CHAPTER 1
Hayden sat on the concrete steps outside of her Brooklyn apartment. A dirty, well-used basketball was at her feet. Her hands were folded and she stared out the the narrow street in front of her.
The weather was dull. Gray sky, no sun, on and off drizzles all afternoon. Hayden sat quietly. She saw very few people. It was a Sunday and most people were quietly enjoying a bleak Sunday with their family. Hayden suffered alone and in silence.
Somebody off in the distance screeched the wheels of there car. Hayden didn't react. This was New York.
A few minutes later somebody yelled. It sounded desperate. Most people would not have been paying attention but as Hayden sat alone she focused in on the sounds, and she heard this one very well. She turned her head towards where she thought the noise had come. She waited a minute before standing up. A resident in a silver Volvo drove by and she ignored it. Finally there was another yell, this one muffled. Hayden knew exactly where it had come from and ran towards it.
__________
An hour later, Brooklyn was getting dark as the sun slowly sank into the horizon. There were no sounds except for when the police car with lights on and sirens blaring flew past a dark apartment building with a lonely basketball sitting on the concrete steps out front.