will we ever find peace?

chapter 1 - kate

-2 years earlier-

A strand of her fire red hair fell infront of her face gently, almost gracefully. The sun licked her pale white skin as it shome through the window. Her freckles creating a contrast against her skin as they travelled across the nose and cheeks and down her back. A slender finger came to brush the strand away in an attempt to remive it from her face, in the process revealing her forrest green eyes. Her slightly curly hair waved in the breeze for a millisecond as the door to the pharmacy door was opened by a stranger looking for some pain killers. A short women, no younger than sixty approached the desk shakily, her footing slightly of making her stumble and lean on her cane for support. Once reaching the front desk , she looked up at the girl with a small smile that graced her lips perfectly. Waiting for her to scan the item so she could be on her way.

After the women left, the shop cast an eerie silence around her, making her feel cornered, feel like prey that was being hunted. The flashbacks came steady at first, thae haunted look that adorned her face made it seem like she was a statue, one that represented trauma and fear, not the omes that represented joy and achievment. It was almost enduring seeing her stand there, not knowing what was happening. The flashbacks so strong that she no lonher knew what was real and what was fake. A thought ran through her head, what people walking past see if they saw me like this, they must think im crazy. The thoughts slowly clamed her already racing mind, telling her to calm down and try to breath, to remeber.

That's when she noticed it, the silence.

The deafining silence that seemed too loud yet so, so quiet. It surrounded her and made her slightly paranoid. Even on the calm days, there was always a bustling noise comming from the other side of the doors, even if there was no one in the shop you coyld still hear the noise. How she loved the noise, it calmed her, made her feel like she was not alone. The children that ussually ran past, asking their mother for ice cream as they hurridley ran behind them in hopes of catching up before their child could try to cross the not so busy roads. The man who ussually stood on the other side of the road, making balokn animals fkr the children, laughing and making silly jokes to show happiness. When cars did pass, they were ussually loud, music blasting from the windows, making the peiple around them snile and shout song suggestions at them as they drove past. The city was beatiful when there was noise, it was like everything was fake, like nothing was real, like something was wrong.

Shaking the thoughts from her head, she put her head down and scribbled down some notes, waiting for the next person to walk into the pharmacy. Hoping someone would walk in to hopefully give her some nornalcy, hooefully calm her racing heart that was too loud in her ears.

Her thoughts were again broken of by another sound, a thump that seemed to shake her thoughts out of place and out them back together again. Made her think logically again. She spared a glance up at the window, not expecting to see anytjung crazy or out of the normal, in fact she was expecting to see a child who had accidently smacked into the glass in excitment, oh hiw she whished it was that.

Staining the glass was red, just red. The red taunted her, made her anxious and scared for what would find on thw other side of the glass if she opened the door. God, there was so much. Even though she couldnt see it, she knew it had pooled and sunk into a puddle of just red. There was no other way to describe it but red. How does one describe the clour of blood when everyone's is different. And evertime it showed, it gave her stomache a tug and a lurch, makjng her feel sick and lightheaded. Knowing that everytime the red showed, it meant a life could be lost, evertime the red showed, someone was hurt and in pain. Staring at it, she knew she had to help, she knew she did, but her feet would not move from their place on the floor. They had seemed to plant themsleves without her permission, warning her a danger, a danger she did not understand. There was someone bleeding out just outside the pharmacy she worked in and yet she was stood there still as a statue. For goodness sake, she was only 17 years old, she should not be dealing with this shit.

Thats when she noticed, the shadow that lurked just abover the other body, it must be a cat. Not to big to be a cat, then hopefully a dog, a very big dog. Oh, how she prayed, she had never prayed until now. Knowing that god did not help her before so why would he help her now, yet she  still prayed. Prayed that whatever was beyond thay door, whatever was outside, would either be friendly or stupid. She knew the first one was a hioe more than a want as she could already hear the snap on bone and the eating of ones flesh. She could hear hiw the blokd squirted and oozed from the wounds, hesrd it slowly drained out of the once moving form. She knew there was no way that person had survived that. The bone, the flesh, blood. It was to much for anyone to handle, so she knew.

The panic surged within her, so with a quick movement she decided. She would not fall vitim to the same thing that poor person had fallen to. She knew it would not stay full and would come after her next. It was a gut feeling, a wrenching, lurking gut feeling. One that stays with someone forever, whether it be because it saves a person or make them look like an idiot. Either way she knew it would stay with her.

The decision she was about to make would either out her in danger or save her. With a surge if strength, she managed to quickly sprint into the break room, hoping to find a weapon, but only comming across a rusty metal pole that fell from the staff room ceilling a couple days ago when unfer construction. She was relieved, she was supposed to throw this out a day ago but had forgotten, and now it may be the thing that ultimately saves her. She smiled slightly before remebering the situation she was in and made her way back to the front of the pharmacy, slowly, delicately. Comming up to the door that led outside, she breathed a heavy breath and opened it as fast as possible in hopes that it would stop her from chickening out. The sight before her made her want to vomit.

The poor old women, the one that had entered the store about ten minutes ago, the one that had smiled at her and showed her a tiny bit of kindness. The one that even she was older than most in the area, had a long abd fufilling life left to finish. That poor women was now hunched and leaned against the glass, her eyes foggy and distant, as if there was no longer a soul possesing her body. Blood surorunded her, blood that should not have been spilled, pooled around her and into a puddle on the cold concrete floor. Her arm was no longer existent, half the skin on her face had been pulled and what looked to be torched. Her legs legs barely holding, physically being able to see the sockets and muscle that strained to keep them attached. What was worse was the person on top of her. She remebered him as the person who made balloon animals for the children, who always made her and others laugh on a bad day with his silly jokes. He was now chewing that poor womans other arm. How she wanted to cry in bith anguish and pain, but she knew she couldnt. Not if that thing had not seen her yet. So she ran. It was the only thing she knew how to do. So she ran until she couldnt anymore.

Entering the abondened building that stood infront of her, hoping that nothing was inside as this place of the city was remarkably deserted and isolated from the people. Not due to anything bad, no. But because it was old, and no one wanted to buy the property or to knock it down, so for the second time today, she prayed and she hoped.