Khanna

A girl sits under a bridge. She is huddled,shivering under a thin blanket. Her tangled red 

hair falls in clumps over her blue grey eyes. As night falls over the hazy village, she thinks to 

herself.What a beautiful night. Although she wishes she were in a warm bed, she knows that 

nobody else has such a view of this place. At least it can’t get much worse. She hadn’t been 

here for long, only a week. Her stomach growled. When was the last time I ate? About six days 

ago, she had stolen some fruit from a stand on the road. A man had chased her for three blocks 

before she had escaped through a narrow alleyway.,I’m starving. She meant it, if she didn’t eat 

soon, she would die. Not to mention that she had been coughing uncontrollably throughout the 

day, she hoped that she wasn’t coming down with a terrible illness that had been spreading like 

wildfire. It had infected her entire family and forced her out of her home. The hick people that 

lived around her called it “farmer’s cough” but she knew it had an official name, if only she could 

remember what it was called...

A sudden noise interrupted her thoughts. A crack of lightning followed by roaring 

thunder followed. A heavy sheet of unrelenting, freezing rain came pouring down, seeping 

through cracks in the bridge, and making the girl shiver with cold. She knew that any food she 

could find in this terrible weather would be soaking wet and inedible. Her deep blue dress 

became heavy around her tiny frame, her thick coat only making her colder as it became 

soaked through. She was about fifteen years old, although her small size made her look to be 

about thirteen. Another bolt of lightning lit up the sky, illuminating the grim look on her face. I 

have to eat. Her pitiful appearance was replaced with pure determination. She struggled to her 

feet, was seized with another terrible bout of coughing, and fell back down. Try again. She 

commanded herself silently. This time she was able to regain her feet, and began to trek 

through the terrible storm in search of food. With her head held down, she twisted at the beaded 

bracelet around her skinny wrist. It had painted beads on it that said:Khanna, her name. A brutal 

wind battered Khanna, almost sweeping her off of her feet. She began lifting the lids off of the 

two large dumpsters that stood on the side of the road, and a terrible stench overwhelmed her. 

Am I really this desperate? The grumbling in her stomach was her answer. As she dug through 

the putrified, now soaking wet rubbish, her hope diminished. The only possibly edible thing that 

was there was a hunk of maggot filled meat, that not even she was desperate enough to eat. 

Another bout of coughing wracked Khanna, causing her to fall to her knees, and the odor from 

the garbage made her wretch. Not that she had to worry, there was nothing in her stomach to 

vomit up. I can’t give up! Once again she forced herself to stand. She continued on her way