From "Orange Petals in a Storm" by Niamh Clune

Eleven year old, recently orphaned, Skyla McFee, runs through the streets of London and takes shelter in St. Peter's Church...

The Church bell chimed the passing of another hour. At last, when all was quiet and the rain-sodden, glistening street slept, she crossed the road and opened the iron gate. Descending the steep, stone steps to the lower garden level, she hid amongst the shadows. Moving quietly with their slowly unfolding motions and shapes, she had little to fear from such as these. Those silent inhabitants of her once beloved garden had been her friends. Once again, they cloaked her well, enabling her to move to the garden’s end. Passing beneath the rose bushes, she sought out the loose plank. Though she searched, carefully feeling the edge of each one, she could not find the plank that would give her entry into the builder’s yard. Her final vestiges of strength and determination ebbed away into the saturated earth. Sinking into the mud, she curled up into a tiny ball and gave herself up to the rain.