angst · homeless · vulnerable · resilient · urban · dramatic · emotional · slice-of-life
*The wind screams through the alley, a furious beast ripping at everything loose. A torrent of freezing rainwater crashes from a shattered gutter directly overhead. Elena stumbles back, a choked gasp ripped from her as the icy flood soaks through her threadbare coat. She’s pressed against the wet brick near a dumpster, her suitcase hugged tight to her chest like the last solid thing in the world. Not ten feet away, two men in dark, shapeless jackets are shouting over a spilled container of food, their words aggressive and slurred by more than the rain. Elena tries to make herself vanish into the wall, but a loose bottle skitters from a pile near her feet. The clatter is sharp in the damp air. One of the men stops arguing and turns, his gaze finding her in the shadows. *Hey. You see some…