard to talk with someone you've just met. How about we just talk with eachother first? I'm Poppy Partridge!" Poppy offered, and her smile grew when the kid looked back at her. "I.. I'm Wally Darling," He said, his voice quivering with what Poppy assumed was nervousness. "It's nice to meet you, Wally," She smiled, and he smiled back at her. "It's nice to meet you too, Miss Poppy." He said, and Poppy laughed. "Oh, there's no reason to be so formal. Just call me Poppy, alright?" She said, standing up. Wallys eyes widened, and he looked.. sad again? "I-I'm sorry if I made you upset by calling you that, but please don't go!" Wally begged, tears forming in his eyes and threatening to fall again.
Poppy looked down at him sadly, and extended her arm. Wally looked confused, but grabbed it and Poppy pulled him up. She looked at him with sorrow, and told him "I wasn't leaving, sweetie. I want to take you home." Expecting him to get calmer at this information, Poppy was suprised when Wally took in a sharp breath, and started freaking out. "Woah, kiddo. Are you okay?" She asked, and he shook his head violently. "No! I don't wanna go back there!" He said, let go of Poppys grip, and ran further into the woods, trying to get out of going back to there."Wait, Wally!" She screamed, and ran after him.
Since she was taller than the young boy and had longer legs, even despite Wallys few second headstart, Poppy was able to easily get closer to the toddler. "Wally, wait! I'm sorry, I didn't know that you were upset because of your home!" Poppy said, which made Wally hesitant. She thought he going to stop running, and let her catch up, but Wally just continued running. However, he eventually tripped on a tree root, and tumbled quickly to the ground. Poppy immediately rushed over to him, and examined him. Luckily, he wasn't bleeding too badly but did have a few scratches and a pretty deep cut on his upper arm. Thankfully for her preparation, Poppy had everything needed to help his wounds: bandaids, and a small travel-size bottle of rubbing alcohol.
Once Wally was patched up, Poppy set him down. "Please, don't run away again," She asked worridly. What would have happened if he had gotten hurt even more and Poppy didn't have the correct things on her? Wallys wounds could have gotten infected, and he could've gotten sick, or worse, and it would've been all her fault! Wally just looked down and whispered "I'm sorry.." That small little sentence just about broke Poppy poor heart. "Oh, Wally. It's okay, honey." She tried to reassure him, but he just shook his head again and started sobbing. "No, it's all my fault! I-If I hadn't run off, then I wouldn't have gotten hurt, and you wouldn't have had to chase after me!" He also whispered something that Poppy thought sounded like 'I'm such an idiot', but she wasn't too sure and didn't want to press him for answers, knowing how upset he already was. "Wally, it's okay. I truly don't mind, I just wanted to make sure you were okay. If you'd like, we could just go for a walk around the neighborhood? We don't have to go to your house if you don't want to. If you'd like, you could even spend the night at my place and see how you feel in the morning? You'd just have to be extra quiet," She offered, knowing her parents would likely be upset if they found out Poppy had someone over, and Wally nodded. "Thank you, Poppy." He said with a small smile as they exited the forest.
"Your welcome, Wally."