Aria The trailer looked so mundane and ordinary after the scene I’d witnessed at the strip club. I limped in and locked the flimsy door, casting an eye at the gaping hole just beside it. Who was I kidding? If that mad man came here, I was screwed. I headed for Billy’s room. The smell inside was faded, and yet, still strong enough to make me want to cry again. Why couldn’t he be here? My godfather had always protected me and made me feel safe. I wanted him to put his arm around me, and stroke my hair, more than I’d ever wanted anything in my life at that moment. I found the patch-up box easily enough. It was the first time I’d looked in it since he’d died. In fact, it was the first time I’d been in his room in months. It was still too painful and raw. I put the box on the bed, feeling stiff as the adrenaline faded from my muscles and left me feeling shaky and pained. The blood on my leg was dried now, and the place where the glass had cut was sore but manageable. The scratches on my

Aria So, the first ticket I could get for a night bus took me all the way to the state capital. It was a huge city, and I’d never even been out of Happenstance before. I got off the bus and wandered through the station, jumping at every noise. I’d always thought the Happenstance trailer park to be dirty and dire, but this inner-city terminal was another level.Homeless people slept in the doorways and under graffitied benches. Police patrolled with hard, emotionless eyes. Was it possible that the crappy life I’d hated in Happenstance had been sheltered and lucky in any way? I felt wretched as I walked through the terminal and out into the still warm city night.The street was busy, cars zoomed past on the road and the smell of fumes and rubbish filled my nose. Billy’s necklace still felt coo

AriaI woke for the second time in a few hours, to the immediate realization that everything would not seem better in the morning, because I woke up just as someone carefully tried to pull my backpack out from under my head. I shot up and whacked my head on the branch again, and spun around, just in time to see a young kid, wearing a stained white hoodie and ball cap, running away with all my worldly possession.Oh no, you don’t.“Hey! Stop him!” I bellowed and jumped up, taking off after him. Oooff, the night on the ground hadn’t made me faster at all, and my leg immediately began to throb as I ran. It was still early, only a few commuters were making their way through the park, and they simply stared at me as I ran after the kid, like a possessed woman. “Stop him, he’s getting away!”I rounded a corner and stopped dead. We were out of the park now, and the small street we had run to was deserted. I couldn’t see a single sign of where the kid might have gone. I listened as carefully

AriaBastian took me on a winding path through the city, past the parts that were pretty and into the parts that were anything but. We entered an area that looked abandoned, and I suddenly started to question the wisdom of wandering quiet streets with a stranger. Who was he? Why was he helping me?“We’re nearly there,” Bastian suddenly spoke, jolting me to the present. He was climbing through a broken door of an old warehouse. Wind whistled through the cracks in the broken windows and the air was damp and full of old, dead things.“Nearly where?” I muttered, following him slowly. He smiled at me, and didn’t respond. We walked across the cement floor and Bastian found an old rickety staircase that led downwards into a dark space. I paused at the top.“I’m not sure I want to go down there,” I confessed.“You have to. It’s too cold up here to sleep, and besides, I can be dangerous to sleep out in the open. I promise I’m taking you somewhere legit. Don’t worry so much.”Bastian swung down