prologue

He looks at her now and realises just how much she has grown up in the past few years. Despite some of the things life had thrown at her as a child, she had retained an innocence – a view of the world in which she still seemed to believe in good and evil and that punishment and judgement should prevail. And yet now something seemed to have changed within her. He wasn't quite sure whether it had been gradual or sudden, whether he had only noticed it as it became more prominent during the last few months. She looked older somehow. And not just in the usual sense that everybody ages. It was different. As if the weight of recent events was pushing her down. Weakening her, tiring her, aging her. He couldn't help but let it cross his mind that he wasn't sure how long she could survive like this; how long she would drag herself through each day; how long she would even bother to wake up in the morning. The thought terrified him, and yet it appeared to be content to wander through his mind during the day.

A/N... so, I'm trying something new - publishing a story that I haven't finished yet, in hopes that it will force me to actually complete it! got a beginning, most of the middle and some end written at the moment so let me know if you want me to keep writing and uploading it...