Kingdom Come

Chapter Two:

Alice woke up with a jolt, she couldn't breathe. It's as if someone was pressing down on her chest, crushing her manubrium with their combat boot. She covered in sweat, her eyes sore and puffy from crying as she rolled over on her side, checking her phone.

Ugh oh God, four in the morning. Another sleepless night of crying! Alice thought to herself.

She decided to head out into the living room.

It was quiet, the only sign of life was the soft crackle of the fire, heating the house. The photos on the walls created a feeling they were looking at her, making Alice uncomfortable in the dark, even with the soft glow of the kitchen light.

It was freezing, so she decided to grab a blanket from the cupboard and curl up on the sofa, turning on the TV.

Trying to focus on the current events of the world and the current wars, Alice couldn't help but notice the neighbour's porch light on. It was below freezing outside and these men were outside, so casually. She looked closer, she could see one in the middle, wearing a leather jacket.

He was a lot taller than the rest, easy, 6'5 or even 6'8....easily a couple of feet taller than her, and maybe two hundred pounds on her.

The neighbours next door to the Williams said that they only moved in a couple of weeks ago.

The For Rent sign still in the front yard, the bright red Rented sticker straight through the middle, declaring that the house finally had new occupants.

Alice couldn't help but feel nervous as she stared at them, secretly thanking God that she was covered by the slight darkness of her house - walking over to the window, she couldn't help but wonder if they could actually see her?

There were a couple of dog howls further down the street, distracting Alice for a few seconds and for some reason, when she turned back towards them, the tallest one was now looking directly at her, almost smiling, under the low of their light.

Alice could swear she could hear them laughing as his attention turned to a car arriving, pulling up to the curb.

She couldn't make out who was getting out of the car. Alice silently watched as four people now walked into the house together.

She backed away, walking back into her own bedroom, the blanket still around her as she shut her eyes, trying to forget about that one man's stare.

Alice woke up again to the sound of her alarm. Seven am. She stared at her ceiling for five minutes before she rolled out of bed, trying to pluck up the courage to get ready for school.

Alice secretly thanked god it was Friday as she made her bed, the pillows all tear stained

Looking at herself in the mirror. She looked like her mother; a lot shorter and slightly curvy version with creamy, pale skin, and longer, waist length brown hair. She had piercing, unusual green eyes, the latter Alice must have inherited from her father, everyone on her mother's side had brown or blue eyes.

Regardless, she was the mismatched, the outsider - the awkward Clarke Girl...

Getting dressed, she went for jeans and a simple long sleeve black shirt with a warm jacket. She even managed to slide on a few thin rings of turquoise, onyx and silver to complete the look.

She quickly put on a little makeup to hide the puffiness of grief, swooping a little, matte taupe eyeshadow over her eyelids. Alice sighed as she stared at herself in the mirror, continuing to pull her long, difficult hair into a braid.

She hated winter, she hated the cold and wetness of Boston.

It gave her nothing but anxiety.

Content with her appearance, Alice headed into the living room, Kevin, was sitting on the sofa, reading the newspaper with a cup of coffee in front of him, while June was in the kitchen on her laptop, she must have been looking up birthday cakes since she quickly closed the tab as Alice walked past to start the coffee machine.