Chapter 1: As The Snowflake Falls

A snowflake slowly fell from the cloudy skies above. The city lights reflected off the fresh coating of snow. Cars and people could be heard as they passed by—a lively city in even the coldest part of winter. In a back alley where those forgotten about by society roam, a figure could be seen rummaging through a dumpster. The small figure looked to be no older than ten years old. Her malnourished body looked sickly and pale. Due to her lack of nutrition, she most likely had stunted growth and was probably older than she looked. Her tattered clothes that did not fit this kind of snowy weather really stuck out. But yet, here she was out in this cold weather rummaging through a dumpster to find even a single scrap of food.

"Nothing… Nothing…" The young girl's eyes began to water up. She had already searched for hours now. Her hands and exposed skin were already purple from being out in the cold weather. "Did those guys already go through this one too..."

*Bam!*

"Haha! Hold on. I need to throw the trash out!" A young man came out of a side door with a black bag in his hand. The young girl who was once rummaging through the dumpster was now nowhere to be seen. "Fuck, it's cold out here..." The young man shivered as he quickly tossed the bag into the dumpster before running back inside.

The door to the building clicked closed, and from the shadows not too far away, a small figure slowly emerged from the shadows. Her eyes opened wide in excitement as she picked up her pace until she was in a full-on sprint towards the dumpster. She had caught a whiff of what came out of the building and a good look at the young man's clothes. She knew that place was a restaurant, and if they were tossing out the trash, that meant there was a good chance that food would be inside.

The young girl's lips curled up into a faint smile. Something rarely seen on her face. She did not hesitate to climb right inside the dumpster and rip open the bag. Food scraps, some still warm, filled her eyes. She quickly grabbed a half-eaten hamburger and shoved it into her mouth. The feeling of food entering her mouth made her taste buds almost hurt as they screamed out in excitement to be tasting actual warm food for the first time in a long time.

*Bang!*

"Fucking little bitch! You dare take food from my territory!?" A man wearing a few layers of tattered clothes slammed a metal pole on the side of the dumpster, causing a loud sound to reverberate throughout the dumpster hurting the young girl's ears.

The young girl looked up in horror at the man with teeth missing wearing torn dirty clothes that were layered over each other. He had a frayed winter hat and fingerless gloves on. And the look in his eye sent shivers down the young girl's spine. from her trembling lips, she could only muster up a single sentence. "I only ate one thing..."

"You think you can eat one thing and that it would be alright!? Get the fuck out of there!" The man reached in and grabbed the young girl by her long black hair and yanked hard, lifting her right up out of the dumpster.

"Noo! Stop! You're ripping my hair out! Ahh!" The young girl's tears rained down from her eyes as she reached up, doing her best to pull her body up so that her hair would not come out and to ease the burning pain on her head.

"Don't touch me, you little bitch!" The man swung his arm, tossing the little girl away from him, sending her flying into a pile of trash bags. Luckily she had something to cushion her. If there was nothing there to soften her fall, she would have ended up dead instantly. The young girl curled up into the ball, clutching the top of her head that still hurt from having her hair yanked to the point of almost coming out. She had hoped this would be the end of it and the man would leave.

The man took the bag out of the dumpster and put it in his cart before pushing it down the alley. He stopped in front of the young girl, snorted then kicked her in the leg. "Stay the fuck out of my area. Just go die in a ditch somewhere. Fucking bitch wasting my food."

The young girl only heard the squeaky wheels of the man's cart grow quieter and quieter as they got further away. The young girl lifted her head slightly to check if he was around any longer, and only when she was sure he had indeed left did she let out a sigh of relief. As she tried to stand up, a sharp pain shot up her leg. She looked down to see that there was a large gash in it from where she was kicked. The young girl let out a sigh. She had no energy left in her body. The cold had drained it all from her already.

The young girl laid on her back and looked up at the sky. The snow that was falling had become even heavier. She stared blankly up at the cloudy sky with her pitch-black eyes growing dull. A single snowflake fluttered down and landed on her nose. Her already purple lips slowly parted: "It seems humans are nothing but demons in disguise… If I am ever to be reborn, then I would rather be a fucking bug than a human."

The young girl's eyes slowly began to close. The cold she felt before all but gone. She felt nothing. No, it was not that she felt nothing. She felt a wave of peace flow through her body. She could already tell what was to come, and this gave her peace in knowing that she could finally end her struggle. The struggle many kids had to endure in a world so messed up that not even a young girl like her was able to find even the slightest ray of hope. At the age of sixteen, looking no older than ten years of age. A young girl named Kana, a homeless orphan like many passed away under the fluttering flakes of snow.