Some of you may recognize this as the first chapter from my old story that failed miserably, but I've changed it so that it's no longer present time, but so it's set at the same time that the movie is set. This first chapter is going to be probably be the longest chapter in this whole story, the upcoming chapters will be shorter.

~Chapter One - The Snowman~

"Stop being so stubborn, Penny-Red," my best bud, Sophie Jenkins, said softly.

I loathed how she could be so calm in what appeared to be a heated argument, in fact, Sophie was always calm. It was unusual how we became to be pals when we were complete opposites, her caring and calm type, me belligerent and bold. The argument was about one of my other buddies, Anne Marrison, the confident, courageous and crazy one, Sophie had never liked Anne, and Anne had never liked Sophie. Anne was the one who would still be single and doing stunts on her Harley-Davidson at 40, but when I think of Sophie at 40 I see a mother and wife in the centre of a caring family. Me? I have no idea where my life is going, I believe in gut-feelings and instincts, no matter what the cost.

"Don't be such a goody-two-shoes, Sapphire; I'm only going out for a walk." I replied with the annoyance apparent in my voice. Sapphire, my nickname for Sophie, I can't remember how the name came about, but I have the feeling it was something to do with her eyes. Her eyes, they were bluer than all the tropical oceans mixed together with the clear sky, but when you took in the rest of her features, her eyes didn't seem to belong. She could be a model if she wanted, I guessed, high-cheekbones, curvy figure, milky chocolate skin, short hair that made her look more like an elf or leprechaun, but instead of leaving it naturally coppery-brown she had dyed it a pale pink. I blame myself for that, I had said a few weeks ago that she should show some of her wild side; I complained that she was too boring. A few hours later my best pal had pink hair, I thought it was funny, in a kind and caring way and told her to wash it out before one of the nurses saw her, but she pulled a face, making me laugh even harder, and told me it was permanent. It was at that moment I fell off the bed and landed flat on my face, still laughing. I smiled at the memory and added, "And stop calling me Penny-Red."

Penny-Red had been my nickname since I can remember, my name is Penelope Reed, my friends at the children's home had shortened it, but what made it even worse was my hair, forget about Sapphire's pink hair, mine was the worst and contributed to my babyish nickname. My hair was naturally scarlet red in color, a deep red, people said I was lucky to have such a beautiful mane of straight vibrant flames that went down to my waist, curls like corkscrews near the bottom, I always answered 'I prefer to call it - Blood Red' added with a sinister smile. It scared a lot of people, the way I sometimes acted, my dark, morbid sense of humour, plus the other girls at the home looked at me as if I was insane, maybe I am, maybe I'm not. It's not my place to say.

"I just don't like you breaking curfew, that's all." Curfew. Everyone knew what happened when you broke curfew, that's if you got caught, I, however had never been caught and intended to keep it that way. Curfew was at half past nine, if you weren't in by then you would not be given the permission of going out side for a day to a month, it really depends on how you were late back, and lights-out was at 11 o'clock.

I glanced at the clock - twenty-five minutes past ten it read, I turned back to the window and got ready to climb out the window and jump onto the soft grass that awaited my arrival. I and Sapphire shared a room on the ground floor, and I secretly thank her for it, Sapphire's parents had died in a fire, they were on the first floor, the stairs were on fire and they couldn't get down, they had burned to death. That was how Sapphire ended up here; she had nightmares all the time when we were little, not only about the closet monster, but her parents. As she got older they were less graphic and further apart, it was only once every three to four months she'd wake me up, and the rest of the home, by screaming at the top of her lungs. Sapphire never liked more-than-one storey buildings, I usually had to bribe her with her favorite chocolates or ice cream when we went out to the mall and she still refused to go to the next floor.

I glanced back at Sapphire who was still watching me nervously, "see ya later alligator," I said with a smile and jumped out of the window.

When I hit the ground I'm sure I heard Sapphire reply, "in a while crocodile." Maybe it was just the wind, but I'm convinced she said it and smiled again, my green eyes sparkled from the streetlights but also from the happiness it gave me to know that although we argued and bitched at each other, we would always have a special understanding of one another.

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I walked past the streets of suburban New York, the small white-panelled houses with their white picket fences, neatly trimmed lawns, small flowerbeds; I knew some of the people that lived there. Some of them from my school, well, actually my old school, Open Meadow High, I attended there till I was 14, then I got tired, too much of my time was wasted in detention. All the teachers knew there was no hope for me, I think that they didn't see much point wasting their time on me and I didn't see the point in me wasting my time for nothing. The gut feeling persuaded me to finally leave.

Anyway, most of the houses were occupied by couples with children, but there were a few old couples in town, the Rochester's being one of the old couples, a friendly bunch, Mr Rochester always rambling on about stories from the war and Mrs Rochester making lemonade for the children who were attentively listening to her husband, a younger me being one of them. They were an odd couple really, him so loud and her so quiet, but like they say - 'opposites attract'. I believed that was true, look at me and Sapphire, completely opposite, she likes dresses, I prefer jeans and a shirt, she's quiet, I'm loud, she's shy, I'm confident. I guess it just the way things work. But me and Sapphire aren't the best of friends, I've been to different Children's homes other than New York's, some in different towns, even some in other states, some big, some small, some where I was loved and when left I was missed, and some where they couldn't give a damn about me.

