Scenic. Scenic. Use one or more of the following images as your inspiration today. Bonus point if you manage to use all three.
I chose a picture of two London cabbies on a foggy, rainy day.
Cold!
Reflex dodged to one side, away from the downspout sending a chilly waterfall to the sidewalk. That water was cold, and she already shivered. She should have returned to the courtyard hours ago. With large raindrops slowly freezing to snowflakes, even the street adults had disappeared to the various alcoves around the city. The others would expect her back soon.
Except the sudden drenching had only worsened the tremors that had started shortly after midday, and too many miles lay between her and home. She risked illness staying out much longer. When a wave of gutter water from a passing cab drenched her anew, she finally detoured up several streets and into a different alley maze. The others had shown her another safe place the week she joined. Better to ask for help than freeze all night. The worst they could say was "no."
Left at the first split. Right at the next, then a twisting path saw her to a line of flats not far from Regent's. Rainwater dripped from clothes and hair as she rapped a pattern against the wood.
"Who would…"
The faint question carried from inside, then something hit the counter as a semi-familiar gait grew ever louder. The door finally opened to reveal an adult she had met only once before.
"H-hello, Mrs. Hudson." Trembling broke the greeting, and she barely resisted the urge to hug her jacket closer. "C-can I sleep—"
"Gwen?" Worried surprise cut off the request in favor of waving her into the kitchen. "What are you doing out in this weather, dearie? You'll catch cold."
Already caught—the temperature if not the illness. Violent shivering made her stumble over a level floor, and gentle hands hustled her toward where a fire burned merrily in the grate. Her sopping jacket joined shoes, socks, and her top layers of shirts on the floor before a blanket wrapped around her from behind.
"Stay by the fire. I'll have some cocoa warmed in a minute."
She could do that. A day of Running for both food and information had left her tired, cold, and more than a little hungry, but the coldest spot in Mrs. Hudson's sitting room proved far warmer than their chilly courtyard. Warmth slowly penetrated her blanket to weigh down her eyelids. She forced herself upright when footsteps sounded behind her.
"Here we are." A tray clinked against a low table. Mrs. Hudson offered her a mug and took the other for herself, claiming a worn armchair to watch Gwen sip. The sweet drink went far in warming her the rest of the way.
"Thank you," she murmured.
"Of course." Kind eyes creased in a smile though her tone remained firm. "This is home, too, dear. You know that. We'll set you up on the settee for tonight, and you can return to the other troublemakers after the storm dies."
A night on the settee. That sounded much better than the damp sleep she would have found in the courtyard, and more comfortable than the night on the floor she had hoped to receive. A relieved smile escaped despite the light teasing.
She would miss her parents and brother for the rest of her life, but at least Providence had given her a new family to call her own.
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