<span style="font-family:Viga">Now that Adelaide had run into one person already and now that she was so far off track she didn’t even understand how she’d come to allow it, she decided that it wasn’t worth it to let her attention wander. It wasn’t worth it to try and people watch because she knew that something would go wrong. There was no way a woman would ever safely make it home if they tried walking unaccompanied after dark and that was the truth of it. That wasn’t even because of a large surge of violence or anything like that. Instead it was the simple truth of being a woman who chose to walk the streets alone. <br/>
<br/>
Then again, Adelaide hadn’t really chosen this life for herself. She did have someone… once. It was an older relationship and that was simply in that their parents had introduced them to each other so early in their lives. They had been children really and yet Adelaide fell hard, and she was hard pressed to think Louis didn’t have the same experience. She’d even been engaged to be married. There was the shadow of the ring on her finger still because she had worn it so proudly and for so long; the actual ring itself was gone, though, because Louis was gone. <br/>
<br/>
Adelaide walked alone on the streets because to walk with anyone else felt like she was trying to replace Louis. <br/>
<br/>
Adelaide walked alone on the streets because she’d never met another person who could understand that loss. <br/>
<br/>
She endured the danger because she still loved a man who was dead. That did not give her a reason to risk her own death as well, though. He would have hated her if she had tried something like that and as much as she felt sorrow more than most, she still liked her life and wasn’t ready to leave it behind for anything. Therefore, all her concentration was required and she added a little more urgency to her walk to help ensure that she did actually make it home before dark because that was the important part. <br/>
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And she almost made it all the way there… <br/>
<br/>
Suddenly, though, she saw a group of men running towards her. At least, it looked like they were coming towards her. One of them was significantly further ahead than the rest and as he rounded the corner, Adelaide realized that the others were after him. Then she saw him stop before they rounded that same corner; she was in just the right spot to see it. <br/>
<br/>
Her whole body froze up. She wasn’t used to being this close to situations like this. She truly did not want to get involved. The whole reason for her attentiveness in the first place had been so that she could make it home alive and she still needed to do that. Walking right past the whole scene seemed dangerous. She remained, frozen where she stood.</span>