• It was raining, but she walked. She didn't have a flashlight, but that was fine. She didn't have to see to walk, such a simple thing. Her feet, pale and bare, sunk into the thick brown mud, and her blue hospital gown was brown with muddy water, but that was A-OK. The sticks underneath the mud had only pierced her twice. She came up from the knee deep mud and smiled. She knew she had a reason to smile, but she didn't know what that reason was. But it was fine, awesome, all good. She just knew it. She dropped her smile and bolted into the woods with an unnatural grace. The sticks and the branches cut up her face and the stones slashed her feet open. She'd tripped over one and broke her toes. Her few screams turned into laughter as she saw it. She saw the road. Roads lead to town. Towns don't give you pain. She laughed and screamed louder, then fell silent as she started to trot along the road. She was hungry, but that didn't matter. Towns had food. Towns had nice people who didn't bleed, cut, and maim you. These people didn't poke and prod, didn't give you shots that made you sick. There, now she knew why she smiled. She was free. A truck was coming her way, yards from freedom. She waved her arms, wildly beckoning the truck closer as tears ran down her cheeks. She needed to heal her toes. She opened her mouth to call, then knew nothing. She'd taken a lethal blow to the head. Her body walked for a few feet, then realized it was dead as it fell to the ground. The truck stopped, and a pale teenage boy gawked at the dead, staring face. There was a smile on that face. She was free.

    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxTo be continued...