Slowly, Emilynn worked up the nerve to get up, wielding the small bundle of possessions she now had. As the blanket fell from her body, she immediately was consumed by cold. Shivers overwhelmed her as she hugged herself awkwardly through her bundle. She crept from her tiny 'living area,' turning and securely wedging the large bag into a corner along with her blanket so that it was invisible from the road.

Feeling that it was safe, Emilynn turned and trudged through the snow towards the street. She stepped out into the open quickly, trying not to draw attention to herself. She turned and headed to the pizza place next door that made up one of the brick walls lining her alleyway. It had been so long since she had been in there. At one point, this restaurant had been her savior. And now, it will be again. A young man and woman donned in large winter coats walked out of the restaurant as Emilynn reached the door. They stared at her as though she was an alien.

"Hi." She offered, smiling at them awkwardly. If they noticed, they paid her no heed, simply walking off in the other direction. Emilynn sighed and caught the door before it closed. The warm air surrounded her as soon as she slipped inside, causing her to sigh in content. It smelled amazing, as any decent pizza place usually does. Her stomach starting gnashing at such a powerful scent of food. She winced, clenching her bundle tightly to her noisy stomach. The bathrooms were by the door, so she forced herself inside the appropriate room before she started drooling.

It was a single-person bathroom with pink tiled walls and a checkered pattern of pink and gray tiles on the floor. There was a scent of roses lingering in the air. Emilynn breathed it in happily. She locked the door and stepped in front of the mirror.

She set her bundle of supplies down on the counter and raised a cautious hand to her face, running it over her prominent cheekbones and jawline as she studied her features. She frowned at how dirty and tired she looked. She looked at her stingy clothes, holding her arms out and watching the way the dirty sweatshirt hung off of her tiny arms. Too skinny. Her clothes appeared to be swallowing her whole. She twisted around in the mirror, scrutinizing herself. She had always had a very petite, feminine figure, but at this point she looked like a walking stick. It was terrible.

She focused her attention away from her scary body and instead reached her hands up to her head, pulling of her hood. Her hair looked even worse. It was balled up to her head in a bun she had made several days ago. Dirty strands fell in all directions around her face. She stuck her tongue out at her reflection, and grabbed onto the huge mound, trying to locate the old hair tie that held it together. Once her fingers caught hold of it, she yanked it harshly, grunting in pain. She continued pulling on it until she heard a snap as it broke. She untangled it from her hair and threw it away.

Her hair collapsed all over her head, flopping in a way that seemed as tired as Emilynn felt. She huffed as she began untangling it the best she could. By the time she was finished, her hair hung in dirty black waves past her hips. She was surprised to see that it was much longer than she had thought it was. She swung her head, watching the way it brushed the tops of her legs. She pinched a strand between her index finger and her thumb, rubbing it between them. It was greasy. She hadn't been able to wash it in some time. She frowned thoughtfully and looked around the small bathroom. Her eyes landed on the soap dispenser hanging on the wall beside the sink. She stared at it for a moment, then shrugged to herself. Might as well.

She turned the faucet of the sink, which squealed in protest before releasing a rush of water. She leaned forward and put her head under the faucet, wetting her hair. She reached for the soap dispenser, squirting some of the silvery-pink liquid into her palm. She began massaging it through her dirty hair.

Once she had finished, she put her head beneath the faucet again, watching the bubbles stream from her hair and swirl down the sink drain. Once the bubbles ceased flowing, she lifted her dripping head from the sink. She grabbed a handful of paper towels from the other side of the sink and began rubbing them against her hair in a feeble attempt to dry it.

Eventually she gave up and grabbed the yellow hairbrush from her pile of stuff. She studied it intensely, but found no hairs in it. It looked like it had never been used. She put it to her hair, ignoring all the warnings ringing in her head that had been told to her about using a stranger's hair products. She squeezed her eyes shut as she began painfully wrestling the brush through her incredibly tangled hair.

Finally she felt satisfied, and she set the brush down. She swung her hair forward, running her hands through it. She smiled at how nice it felt. She grabbed a few more towels and ran them under the faucet, using them to scrub at her smudged face until she was satisfied with that as well.

