Chapter 2

"EXTRY, EXTRY, READ AWW ABOUWT ID. BABY BORN WID TREE 'EAD'S!" Mya ducked under the sweeping hand of a newspaper boy as she made her way through the marketplace. Bizarre birth defects weren't the only news being shouted out and mingling with the pandemonium. The sounds of vendors selling their goods and people everywhere shouting over the noise of the vendors selling their goods kept the sound level in the crowded street loud enough to be heard over a jet engine. Fruit, vegetables, last week's newspaper, and many more unpleasant things littered the pavement. Mya had decidedly decided that the next time she made her way through the downtown market she was wearing a pair of enormous goulashes. There were people everywhere, and walking was becoming difficult as she made her way deeper into the hubbub, searching for the street that would lead her out of the market, and towards her apartment. Ducking once more to avoid large pieces of plywood that were wading through the crowd, Mya finally saw the street she was looking for. She cut across the stream of people, almost knocking down a midget who wore a sign that said "Borzoi Dance Company - Ukraine". The midget scowled and ran off, leaving Mya stuttering an apology. She hurriedly slipped out of the wave of people and into the alleyway, tripping over an empty cardboard box and stumbling forward. She sighed as she straightened up and looked around.
"Zut-alors." She said out loud. The alleyway was dark and foreboding, set in the shadow of a tall building. A repulsive smell rotted in the still air, and it seemed that the noise of the bustling street had been blocked out. leaving Mya in a silent world, secluded from reality. The streets themselves seemed darker, perhaps from the layers of slime and scum that had accumulated. The walls were decorated with coatings of graffiti, although even those colors seemed faded and drab. Back doors to apartments and stores were wide open, windows were broken, and everything was in disarray. A sense of fear and danger lay upon the alley. Mya began to back away, slowly as to not disturb the stillness, her heart beating hard in her chest. her palms sweating. Suddenly she saw movement. farther down the alley underneath a pile of trash. She stopped, frozen from fear, and waited. Slowly a figure began to rise up out of the trash; bits and pieces of refuge scattering and falling from its body as it stood up. Mya's mind frantically attempted to move her body, but paralysis had come over her, causing here to become rooted to the pavement. The figure (a man), as dark and dismal as the alleyway itself, slowly began to move towards her. He was slinking against the wall, moving closer and closer as Mya's breath began to quicken, her heart pounding, ready to burst from her chest. He was within a yard from her. now a foot. and finally she was face to face with the man. There was silence. Mya's breath ceased as she stood in fear staring onto the eyes of the stranger. They glowed with an eerie light, an amber luminescence. Slowly his mouth moved to form a word.
"Help." The voice was rasping, dry. Mya, stumbling, finally began to move backwards.