Chapter 3 Broken morning

Rain woke to the sound of something clattering in the alley. Her eyes blinked open, heavy with sleep, and for a moment, she didn't know where she was. The world was gray-cold concrete and rusted metal bins lining the walls. Morning had crept in without kindness.

She sat up slowly. Her body ached again, as always. The stiff pain in her knees, the pull in her back-like she was growing too fast or hadn't eaten in days. Probably both.

"Hey! You awake yet?" a boy's voice called.

Rain turned to see Jalen, a boy just a year older than her, peeking around the corner. He always showed up with a grin too big for someone so skinny.

"Barely," she muttered, rubbing her eyes.

"Come on. That lady with the oranges might throw some out soon. You want some, right?"

Rain hesitated. Her stomach growled. She didn't answer but stood, slipping her arms into her coat.

They walked side by side down the alley, weaving through sleeping bodies and puddles. Jalen kicked a can and laughed when it echoed down the street. Rain forced a smile.

"You know," he said, "sometimes I think we're like ghosts. You ever feel that? Like people look right through us."

Rain looked ahead. "Maybe we're not real to them."

Jalen chuckled. "Well, I'm real. I think. My toes are cold, so that counts."

They stopped near the fruit stall. Rain leaned against a wall, eyes watching the vendor argue with a customer. Her gaze drifted to a man in a dark coat standing across the street. He wasn't doing anything-just standing. But she felt him looking.

Her chest tightened. Her fingers twitched.

When she looked again, he was gone.

She shook it off. "I'm fine," she whispered, mostly to herself.

Jalen handed her half a bruised apple. "For the princess of garbage day," he said.

Rain laughed, a real one this time. She bit into the apple, the sourness waking her senses.

For a moment, the city noise softened. The cold felt less sharp. But something still stirred beneath her skin-like a whisper she couldn't quite hear.

She looked over her shoulder once more. No one was there.

Just the fog rolling in.

Just another morning, broken and beginning.