She threw away those towels and looked to the pile of clothes she brought in with her. She grinned at the idea of fresh new clothes and began peeling off her old grubby outfit. She looked down at her underclothing, then with another shrug to herself she peeled them off, too. They weren't much use to her at this point, anyway. She paused for a moment after reluctantly cramming her old clothes into the garbage can. She looked into the mirror at her naked body. She couldn't believe how skinny she was. It was almost grotesque. She looked at her breasts uncertainly. They, too, were smaller than she wished they would be. She shivered as her wet hair stroked her bare body and grabbed the clothes. She slipped into the long-sleeved shirt, and sighed out loud at how nice the clean material felt against her worn skin. It was much too big for her, hanging low over her butt. This did not faze her in the least. She hugged herself happily, rubbing the soft shirt with glee. She next grabbed the pair of jeans and slid into them. They, too, were too big for her. She pulled the waist up, folding it over so it didn't fall off of her skinny hips. She knelt down and rolled up the legs as well. Once she finished adjusting them so that they wouldn't fall off of her and she wouldn't trip and fall on her face in them, she felt much better. They looked a bit ridiculous, but she didn't mind. The next thing she grabbed was the new sweatshirt. She slipped it over her shirt and zipped it up. She shivered with glee, holding it to her face and smelling it. It smelled new and fresh. The only remaining thing was the pair of socks and the shoes that also looked brand new. She slipped them on. She stretched her toes in them. They felt so nice. They, unlike the other clothes, actually fit her. She couldn't hold in her squeal of excitement. She looked at herself in the mirror, holding out her arms and twirling around gleefully.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She whispered, hugging herself happily. She looked back in the mirror. She already looked completely different. The clothes looked way too big for her, and she was still visibly a twig, but now she at least looked clean and she was comfortable. Her hair was already drying in long, soft black waves down her back. She twirled a lock on her finger, admiring how nice it looked. It had gotten much wavier since she was little. It looked beautiful.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Emilynn gasped with surprise as she remembered where she was.

"U-uh, Just a second!" She called out. A fit of coughs followed. Her throat was ragged from the cold weather. She cleared her throat and quickly cleaned up the mess she had made, cramming the brush and the money into her sweatshirt pockets.

She opened the door to a middle-aged looking woman with two golden haired girls hanging to her legs. The woman stepped to the side, gently pulling the girls along with her. She frowned at Emilynn's appearance, but quickly looked away from her body and smiled politely. Emilynn smiled back and held the door for her.

"Thanks." The woman said softly as she took the door and ushered the girls into the bathroom. Emilynn smiled at the littlest girl as she stared quizzically at Emilynn with giant green eyes. The woman took her arm gently and pulled her into the bathroom. Emilynn turned and walked to the door that lead into the restaurant part of the building.

She pulled it open, and immediately the warm smells amplified, setting her stomach into a rage. It felt like there was a monster inside her, clawing at her stomach, demanding to be fed. It's growls suddenly emerged, and Emilynn put a hand to her stomach, willing it to be silent. It calmed for a moment, so she walked in. There was a few people scattered around the place, but she looked away from them and continued to the counter. There was a kind looking woman waiting for her behind a glass case of ready-to-eat pizza.

"Hi." Emilynn said hoarsely.

"Hi," The woman said, giving Emilynn a concerned look. "how can I help you?" She asked, looking at Emilynn as though she thought that Emilynn would ask her for a house to live in.

"Uh, I'll just have a slice of that one." Emilynn said, her voice coming out in an awkward raspy way. She cleared her throat awkwardly. She pointed to the plain pizza.

"Alright." The woman said, placing a slice onto a paper plate. Just then, Emilynn's stomach rumbled loudly again. The woman looked at Emilynn, who smiled awkwardly. The woman smiled back, staring at Emilynn's figure thoughtfully before grabbing another slice and putting it on the plate.

"O-oh, I said only one, ma'am." Emilynn said quickly. The woman looked up at her and smiled kindly.

"I know." She said. "But I think you need a little more than that."

"N-no, I'm alright." Emilynn said.

The woman shook her head. "Come on. I need to put a new pizza up here anyway. Just take the rest of this one." She said. And with that, she loaded the last two pieces from the tray onto Emilynn's plate. Before Emilynn could object, the woman slid the plate across the counter, pushing it into Emilynn's hands. Emilynn looked down at it.

"O-okay. Uh, Thank you!" Emilynn said uncertainly. "Oh!" She said, digging into her pocket for her money. "How much does it cost for all of them?" She asked. She grabbed a twenty dollar bill and held it out to the woman, who shook her head and pushed it away.

"It's on me. No charge." She said.

Emilynn looked at her, shocked, then quickly shook her head back.

"No, please. I have enough." She said, holding out her money again.

The woman laughed kindly. "It's yours." She said. "Take it. Use that money to buy yourself something nice."

Emilynn looked down at the plate of food and at her money. But this wassomething nice! She slowly put the money back into her pocket, grabbing the plate. The woman grinned at her.

"There you go." She said.

"T-thank you." Emilynn said. "Thank you so much!"

"No problem!" The woman replied.

Emilynn grabbed her plate and moved to a nearby booth. She sat down, placing the food before her. She looked down at it, the monster in her stomach clawing away viciously. She grabbed a slice and bit into it. It was overwhelming. The next thing she knew, she had devoured the entire plate. She put a hand to her stomach. The monster was finally silent. It had been forever since she had eaten that much food, and she was slightly nauseous.

