There was a girl whose feelings changed the world around her, and with every step little smoke clouds emanated from her feet. Her soul pulled right out of her chest like a long, blue comet with a tail, and swirled around her body like a protective blue flame. With every step she took the space around her changed, and the world was left a little darker, a little bluer, with shadows that left melancholy traces of mist to the touch, and when she sat down on a bench for a long time the seat beneath her turned dark and meandered outwards, spilling onto the floor and the tiles. The girl didn't run. She walked, because in her memory there was nothing to run for.

When she walked in a tight space the very metal itself around her melted and shifted so that she was walking in a cage of blue light, a cage of her own devising. The girl had grown up in a cage. A cage with many others, a cage in which food and water came at the same time each day, a cage in which trainers came at regular intervals and taught her to do tricks, and rewarded those who did them well.

The girl has always been good at doing tricks. She was faster than anyone else at fetching the ball, and she could distinguish between shaking the right and left hands. She took pride in it, and when rewarded with delicious treats she retreated to her comfortable little nest in the corner of the cage. Her feelings had always been swirling green, or a warm yellow, back when she lived in the cage.

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One day somebody smashed the cage and told all the girls and boys inside of it to go free. The children poured out like a dozen trickling little lights and within seconds melted into the world and were gone. The girl alone scuttled back into her hiding place, peeking out at shattered silver bars that no longer hummed with energy. As she stared at the gaping hole, a chilly wind roared through the once warm enclosure, scraping her cheeks. She flinched, and a grey haze began to obscure her eyes in a muddle of confusion, as in her nest individual stalks of hay jumped and vibrated with her unease. When evening-time came and went and no food came, the girl snuggled in to her pile of rags and went to sleep. She slept fitfully, and with her the rags tossed and turned like little clawed monsters in the night.

After a period of time she woke, but when she woke it was still cold, and with the cold her soul had thinned, wrapping itself delicately around her like so many long, icy vines. There was still no food, and the once silver bars of the smashed-up cage had turned dull grey. The floor rippled outward from beneath her, making her dizzy, and she hugged her knees and shivered, not knowing what to do or where to go. When unfamiliar voices cut through the air she shrank away instinctively, but there was nowhere to go, and the vines enshrining her flared up and spiked in response.

"Hey!" shouted a voice. "Hey! I found one! There's still one of 'em here!"