A young girl of six years wandered blindly through the streets alone. Tears still blurred her visions and wet her cheeks. That, combined with the thick darkness of the night, made it almost impossible for her to find her way around.
She had had a painful night. This one was worse than any before. She was hungry, cold, and tried. She didn't know where she was going and she had already lost her way back home. The tears began to run from her eyes again in full. She quietly sobbed. Her cries were the only sounds to be heard.
The girl turned a random corner onto a different street and was met with a peculiar sight. Littered on the ground before her were feathers such a stark white that they almost glowed in the darkness. They were scattered in a way that formed a trail.
The girl bent over and picked up the feather closest to her bare feet. It was softer than anything she'd ever felt. It must be what clouds feel like, she imagined. She held the feather up to her face and examined it. She noticed that some hairs of the feather were a glimmering gold color. At first, she thought the hairs were actually made of Rumpelstiltskin's spun gold until she touched them and found that they were just as soft and light as the rest of the feather.
She drew her attention away from the feather in her hand and looked down at the rest. One-by-one, the girl picked each them up. She didn't notice where the trail took her, and by the time she reached another corner, her arms were full of the feathers.
Though tears still wet her cheeks and her nose still ran, the last thing on her mind was everything that had happened that night. The little adventure took her thoughts away from the night's earlier events. She was no longer upset, as her natural curiosity got the best of her. The feathers were a comfort.
When there were so many in her arms that she couldn't carry anymore, she rounded a corner into an alleyway. She peered into the darkness and was surprised to find two bright golden eyes staring fiercely back at her.
Somehow, she was not afraid. She stepped deeper into the alley. "Hello?" she whispered. Her tiny voice was amplified in the empty space, bouncing off the concrete walls around her. The quietest shuffling sound from the darkest part of the alley came in reply.
A second later, a searing white light that emanated from the alley illuminated the world around the girl. The sudden brightness blinded her and she raised her hands to shield her eyes reflexively, dropping the feathers in the process. They floated down around her like snow. She backed away quickly in an attempt to escape the light only to trip and fall flat on her back. The beads in her hair clinked against each other.
Almost as suddenly as the light had appeared, it was gone. The girl lay on the cold ground, disoriented. When she finally gathered herself, she slowly sat up. She found that she had fallen just at the mouth of the alley, completely exposed to whatever was down there.
When she looked into the alley again, she saw another light, different from the last one. This was a warm hazel colored glow which was concentrated at the dead end of the alley.
The girl got shakily to her feet and carefully walked towards the light. As she neared it, a strange comfort enveloped her. She no longer felt hungry, or cold, or tired. Embracing the feeling, she began walk even faster toward the light.
It soon became clear to her that the light was coming from a person. She could see the silhouette of what appeared to be a man behind the light. It looked like he was standing behind a large flashlight, making it almost impossible for her to make out his face.
"Who're you?" the girl asked, trying to peer behind the light at the man.
Gradually, the light decreased in brightness until it was only a dull glow. It made the alley, compared to the rest of the street, look like the only spot in the world touched by sunlight.