"We're here for the order for Hamato, please." Emilynn heard a teenage girl tell the new person behind the counter. Emilynn looked up to see she had on a thick sweatshirt much like the one Emilynn was wearing now. She had a ponytail of orange-y red hair and bright green-blue eyes. Her cheeks were freckled. Next to her was a boy that looked the same age as her with a black hat on his head over his shaggy black hair. He grinned to himself, and Emilynn noticed a large portion of his front teeth was missing.

The man behind the counter came back with four boxes of pizza, which the boy grabbed, much to his disapproval.

"Come on April! Why do I gotta carry all of 'em?" He whined childishly. April rolled her eyes.

"Because I'm not going through what happened last time again, Casey." She answered as she paid the man behind the counter.

Emilynn got up to throw away her trash. Casey lumbered by right behind her as she threw her stuff away, his arm knocking into her. He swung around, looking down at her from behind his stack of pizza.

"Woah, sorry chick! You're so tiny, I didn't even see ya there!" He said.

"It's fine." Emilynn said, looking up at him. He easily stood about a foot above her at her tiny five foot height. He looked at her strangely, the same way everyone else had today.

"Are you going to eat that all yourself?" She asked, attempting to make conversation.

"Huh? Oh, no. My pals are real monsters with pizza." He smirked. "They can eat about a box each."

"I know how they feel." Emilynn said.

Casey looked down at her body. "For real? You look like you've never ate once in your life." He said. Emilynn looked down at herself awkwardly.

"Casey, shut up!" April scolded as she came up behind him with a large Pepsi in her hands. She looked at Emilynn apologetically. "Sorry about him. He tends to speak without thinking."

Emilynn smiled awkwardly. "It's fine." She said.

April smiled back. She looked down at Emilynn's clothes and made a face. "I uh, like your clothes." She said slowly, then she suddenly shoved Kasey, who cried out in surprise. "Come on Casey, before it gets cold." She waved at Emilynn. "See ya."

"Bye." Emilynn said as they walked out. She walked back to her booth and sat down in it, staring out the window as they walked away into the snowy streets. She sighed. She didn't want to go back out there, not yet. She settled into the seat, rubbing her hands over her new clothes happily. At least she had new things. She stared at the fat snowflakes that fell from the sky slowly, wondering who on Earth could have given her all that stuff. She thought of the the dream she had earlier. She wasn't even sure that it had been a dream. But, what else could it have been? Who could those people have been that had been arguing to each other? She snuggled into the corner of the booth with a yawn. It doesn't matter. She thought. They're gone now.

Emilynn was wrenched awake by the handle of the bag that she had been holding in her sleep. There was a man over her, grabbing the other strap.

"Hey!" Emilynn shrieked. "Stop!" She kicked her legs out, banging them into the man. He grunted loudly and wrenched the bag towards him again. "No!" Emilynn yelled as her grip was lost and the man ran away with the bag thrown over his shoulder. She slumped back in defeat as he disappeared around the bend. It was no use.

She quickly shoved her hands in her pockets, searching. They were empty. She recalled putting the money back into the bag before she slept so that she wouldn't lose it. The irony cut her like a knife.

This wouldn't be the first time she had been robbed. She had had her stuff stolen many times by people less fortunate than her. That's the main reason she stopped trying to hold onto possessions. She liked to refer to them as the people less fortunate, because they were so poor that they had to steal to survive. She knew that in reality they most likely were just jerks that wanted money, but she figured she might as well be positive as often as she could.

She looked around her. All she had now was her large blanket and the new clothes she had been given. That means that she would have to go back to hunting for food sooner than she had thought. She sighed, crawling out and standing up. It was warmer today. The air was chilly and made her shiver, but it was bearable.

What to do. She paced the alley aimlessly. A paper fluttered by. She paid it no heed until it flipped over in the wind, revealing that it was an envelope. Her note! She recognized the writing on the front of it, addressed to her. She quickly stomped on it to stop it from blowing away. She picked it up. It had been in the side of the bag. It must have fallen out when the man ran away with her possessions. She opened it and pulled the letter out from inside.

I saw you passed out by those dumpsters the other day. You looked pretty messed up, so I thought I would help you. The clothes are the smallest I could find so I hope they fit. You're freaking tiny, you know. Don't be afraid to buy yourself something nice with the money. I'll be back with more.

I'll be back with with more.

They said they would come back. With more stuff. What else could they want to give her? She looked out towards the street. When were they planning on coming, anyway? She wanted to meet this stranger. She had to thank them. She shivered. She knelt down and wrapped herself in her blanket, crawling back into her 'hole.'

All she had to do was wait.

And wait.

And wait.