Excerpt: Tomorrow (tentative)

The darkness descended especially quickly on these wintry evenings. Clouds shifted over a pale, wheat-colored sun, casting long silhouettes along silent streets. In the busier parts of the city, lights still twinkled weakly behind drawn curtains, and vague shapes still moved within clustered houses. Furtive figures crept along the edges, careful to keep out of the revealing light of the street lamps; illicit lovers entangled themselves soundlessly in blackened corners. Here, the secret lives of many began at this time.

But on the other side of the city, almost all was still. No lights shone in these streets; no bright windows alleviated the unrelenting darkness. Grim, lonely buildings glared down, casting an impregnable gloom on their surroundings. And in the midst of one such deadened street, And in the midst of one such deadened street, hidden behind a great number of dense, prickly bushes, a very small girl sat on the dry dirt with her knees drawn all the way up against her chest, tied in place by her tightly interlinked hands.

Her eyes glinted, catlike, in the darkness. They were bright and alert, but unhappy, and though the night was quiet, almost peaceful, a palpable fear emanated through the air from the small form. For many hours, she dared not move...