A young homeless girl finds herself in a reality that is all too real for this world.

    Amy shivered as she pulled her baby closer to her under the woolen blanket. The nights had gotten a lot colder than she had remembered and she found herself wishing that she could be back home in her nice, warm bed. Looking up, she could see the twinkling stars fade away as the wind gently pushed the clouds over them. It wouldn’t be long before the rain would set in. She groaned quietly as she thought of it. The space under the overpass would be enough shelter to keep her and the baby dry as long as the wind didn’t become too strong. If that happened, they were both bound to get soaked.

  “Please God," she whispered, “Don’t let me get wet. I don’t think I can fight off another round of pneumonia.”

    The baby twitched in her sleep and began sucking on her fist vigorously. Amy leaned back against a metal column and adjusted the blanket around her legs. She smiled as she thought about the army surplus store where she had purchased it a couple of weeks ago. The clerk had let her have the blanket for half price when he saw how far along in her pregnancy that she was.

  “When are you due?”  he asked, pushing his broad-rimmed glasses further up the bridge of his nose. 

   “Today." Amy replied.  “But I haven’t had any pains yet.”

  “What hospital are you going to?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. I guess whichever one is the closest," she answered, hoping he wouldn’t ask her any more questions.

  The clerk cleared his throat and then adjusted his glasses again.   “How about I let you have this wool blanket for fifty percent off? Do you have ten dollars, Miss?”

   Amy nodded and then handed him the bill out of her duffle bag.

  “This isn’t all that you have, is it?” he asked, concerned.

  “No." she replied, “I have more.” “Okay then. It was nice doing business with you.”

    Amy sighed as she began to think of how proud she had felt to have bought something like that with her own money. At home, her mother would have done it all for her and she would have never had to think about it at all. But out in the real world, it was all on her shoulders. Amy fought back the tears as she thought about never seeing her parents again. They would never know what had become of her or their beautiful granddaughter.

    Above her, she could hear the rain pelt against the top of the overpass. The sound of cars speeding through the fast-collecting water on the interstate was almost deafening. She smiled as she watched the infant awaken to the noisy conditions.

  “Hello sweetheart."  Amy sang quietly in the child’s ear. “How is mommy’s little girl?”

     The baby cooed and began to suck on her fists again. “I bet you’re hungry," her mother said as she let the child suckle her breast, “At least one of us will get dinner.”

    Amy tucked her hair behind her ear as she started to sing the same lullaby that her mother used to sing to her even though the noise from the automobiles would occasionally drowned her out. When the child had finished eating, Amy burped her and tucked her back into the spot on her chest. She watched as the little girl drifted back to sleep.

   “I hope that you will never remember this part of your life, little one," she said to her as she covered the child’s face with the blanket.

    As Amy closed her eyes in hopes for a little sleep between the noise, she heard a loud banging sound. Opening them, she saw a car speeding down the interstate with someone hanging out of the passenger side window. An intense pain gripped her in the chest and she quickly lifted the covers to see her lifeless child laying in their pool of blood. Amy tried to let out a scream but suddenly felt faint. “Mommy...” she whispered, sensing her own body giving up. Come here little one, she heard her mother’s voice say. Then she closed her eyes once more.