It was a dark and stormy night, the setting for most serious tales not unlike this one. The rain shot down from the sky and pummeled the pavement, streets, and buildings in Manhattan. Lightning flashed, appearing to crack the heavens wide open.
Was this storm any different than others that had come before, or was all the sadness of the world too much for the gods to handle? Did they look upon the Earth and grieve for the children and teenagers being hurt, abused, and abandoned? Or was this just another rainstorm, like so many others in the past?
One teenage girl barely noticed the lightning, thunder, and rain that raged on outside. The only thunder she noticed was the sound shoes and hairbrushes made when they were thrown against the wall. The only lightning she saw was the flash of a hand smacking her across the face. The only rain she noticed was the droplets that dripped out of her eyes and fell down her cheeks. No storm could be worse than that.
Shouts of, "GET OUT!" filled her ears, and the girl ran out of the small, dingy, broken-down apartment that her parents and she lived in. Well, now there was one less resident. The girl didn't have time to grab any of her things; all she had time for was running.
She ran and ran in the dark, nearly getting hit by a taxi. Even all the lights that were currently on in the city weren't bright enough to illuminate her in the pouring rain. Soon, though, she was far enough away from her former home that she could relax.
The teenager had ended up near a park, though which one, she didn't know, nor did she care. All she focused on now was finding a dry place to lay down and sleep. Her long, dark brown hair was drenched and slick, and her navy blue sweater and jeans were soaked. She found a bench and laid under it, shivering and alone.
Unable to sleep, the girl happened to look up. It was difficult to see through the darkness and the rain, but she swore that a huge gray sphere of some kind was a few feet in front of her. Curious, she struggled to get out from under the bench and approach it, falling once along the way because of the slick grass. Finally, she approached the ball. Touching it, she noticed it was made of dirt of some kind, and it had a small door with a handle. If she could fit inside, she would have a warm place to sleep for the night.
The girl opened the door and went inside the ball, head-first. As soon as she closed the door, she began feeling warm already.
She was warm...and moving! She began rolling over and over, gradually going faster and faster. She tried to open the door but couldn't reach it, as she was being tossed around inside the sphere like a rag doll. She cried out for help, but no one heard her, and no one could stop the ball at the speed it was going.
Suddenly, the rolling stopped, and the girl was suddenly floating in midair. This didn't last long before her body was slammed against a wall. Outside, she could hear several crashes, but she was largely unharmed until at last, the ball stopped. It hit the outside of a building, and the impact was so great that the entire thing fell apart, and the girl was knocked unconscious.