Darkness descends early here. Barely a blink between light and dark. One moment sweating the next the sweat is becoming chill beads against your rapidly cooling skin.

I didn’t really know what to think when my ride left stranded, minutes away from dark, alone, in the rain. Mostly I was just tired. Tired from a hard day of work, tired from patching other people up, tired of being happy.

I had created a mold for myself. An unbreakable mold. I was happy, perfect, and unfailingly nice. What could I do if I wanted to bite someones head off, just smile and nod at them as if I really wanted to listen?

I guess so.

The rain was like pikes driving into my back in waves. I could see the puffs of my breathe in the air, my stuff had been in the car. What I wouldn’t give to trade places with it. I can hear something in the trees and howls on the hills.

My legs shake uncontrollably from the eight mile walk and the cold to find the house locked. The lights are on smokes wafting from the chimney and I’m stuck on the outside.