Author's Note: This fic is written for the Caesar's Palace Your Life Soundtrack Challenge. The song that this chapter is based on is Life's for the Living by Passenger. Enjoy!

Maria walked through the town, one where no one knew her name. She liked that better anyway, those who knew her tended to condemn her for what she had done to survive. The grey clouds of a sudden rainstorm were wrapped around the town like elastic, a madman danced around in the rain, ignored by most, but laughed at by a boy. Just daily life, she supposed, looking around her. All of this was just daily life. Strands of laundry hung from across the roofs like spiderwebs, the families hurrying to take their clothes down before the rainstorm made them more wet than they were already. The sound of shoes clicked on the pavement, and groups of men were huddled around under umbrellas, soaked to the skin with their suits and their boots. Funny, thought Maria, somehow, they all look the same.

Her hair and clothes were starting to become soaked, so she headed into a small coffee tables were full of boys lost in books, most likely studying for college. Words that had been carved into the wall caught her eye. It was just a simple poem, outlined against the wood, but it made tears come to her eyes.

Don't you cry for the lost

Smile for the living

Get what you need and give what you're given

Life's for the living, so live it

Or you're better off dead.

She sat down at a table and stared at the wall until evening fell, a cup of tea growing cold next to her. The moon came up, and stars shone like new buttons sewn onto the old, worn fabric of the night. I'm all alone now, Maria thought. Could I have done something? Was there some way she could have fixed things instead of just trying to survive, and to protect Susan? There must have been something that I wasn't smart enough to see.

Maria was surprised when someone sat down at the table next to her. "Are you okay?" he asked. "Only, you've been here a long time, and you look sad."

"No. I'm not," she admitted, the words just spilling out. "I've lost too much. This world, it took my dreams and hid them. And I kept thinking, if I could do one more thing right, then maybe I could get out, make a new life for me and my daughter. Well, that didn't happen."

She saw the young man looking at her, concerned. "I'm sorry," she said. "I just needed to talk to someone. Don't worry about me, I'll go my own way. Somewhere, somebody, will show me a way home. Until then, well, I'll just keep living. I'm good at that."

"You can stay with me," he offered. "I'm Adrian, by the way."

"Maria," she offered guardedly.

"Maria," said Adrian. "Sounds like you have a story to tell. May I hear it? If you want to share, that is. If you don't, that's fine too."

"Why not?" Maria said. "You've probably already heard it, besides, it would be nice to have someone know my side of things." And so she did. This is her story.

Reviews are always appreciated.