Fourteen-year old X wandered the dark alleyways aimlessly. As she always did. Alone. With only her shadow for company. She had learnt that it was better to stay away from the lights and sounds. In the light, they point and stare. They jeer and taunt. “Like you’re some kind of animal…” she grumbled. In the dark, in the silence , where no one calls you a freak. No one laughs at you or gives you dodgy glances. She had no idea why she was here, how she came here or why she was this way. She just knew that somehow, she used to be part of them, she used to dwell in the light. “ Maybe I don’t wanna be part of them..” she murmured to herself yet again. X’s thin scrawny frame moved up the ladder gracefully, she arrived on the rooftop of an old abandoned fire station.
An old mattress and a couple of torn rags. Sure it got chilly in the winter, but it was home.

She tugged at the overlarge football jersey. She saw that many admired those who wore such clothes. It did not seem to work on her. In fact, they seemed to stare harder.

She had nothing. Knew nothing. All she had was herself. And a brooding fear that the reason why she was here was because something terrible had happened in the past. She prayed each night that someone would come and take her away, to a place where she would never have to face the overwhelming loneliness anymore.

She sang softly to herself. A strange, sad song. Like one she remembered from a dream she had long ago.

Long ago
Far away
I held you in my arms
Safe from the storm
The day will come
When I take you back into my arms again

It was the only part she knew. She sang it to herself every night. It was the only clue she had to her past. She was determined to never forget it even if she never found a way out of the darkness.

On a balcony nearby, someone watched the strange girl curl up into a ball and fall asleep. Wondering to himself.