Shadow → Rick Tyler [Stargirl]

o. prologue

Her whole life, Sophie was followed by a shadow of anger and pain, plaguing her life with questions and doubts for as long as she's lived. She knew better than anyone that nothing was permanent, especially for her. Her parents, whom she had spent most of her life wondering about, were the first to prove to her that she was unwanted, alone, and forced to lead a life where she was no one's concern.

Passed on from one foster home to another, Sophie learned to fend for herself. Everyone was filled merely with greed and desire, overpowered by their selfish wants and needs. Why else would her own parents leave her in a cold, dark crate at the doorstep of a care home when she was born? Sophie believed that if her own mother and father struggled to love and care for her, no one ever would. It was engraved in her mind, written in stone. A heavy burden that tormented her through her entire seventeen years of living. A shadow that refused to ever leave her side.

In Sophie's eyes, the world was not but one of hatred and fury. She grew up resentful, patching up her broken, neglected heart with rage and bitterness that would prepare her for the darkness that the cruel world had in store for her.

Only, the gloomy shadow that darkened her world could not amount to the darkness that awaited her in the heart of Blue Valley.