She'd run far enough. The night had lacerated her reason and drawn fear from her veins, even as branch and stone scraped against her bared skin to draw blood. The fire in her chest had shifted from a will to live to a desperation to breathe. Everything around her was shadow and nightmare, and she was exhausted. She could no longer run. She could no longer escape. So, she turned to fight. To face the demon that had dragged her into the hell of the night and threatened to consume her. Gasping for the frigid air and dripping blood and mud onto her weary legs, she stood in her wavering attempt at her last defense.
The shape emerged from the gloom of the forest, large and snarling, hungry for her lifeblood. That very same lifeblood chilled inside her and almost left her immobile. One final rush of endorphins loosened her muscles and sent her flying towards her would be destroyer. She launched herself into the night, hoping that, if nothing else, she made this monster pay for the kill. And then...
And then...
Nothing. No pain, no fight, no icy rain to sting her bare skin. Instead, she found herself sweating through her cheap blouse on the shabby little couch in her office. Her body ached. Not from the wounds of battle, but from the reality of old springs and worn cushions. She was neither heroine nor damsel in distress. She was simply awake, with a sore body and a headache worthy of a bar room brawl.
Aching limbs rallied in protest as she eased her way off the couch and into the chair behind her old, deceptively stately desk. It had impressed many a skeptical client, belying the impending collapse of the creaky structure. Goodness, even her knuckles felt obligated to crack and pop as she bent them around the faux-gold handle and struggled to open the ill-fitting drawer.
Appointments. She had a surprisingly full schedule for a small funeral parlor, but she lived in an old town where it seemed everyone was itching to die. Clemens, Wilson and Bartson. 10, 11 and 12 o'clock. She squinted at the clock on the table in the corner and sorely wished it said something other than 9:30 AM. Why would she even agree to such an early appointment in the first place?
