Bedlam - Saturday night

[xp_daytripper]

"I was Cinderella, once. I went to a ball and wore the prettiest dress..."

"That's nice. Now, move along, there's others waiting.

There is a bowl of soup in front of her on a tray. Chicken and vegetable, a thin scum of grease floating on the top. When has she last eaten? She can't remember. Cities didn't eat. Picking up the tray with fingers that feel awkward and stiff, she shuffles hesitantly along the line under the woman's impatient gaze. "The clock struck midnight and everything broke. I tried to hold all the pieces together but they slipped through my fingers like melting ice. The prince too. I broke him into a thousand pieces."

"I'm sure you didn't." The woman slops food into another bowl, thrusts it at the next person in line, a hollow-eyed man in an enormous ragged coat. "Move along."

She does as she is told, holding the tray as carefully as if she is carrying eggs. "I did. I broke him and he never got put back together right," she mutters to herself.

Behind her, the woman shook her head. "Drugs are a terrible thing." She handed over another bowl of soup. "Keep it moving, gents, there's a lot of you here tonight, all wanting to be fed."