The little girl could never look upon the earth the same.

Loveless, her heart shriveled to dust and cast itself away in the bitter, cold wind that soon pervaded each crevice and nook of her hometown.

And in their beds, they, who never dared to come to her aid,

Never when she cried,

Never when she yelled,

Never when she uttered no sound at all,

They...

And then...

They...

a great rot spread like cancer

like rust

meek and terrified, she laid in bed with an awful fever

and there, the rot brewed