drizzle, turning the grime of th

d her fingers to dig into the wet pavement. Her muscles screamed, the paralytic leaving be

all. Every breath felt like swallowing shards of glass; her throat was

a phantom in a torn silk gown, a ruined bride of the night, trail

sical blow. She passed a high-end boutique, its glass polished to a mirror finish. Valentina

nded with a grotesque, blackened necklace of bruises, the fingerprints of a man who had promised her forever. She lo

ysterical sob bubbling in her chest.

ht-iron benches glistening like bone

as she approached a passerby, a man in a sharp

d," he spat, sidestepping her a

as invisible to the world she once belonged t

spike of pain detonate

ge oak tree, the rough bark scraping her bare shoulder. She clut

a shredded rasp. "Not you. Plea

own, terrified to see red staining the muddy hem of her dress. If she lost the baby, she had

ering a frantic, broken lullaby to the life inside her, her

f I'm still breathin

ness, the pain receded into a dull t

ision swimming with exhaustion, h

canyons of the city. Something white and shimme

eaped. The

wanted to bury

dirt and slyly given it to h

heir romantic dinner. Inside was her we

cy she had left to buy a way out of this city. It was h

ust. It skittered toward the edge of the curb

gs moving with a sudden, de

er shield, her weapon, her identity. She chased it, her bare feet slapping against the

to the center o

real. She snatched it to her chest, a sob of triumph breaking

world tu

ormance tires tore through the night air, a sound of tearing metal and screaming rubb

ngth to jump. She didn't

ut her eyes tight, and felt the hot, metall

shatter, for the final darkness to take her

spered in the silence of her s

e of death, two small, frantic

om

ling across the asphalt just as the black beast of a

find herself pinned to the ground by four small, trem

ou're fin