[ WP ] : Turn your deepest , darkest fear into something genuinely sweet and heartwarming

I huddled on the alley floor, the cement cold against my jeans. A brick wall dug into my spine, only to pull back and strike it again and again as sobs wracked my body. This was it. 
 
 Behind me, the city slept. Its lights were dimmed, its eyes were closed. My eyes squeezed shut, but tears broke free to run down my face and mingle with snot. Hugging my knees, I made no move to wipe them off. No one would see, but it did n't matter regardless. 
 
 Gone. A wail built in my throat. Strangled by the sobs and gasps, it tore from me in a high pitched keen. The wall struck my back again -- once, twice, three times. *Gone. * 
 
 I had tried. My arms shook with the exhaustion that hounded me after weeks of working both of my jobs. My feet were swollen and covered in blisters from countless hours walking from table to table, then shelf to shelf. Here, though, agony of a worse sort burned through the physical pain. 
 
 The latest notice crumpled in my hand. Crisp white paper that told me I was a mess, and polite, firm words that said everything I did had n't been enough. I had said I would work things out, and I would n't fail. 
 
 I had lied. 
 
 The keening rose higher as cold seeped through my clothes, but it could n't touch the cold of missing hands. Gone. I had watched expressions turn from love and conviction into confusion and fright. I had failed, and I had nothing left but the cold and emptiness of a forgotten alley. 
 
 A warm coat settled over my shoulders. Clinging desperately to myself, trying to hold together the broken pieces, I could n't even look up. A hand cupped my chin and lifted my face towards the night sky. 
 
 `` Please,'' the voice broke, `` please, baby, look at me.'' 
 
 I could n't open my eyes. I could n't see that face and the despair it held. The hand withdrew. My arms squeezed tighter, but the pieces slipped through, cracking on the cement below. 
 
 That is, until another pair of arms closed around mine. Their warmth thawed the ice of the air, and their strength held off the world. My breaking pieces held, even as my body quaked. `` It will be alright, I promise you,'' the voice said, shaking. `` We will make it through this, too. Just-just do n't leave. Please, do n't leave.'' 
 
 New tears slipped into mine, falling from the face above. They were warm and sweet and stung my chapped lips. `` I'm sorry,'' I whispered. `` I failed you.'' 
 
 `` Never.'' The voice was fierce. 
 
 `` But I could n't do it. I lost it -- there's nothing left anymore.'' 
 
 `` There's me,'' I felt as much as heard the sob break from the one who held me together. `` Please... there's me. Do n't you leave me too.'' 
 
 I let go of myself and held on. `` Never.'' I promised. Pain and desperation stained my voice, but it was not a lie. 
 
 As the city slept, we clung to each other, and our broken pieces fell into place.
