Today, just as she had every day for the last few years, Kylie gazed out the window. Her unfocused eyes looking over the fire ravenged meadow, not seeing the blackened grass or charred remains of ancient trees that had once stood, but instead saw the lavender dotted green that had once filled the view from her attic window. Her brown hair was matted around her shoulders and her clothes were tattered and stained. Her once pleasant curves had dwindled down and atrophied to nothing. No longer aware of her present surroundings, she forgot to eat, forgot to bathe, forgot to do anything other then sit on her window seat and stare.

            Something had changed though. Today wasn't like every other day. Today it wasn't the eyes in her memory seeing the car pull slowly up the drive. Kylie blinked herself back into a more conscious state and listened as two car doors opened and shut. She heard the footsteps on the creaky front steps and the sound of a door being opened that had remained closed for over 3 years. Floorboards groaned under the weight of some one walking around just below her, in what was once the living room. Muffled voices drifted up to her through the deteriorating floor boards beneath her. Slowly the voices drew nearer, and became more real as the stairs leading up to her attic hiding place creaked. The door opened and a man in a business suit looked around the room, stopping and shaking his head as he spotted Kylie's sitting spot. A woman peeked around him and gasped, putting her hand to her mouth and rushed back down the stairs.

            Kylie watched the entire scene, almost as if it were all in slow motion. Soon more cars began to come up her driveway. She sat, unconcerned, watching out her window as always. Men carrying a stretcher came into the room and stopped to stare at the girl looking out the window. They set the stretcher next to her window seat and paused for a moment, just watching her. She looked up at them, unsure of what to say, or perhaps unable to speak at all. The older one finally sighed and motioned with his hand to the other, and they both reached for Kylie. Gingerly they picked up and placed her bones on the stretcher. Neither one willing to think of how long the girl had been left here to starve after her family had died in the fire. She had sat and stared out her window until darkness had over come the light in her eyes.

            Kylie watched them take her remains back out the attic door, and turned back to her endless watch of the lavender dotted green field.