It was dark and cold, as life often was for her.

Jamie had gotten used to it by now, was what she made herself believe, if not she feared she would crumble and never get up again.

Loneliness was not just a place she found herself in, it was where she lived, where she found refuge in. As much as it hurt, it also meant no one else could pry themselves into and kick her down once again. Perhaps it started by others pushing her there, but now she went willingly; she hid herself from people, the world, the pain.

Life is funny though, isn’t it? Things change as fast as lightning, as hard as a tsunami, when you least expect it, from the weirdest places.

The simplest truth was Jamie had never liked them, they were cold and eery, she avoided them as much as she could. Never quite tried to get to know the why of their existence, or the who or what, by now she was an expert at ignoring them and running away.

Sometimes though, she thought she liked them a tiny bit better than humans, but then one would try and trick her or try to eat her, and Jamie was back at the start again. Trusting anyone was so scary, so damn terrifying.

She fell.

Not just figuratively; she fell down and hit her head.

When she awoke hundreds of wondering eyes looked down on her; any other day, any other situation she would be about to give up knowing death was upon her, but well, she was still disoriented and instead of fear she felt an enormous peace pass her by.

They stood there, some far away, others closer, some small, big, but none of them harmed her. Somehow they looked as if...well it couldn’t be, they couldn’t be.

It looked as if they were taking care of her, and when she felt a cold clawed hand patting her head so very carefully, tears welled up inside of her.

For the first time in her life, Jamie felt warmth.