Dark, sullen clouds loomed overhead, threatening to soak the people who have become stuck in it.

A smaller girl roamed the streets, her dirty, no star, uniform being the only thing on her at the time.

With nowhere to go, and, frankly, nothing left to her name, there was nothing left for her to do but steal. But, who to steal from. Being such a feeble girl didn't help her situation much on who she might be ready to steal from. This night was important. Why?

"Shit." She cursed, staring down at the ground, her hands now dirty from the sudden contact. Upon attempting to stand, she winced, now noticing a slightly bloody scrape on her knee, dirt and small rocks sticking to the wound. "That's going to slow me down tomorrow."

Tomorrow, the No Late Day, her first at this school, and maybe her last. She had been hearing stories from other students, horror stories and such. These stories have this girl no hope of ever getting to school on time. But what else did she really have to lose? Her parents were dead, her sister moved out of the country years ago, and left her to some strangers, who kicked her out onto the streets when she was twelve.

"I could try… Death doesn't seem too bad an option now…" She mumbled lightly to herself, listening silently to the noises of some traffic behind her. It was actually just one car, for one student in particular.

She attempted running, wanting to avoid any unwanted attention from strangers or creeps who were just out for a good time with some unwilling victims. Running was a bad idea. That scrape on her knee was worse than originally expected, meaning she couldn't move very well, and with the limp she has already, she was a goner.

There was a fear factor to this. With a feeling of regret, and self pity, the girl closed her eyes and prepared for the worst. She prepared to be taken, to be killed, or worse, to be kidnapped.

Small tears fell from her eyes in this manner, they dampened her cheeks and showed the world that she was afraid. It told whoever had stopped that she was scared, that she feared for her life and wished to continue. The man only heaved a heavy sigh and watched the crying girl for a moment before exiting his car, walking over to her side, and laying a rather large jacket down on her back, hoping it would warm her in this cold weather, hoping it would calm her, make her feel safer.

When she felt the fabric placed down on her back, she jumped and shook a little, never having noticed how cold it was. She still refused to open her eyes and look at who was sitting by her, she just continued to let her silent tears fall, she had held them for so long. It was almost relieving when she cried in this moment.

"You will get sick if you stay like this." A voice she recognized so well spoke up. "I… I know…" She huffed softly in the middle of her words. "I'm not telling you to stop. I'm asking you to come with me." He said, she nodded and moved to rub her wet eyes with a dirty hand. "Don't." He ordered, standing her up. "They'll get infected as well." He said, using the sleeve of his jacket to wipe her eyes.

Why did this feel so fake? Why did this seem almost too perfect?

--3--

With a light gasp, Ashley woke up, taking in another deep breath before looking at the time through the window of another person's home. "Four a.m? Not enough time…" She mumbled, standing up and grabbing her bag.

It took this girl only a minute to change before she hopped up and left for the front gates. "I knew it was too good to be true." She scoffed, keeping a rather tough exterior. "Just another dream for the journal.