Kimberly ran through the cold, wintry, snow covered streets of Ann Arbor, Michigan. She didn't dare to look back, fearing that it would cause her to slip on the ice.

As she ran for what seemed to be forever, the girl saw an opening between two buildings. She made sure to stop a few feet away from her target, completely aware that she would otherwise slide right past the alleyway. She scrambled into the small crevice, hoping against hope that her pursuer would not locate her here.

She tried to catch her breath whilst remaining as quiet as possible, but this was proving difficult to achieve. Looking around worriedly, Kimberly noticed that the alley stretched into a corridor like structure. Glancing between the entrance to the street and the rest of the passage, the 16 year old girl slowly backed further and further away towards what felt like salvation.

As soon as she decided that she walked far enough into the passage, and that no one on the street would be able to hear her, Kimberly curled into a ball, trying to collect as much heat as possible while at the same time sleeping. And the dreams were strange.

Kimberly woke up in the middle of a meadow. Everything was unnaturally bright, colorful, like a drawing almost. The sky stretched on, like a blue blanket comforting the world. Grass as green as emerald, flowers like jewels, and a perfect sapphire lake. She approached the lake and looked into it's spiraling depths, her own reflection looking back at her. Her 5 year old self.

Eyes widening in surprise, Kimberly jumped away from the water's edge. She ran her hands through her hair.

'This isn't happening,' She thought to herself. 'This is all a dream.'

The realization comforted her greatly, and Kimberly managed to take a few deep breaths before looking into the water once more.

She saw that something was looking back.

This time, Kimberly vocally let out a shriek. The surprise caused her to loose her footing, and the 5 year old fell into the lake. Suddenly, it was as if there were two girls. One past and one future. Kimberly watched herself sink deeper and deeper. But she couldn't do anything to stop it. She was nothing. It was as if her body was air, incapable of moving on its own.

When all hope was almost surely lost, a shadow appeared, looming underneath the girl. It swam up, with little Kimberly on it's back. It came closer and closer, until finally breaking the shore. The spirit crawled closer and closer to herself, until they were conjoined as one once again.

The 5 year old woke up in a sudden gasp, coughing water out of her lungs. In the distance, people could be heard. The coughing continued.

Finally, Kimberly felt hands encircling her, picking her up off whatever had saved her. She opened her eyes to see a couple- in about their 30s- looking down at her in worry. They looked around, their lips moved, but nothing could be heard through water-clogged ears.

A pause.

They started to leave, Kimberly still in their arms. Without warning or permission, they decided to take her. Over the shoulder of the man, the little girl saw the creature who had saved her life. And she remembered another childhood, a different childhood, where she sat in front of the television with cereal.

And she knew what it was that saved her.

A Milotic.

A Pokemon.

From there, the dream skipped. From past to future, from memory to memory of the girl she had been. She watched her life. The couple adopting her.

Raising her.

Loving her.

But this hadn't been her life. These weren't her memories.

And a soothing voice spoke to her, "But they will be."

In a sudden gasp, Kimberly woke herself up. And she wasn't alone.

The barrel of the gun was inches from her face, the man behind it entirely covered in black.

There was no clever word play. No plans being revealed. No last words.

It was just Kimberly, and the man, and the gun.

And there was a gunshot, echoing through the city.

And then there was nothing.