“人之初, 性本善”

The street was dark twenty-four hours where Rosemary lived. The street lamps never worked, and there has never been a single morning when she could sit up and not have to be plagued by a disgusting concoction of weed, cigarettes, and alcohol vomit...

The tree in Niella’s backyard grew strenuously. Scraggled and scrawny under the combined efforts of the grueling sun and frigid night, it did not agree with the extremities seasons have become. There was little consistency to anything anymore, lightning and hailing one day and scorching heat on the next, yet the small tree stood clung to life fiercely despite its dwarfed and stunted size...

The sky poured the world with rain as if trying to drown the silent civilization. Each droplet pounded heavily onto the nave roof of the church. The church was ancient and gradually rusting, the white walls had begun to turn yellow, and the pews creaked with any weight. At the front row just beneath the second platform stood a dark wooden cross, polished and out of place compared to the ragged appearance of the church...