(no subject)

The stars were clear and bright, and she tried to focus on them, ignoring the cold seeping through the worn jacket that was pulled tightly around her. The stones she was lying on compounded the problem, leeching the heat from her body almost faster than she could generate it, but the stars, serene and oblivious, had always helped calm her. Flat on her back, her arms cushioning her head, she half-listened to the faint drone of the occasional car, and the rippling of the water. It was too cold to let herself cry, but her eyes blurred and stung anyway.

It seemed that hours had passed when the sound of something scuttling over the rocks and gravel nearby caught her attention and alarmed her enough to make her sit up, but the thin sliver of moon had barely moved in the sky. Glancing around nervously, she saw a large rat disappearing into the black shadows of the the bridge, where daytime passers-by had thrown chunks of bread to feed the birds. Her shoulders slumped a little, and, turning her back on the creature, she wrapped her arms around her knees. The windblown water sparkled in the light cast by the streetlamps as the river curved its way around downtown and under another distant bridge. She smiled, a brittle smile that left her eyes still bleak. It was a beautiful night. She should go without the jacket or wade out into the water, it would make it faster, but already the wind was almost unbearable. Closing her eyes, resting her forehead on her knees, she waited.

( _Chosen_. Disturbing subject matter -- don't read if rape is a trigger for you. My apologies. )