Okay, I'm writing this in light of the upcoming holiday season ((Christmas)). It's just a short story that I hope to be done with by then. I wasn't going to post it anywhere, but I was hoping on some help critiquing it. So if you see any mistakes please tell me, and also if you have any advise! I'd ask my friends but I don't want to show them yet, please help me. I'll probably change things a lot along the way, but this is my Chapter One so far.

+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+x +x

Chapter One x Home Sweet Home x

A small girl shivered as she walked down the busy street. Nobody glanced twice at her; none of them wondered why she was alone or why she wasn't wearing a winter coat. For all the attention she was getting she could very well have been invisible.

Arelah brushed past the many families as they talked and laughed together. A small smile played on her white lips as she saw children dragging their parents along screaming out about different toys in the windows of all the stores. Each parent's reaction was different. Some parents just smiled and nodded, others bent down and said things like 'Santa might just buy it for you', and others just pulled their children away from the window shaking their heads.

The girl's smile was a cheerless one as she watched all the happiness around her. The children seemed so happy, and why not? They were young and they knew nothing of the world they were being brought up in. They knew nothing of loneliness, hate, or pain. All they knew were their parents, their loving home, and the love that surrounded them like a bubble protecting them from anything else.

Arelah shook her head sadly, wondering when their bubbles would burst. She looked at the ground in front of her, trying to not hear the happy screams and laughs that rose in the air around her. She blocked out the sound of the jingle bells and Carolers. She kept her thoughts on the sidewalk, looking for ice and any other obstacle in her way.

Even so, she could not block out the wind or cold. She bit her lips as wind tore through her thin sweater and she wrapped her arms around herself tighter still. Nothing could stop the wind's icy blades from getting to her, but she tried.

She desperately attempted to speed up, but the ice and wind refused to let, and her attempts left her sliding across the sidewalks trying to stay balanced.

At last she reached her destination and turned right into a dark alley. It was not very wide and the buildings around it were tall, making it a great place to seek protection from the wind. Silently she curled up behind a couple of cardboard boxes and closed her eyes.

Finally she let the sounds around her in, and she listened to the soft singing of people and the steady ringing of bells. And to these sounds she fell asleep, still shivering with cold.

In the tiny bit of moon light that shone into the back alley, three words could be made out written on one of the cardboard boxes.

Home Sweet Home