Beforetime

Chapter 1

It was a clear night in the countryside, with only her headlights, the stars, moon, and the occasional safety light to guide them to a new and blessedly unknown destination.

She glanced into the rearview mirror to see her little brother, Jonathan, fast asleep in his car seat.

She quickly returned her attention to the dark and deserted road when all of a sudden, as if like lightening had struck, a single deer ran across the empty road and she slammed down the brake to make sure she wouldn't hit the frightened creature. If there is one thing the girl knew, it was that if there is one deer there is most likely more.

As a second one ran right in front of the frightened young girl, she swerved off of the road to avoid hitting it, driving right into the ditch.

The car seemed to be fine but refused to start up once again. After she gave up, she immediately looked towards the back seat to check on Jonathan. He was still fast asleep. He could probably sleep through a tornado siren.

She took out her ancient phone and of course, there was no service. She stepped out of the car and opened the back door, and unbuckled Jonathan from his car seat and carried him out of the car, with him still asleep, dead to the world.

It was a bit cold out for April so she wrapped him in her light weight jacket and started walking in the pitch black night, hopefully towards a farmhouse that would let her use a phone to call a tow service.

As the young girl walked towards a dim light that could hopefully be a house, it suddenly started to rain on them and she started running with her younger brother in her arms.

Huh, she thought. There wasn't a cloud in the sky a few moments before. But that didn't matter right now. She had to find a place fast, as they were already too far away from the sanctuary of her primeval car.

Seeing the house that had the dim light somewhat far back from the road, the girl turned down the long dirt driveway and quickened her pace.

As the two approached the white, aging farm house, she couldn't help but notice the looming size of its two story structure. She shifted the weight of the small boy and knocked on the door praying that the people living here would be awake and let them come in from the freezing cold rain.

The door opened revealing an older woman seemingly shocked that a human being would be out in this kind of weather.

"Oh dear! Come on in before you catch pneumonia!" The woman exclaimed ushering the two seemingly ragamuffins into her home.

She went in welcoming the warm atmosphere. The young girl sat down Jonathan on an antique looking chair that sat near the front door and took her jacket off of him. He seemed to be fine- and still asleep- which she was happy about.

"What on God's green earth where you doing out there?" The woman bellowed worryingly. "Oh never mind that! Come by the fire, hurry!"

Immediately she obliged to the woman. The girl could tell she had a commanding air to her that made people comply unquestioningly to her demands. "Thank you for letting us in. I came here hoping to use your phone for help."

"It's no problem. You can stay here for the night because there ain't anybody going to be working tonight in this kind of weather." She said a matter of factly. "What's your two names?" She finished in a somewhat thick southern accent.

"Ah, I'm Lorraine Pierce, and this is my brother, Jonathan." The young girl said trying to smile at the older woman as she led her to the living room.

The room's walls were a deep red, with even more dark antique furniture to match giving the room a warm feeling.

The giving of their names seemed to please her well enough and she then called for other people that were in the house.

Lorraine heard footsteps coming down the stairs and turned around to see whom they belonged to. The first one in the drenched girl's line of vision was an older man about the same age as the woman and had deep laugh lines as well as lines in his forehead from what seemed to be caused by long hours of contemplation. The second person was a burly man in his late twenties or early thirties who was a bit rough looking. The third was a man in his mid twenties who looked as if he was used to seeing many sleepless nights.

And all four of them were staring at the two of her.

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This is a story I recently thought of, and finally convinced myself to write it down. I hope you guys like it and if you guys have any constructive criticism feel free to share!