Haze

Chapter 1: This Thing Called Life

Hugging her beat up coat to her body, Kianna found a building to block the harsh winds and freezing cold rain. Sitting between the buildings, her back was against the wall while her knees were to her chest and she rubbed her arms down her legs to warm herself up.

Looking up at the sky, the snow cloud began to blanket the city's sky. She had to find shelter soon and quickly.

"I cant catch a break." She sighed as she continued to try to warm herself up. Her body felt dead as it hurt to move. It was  23 degrees Fahrenheit. Being that she had nowhere to go she had to wait and weigh out all of her options. She knew there was a shelter down the street but, knowing by now, it was probably already full.

Feeling her body warm up a little, Kianna got up and began making her way down the street to the shelter. As soon as she got within feet of the building she saw the long line that filled the sidewalk. Sighing she got in the line, praying that she could get a space.

After what felt like a good hour, the line began to move. She went up to the walk up window only to see a sign saying that they were full.

Lowering her head, she sighed. She believed that God wasn't listening to her. As the light snow began to lightly fall, she began walking to her usual spot, the liquor store between two apartment complexes. As she walked, the wind slapped and wrapped around her. Not being able to contain heat, her bones ached and her teeth involuntarily clashed together.

"Just another block." She fought against the wind as cars whipped pass her trying to get home before the heavy snow began to fall.

Making it to the liquor store, she grabbed her jacket and dug in her pocket pulling out the five dollar bill she found earlier in front of a gas pump.

Going inside the store, she bought her a water and some crackers.

Walking up to the counter, the owner looked down at Kianna from behind the glass. He didn't know how she was in his store when she looked to be homeless. He rung her up and bagged her items.

"Hi, how are you?" Kianna smiled as she handed him the $5 bill through the drawer.

He closed the drawer and smiled back, "Pretty good. You better get where you going, the snow is about to drop heavy tonight." He spoke.

"Same to you, thanks." Kianna took her change and her bag before going to the side of the store between the apartment complex and grabbing her tacky cover. Seeing the snow layer the ground, she knew she had to find cover. Knowing that she couldn't sleep in the apartment complex's foyer, she climbed into the trashcan and laid her cover down. She put a stick in the lid and against the back so the lid wouldn't close. Shivering, she drunk some water that was beginning to freeze and ate a row of crackers before going to sleep.

Waking up to loud noises, Kiana got up and peeked out of the trashcan, only to be slapped upside the head with a bag of trash, causing her to fall back into the empty trashcan.

"What the hell?!" The owner of the liquor store opened the trashcan lid all the way and seen Kianna grabbing up her cover.

"Im sorry, I- I just needed a place to sleep to protect from the snow. She began to climb out of the trashcan. The owner helped her and she jumped to the ground, her hole-tatted shoes sinking into the snow.