I sighed, my steel toed boots leaving tracks in the sand under the swing. I’d been sitting there, barely moving, for over an hour. It was almost four, and the sky wasn’t as black as before. I stood, shaking my hair out. It reached my waist, and no matter how many times I cut it, it always grew back over night. I settled for pulling it into a messy bun, to keep it out of my coat.

I began the hour walk back to my apartment, savoring the sunrise as I ambled along. Why bother staying close to home when I have all night? I don’t need to sleep, after all. I could get home in less than five minutes, if I ran, but why rush? I have all the time in the world, so far as I understand it.

I like the weird looks I get from people when I walk home this early. No one expects to see a tiny, fragile-looking girl, with paler-than-pale skin and dark hair walking around in a trenchcoat before six in the morning. Most animals flee from me now, I can’t help it.

I made it back around six thirty and grabbed a bagel.

A new day.