Black Crystal

Chapter One

My name is Dakota. Just Dakota, nothing else. I don't even know what Dakota means, except the fact that it is my name. I saw it written on a newspaper in the bin many years ago, and since I can't remember the name that my parents gave me, I gave myself one, Dakota.

I am not sure what the point of having a name is, I don't know anyone here, and when I do run across someone they just give me their own names, which also don't seem to have any meaning. Nothing seems to have meaning in this world. My life is one of those things. All I do is slink around the alleyways day and night, trying to find food and water to keep me alive. The only reason I haven't let myself be killed yet is because I heard that Death is a place of darkness, and darkness only. It seems like a place of boring shit, so I would much rather be here, in the alleyways, where at least something slightly exciting happens. 

Last week, the police came down Main Alley asking us all for information about a woman called Chelsie something-a-rather. They wouldn't tell us why they were looking for her, but because of how the older men were fooling around, it was probably serious. There were often police coming down through Main Alley looking for people who has gone missing, they rarely went down the side alleys, which suited me just fine because I didn't want to run into the police. They rarely found who they were looking for, normally someone living in Main Alley had murdered them and that person was taken away, never to be seen again. They probably only saw Death from then. 

Other minor events that happened included fires, burst sewage pipes, Death, sickness. So far I had been lucky to avoid the last two, but I wasn't sure for how long. My life in the Alleys was rough and tough, but I didn't know any better. I had raised myself like this and as far as I knew, it was the only life for me.