Jan 8th, 2012
"Go. The door is open, Jenny, and cold reality waits for you."
Her fingertips scrape along red brick walls as she stumbles through the alley. She keeps tripping, walking on legs that feel like jelly. Her knees are bleeding, her palms are raw. Even in the early winter darkness, the city is still too bright. The light and the blaring traffic noise pound behind her eyes. Her foot catches on the pavement and she falls again to her knees, tearing the skin even further. But she doesn't get up this time. She doesn't have the strength to move.
Or even to cry.
The frigid January wind whips around her as she curls into a ball on the pavement and she closes her eyes, desperate for the noise to stop and for the darkness to come back. She licks her dry, cracked lips, but the wind just takes all the moisture away. She's cold-so, so cold. Maybe when she wakes up, she'll have the energy to get up and go. But not now. Now she just wants to sleep.
"Hey," a firm, male voice. She grumbles. Go away.
"C'mon, give me your jacket, Charlie." Something warm and soft covers her bare shoulders. A few seconds later, another warm, fuzzy thing covers the rest of her. "We have a 10-54 at 10th and 34th. Unknown injuries."