Street Corner

This caught my attention and I thought to myself, "Oh no...Is it that time already?  Yes, it's time for the First Campaign Challenge of the 4th campaign!  Here is the challenge:

Write a short story/flash fiction story in 200 words or less, excluding the title. It can be in any format, including a poem. 

Begin the story with the words, “Shadows crept across the wall”. These five words will be included in the word count. 

If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional), do one or more of these:end the story with the words: "everything faded." (also included in the word count)include the word "orange" in the story.write in the same genre you normally write make your story 200 words exactly!

In a panic I searched through my notebook of scattered ideas and here is my entry:

 Street Corner

Shadows crept across the wall. She watched them in fascination as she swallowed the pills. Her orange nail polish was chipped, her stockings torn and her cheap dress barely clung to her body. She was mans' every tattered dream and not proud of it. Night after night she waited in the same shadows for someone or something else to come along. The cold and the hunger dodged her attention; all that remained real were the corners on the street in front of her and the sound of her breath. Tonight she felt lucky. There was something strange in the air, something else was coming, and when it turned the corner she caught her breath in surprise.

Beauty floated towards her on a haunting melody and everything stopped to listen. Rats held each others  tails; their meals still stuck in their teeth glistened in the streetlight. Foreign bugs stopped their chattering and sat quietly on the wet pavement. Even the air stopped breathing and yesterdays’ news clung to brick walls with ink stained pages. Beauty was no stranger to this street, its name was death and it knew where it was going as it approached her...so at last, everything faded.