Sapphire had a best friend who had been in the children's home longer than me and all the time, she was a year older, Ivy Simmons, we got on okay, but there was sometimes arguments over possession of Sapphire, they didn't usually last, Ivy always had to be somewhere with her boyfriend. When I had moved back to New York after living in Los Angeles for a year, he had flirted with me, Ivy's boyfriend, Daniel Reeves, and I was greatly disappointed when I found out he had a girlfriend, I think depression began to seep in when I found out it was her. I kicked some innocent person's fence in my anger, confused why my life got so much better then got pushed over a cliff and plummeted into inferno.

I was getting nearer to the stores now, where all the bars were, not the best place to be at this time of night, all the drunks staggering along the sidewalk to their homes and prissy wives. I decided to turn onto the rich peoples side of town, I had walked here before but never paid much attention to where I was going, I usually walked past, ignoring the disapproving stares the people gave me, looking at me like I was a spec of dirt in their newly polished china cup. I didn't blame them for looking at me like that, if I was them I would do that to an orphaned vagabond, well I wasn't really a vagabond, I was a thief, that's what Anne had made me, years ago when I was twelve.

The stealing had begun as petty theft: comics, magazines, candy; I'd be filling the pockets of my denim jacket while Anne distracted the cashier. Then it got harder, wallets, keys, not putting things in my pockets, but taking things out of other people's pockets, I didn't usually do that. I preferred to go somewhere and take what I could carry, Anne liked the idea of stalking someone and making the kill only to find that she wasted an hour of her life for a few dimes, yet she continued to do that whenever she could. On my fourteenth, my present from Ivy and Anne was a lesson in hot- wiring a car, that's right, Ivy was Anne's best friend, there were four of us in a tangled web of friendship. Sapphire was the careful, sane one, she once found a wallet in the mall and gave it in at lost and found, she didn't even count the money, I could see there was at least $200 or more, so in a way, she was the crazy one. Only last year I learned the art of breaking into houses, Green Hill was the most expensive place to go, everyone who lived there had high security, but the prize was greater than the risk. Only once had I set off the alarm, good job I can run fast, the cops arrived within five minutes of the screeching alarm's song of earache. I usually stuck to the small houses, the ones that were almost secluded, but usually I didn't rob houses at all - shops and malls were more my scene, that's where I shone like a star.

Then a house caught my eye, Anne Marrison's new foster home, the numbers 1392 on the front door blazed like a fire. Anne had never had a foster family before, she had told me herself, and this was her first foster home and everything was perfect, she had new loving parents who gave her what she needed. I had had several foster homes, not staying in one of them for more than twelve months, not because I didn't like them, I actually hated them, but because they couldn't 'handle me'. All the couples that had said that weren't looking for a kid, they were looking for a dog, an affectionate dog, and I wasn't an affectionate human or dog.

I hold my real parents responsible for the way I am, if they hadn't just abandoned me I might have turned out to be a sweet, kind, young lady. But, no, they had to go and ditch me on a children's home's front porch and hope someone would take me away, now I'm a ruthless, mean, selfish child. I don't know my parents, never have and probably never will. My last name isn't even my real last name, it's the surname of the nurse that found me, and she retired a few years ago. I do know that my parents called me Penelope, Nurse Reed told me that I was in a basket wrapped in blankets and inside was a note reading 'Penelope'. My parents couldn't even be bothered to give me a reason as to why they abandoned me, I don't know what they're like, it's strange. I want to know them; I want to know who my parents are, to see what they are like, it would be so enlightening. I've often dreamt that they want to know me and that they're trying to find me, but then I walk back into reality and realise that if they wanted to know me, why did they abandon me? At the same time, I don't want to know them, I feel that if I ever meet them I'd attempt to kill them, they basically ruined my life, and they deserve what they get. I don't want to meet them, I just want to know what they are like, and that's all, nothing else, just to know in case something happens.

I looked back over to Anne Marrison's new home and felt a pang of jealousy, there was a snowman in the front lawn, hiding behind the white picket fence. The moon shone on his body, making him look silver, almost magical. I looked down to see the time on my watch, just ten minutes before midnight. An hour and a half, I had been walking the streets of New York for that long? It didn't seem that way, seemed much shorter.

I look at the magical snowman again, he made me feel more jealous than Anne does, I had never built a snowman as a family, never had a snowball fight with the brothers and sisters I could possibly have, never gotten a present or a card at Christmas or my birthday from them, not even on my 16th. The anger and jealous bubbled rapidly in a dance of hot flames inside of my stomach, I looked around, making sure no-one was out and about. There wasn't, I smiled, not a genuine smile, an evil smile, one of hatred and anger I heard Anne's voice from earlier on in the week: "It's going to be so cool, I can't believe I get to go to a cabin in the mountains for Christmas, just imagine - boys, skiing, and more boys." Anne wasn't home, Anne was miles away by some log fire, and here I was, feet away from her house.

"Perfect," I murmured as I quietly open the wooden gate and walk slowly into Anne's front yard, heading straight for the snowman.