Lights

No. 0

Piper sat facing the black disk that replaced the moon. Her light bulb was dim and was beginning to fade away. She sighed leaning into a pole,.
Buying a new lightbulb is never cheap and the money was need for food and water. A poor woman in a poor economy. People kept telling her she needed children and a husband but Piper knew that she was destined to be alone, life had never presented anything that seemed to appeal. Piper sat there, thinking.
The daughter she was going to have was going to be poor and alone in the cruel world they called home. Piper loved the baby she had and knew it would never have a safe home. Only one place could protect her.

Months later...
Piper cradled a baby in her arms, a baby she called Olive, Ollie for short. It was pouring rain on the dark streets of the Dark City.
Piper saw the place she was looking for, and ran towards it. The metal soles of her shoes tapping harshly against the slick road made of bricks.
Puddles splashed onto her coat but Piper didn't care. After months of being hunted for her baby she was almost safe.
On the door of the place it read:
Miss Lizzie's Home for Children
Piper placed the wet baby in a box and left it on the doorway before leaving the baby in the rain. The babies cries were muffled through the blankets wrapped around her. In the box there was the baby, a note, and a light bulb brighter than them all, her birthright.
Piper had barely made it around the corner when they caught her. "Where's the baby?" They shouted and screamed and slapped Piper. "She's safe and hidden!" They continued asking and hurting Piper. "She has the lightbulb! We need the lightbulb!" In a fit of rage the man behind the goons stabbed Piper. "WE NEED THE BABY!" Piper gasped and fell to the ground. She let a single tear fall and saw an unknown light. Bright, welcoming and kind something she had never seen. Her baby could sense something ending, but this was not what made her special.

13 Years Later...
Ollie walked down the damp streets of the marketplace. Carts lined the streets with lights lining the roofs and colors flashed by. A pig trailed behind her, it's head bobbing. "C'mon Luny!" Ollie dashed up to a unattended stand and took three apples.
A man in a uniform saw her and started chasing her. Ollie turned around and started running. Luny, a baby pig mind you, started nipping at the heels of the man. Ollie took a bite of one apple and tossed an apple to another apple to one of her fellow orphans.
A man in a uniform cornered Ollie. "I got you now!" Ollie smirked. "You really think so? I've been taking apples from that cart since I was six!" She ducked his club and ran back to the orphanage.
Anne, another orphan shook her head as Ollie ran by. "Did you steal the apples?" Ollie shrugged and tossed Anne an apple. "What does it matter they'd say I stole it either way." Anne shook her head. "Ollie one of these days you'll get caught." She shook her head. "Why are you always so upset! I am the only one who is feeding this orphanage." Anne looked angry. "Well maybe you could pay for it!" Ollie growled, and stormed to her bed, before Ms. Lizzie could hand her to the police.