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chapter i: phone works two ways
[ warnings apply ]
The cassette of the night tape looms over her head — the clatter of drunk people, the blare of siren going by interspersed with the passing streetcars and idle small talks. In the serenade of black, the night breeze brings chills to her exposed skin, the headlights distantly flickering far enough. Every car terrifies her, every headlight resembles a sprinting shade coming for her. Even when she has pressed herself again and again that it's just a car, the lights still make her shudder.
Norah Odryna feels like a mess in a mess.
She senses the pain waiting — a hangover, perhaps, but not just that. It's something else. Sometime to do with,
[ RED ]
Everywhere. Something to do with,
[ BLOOD ]
Everywhere, that night.
Looking around as she sits in her car in the middle of the empty parking lot, her hands tremble at her sides.... someone is following her. Adrenaline floods her system, it pumps and beats like it's trying to escape. She hears it coming; the soft susurration of its footsteps, like a threatening whisper.
Norah can't breathe, it feels as if someone's choking her. She remains where she is, not an inch of her can move and her limbs feel numb. A choked cry for help forces itself up her throat, and she feels a drop run down her cheek. It seems as if this is the end of the road for her. She has no idea who it could be, who would want to harm her. Norah doesn't get this. It didn't seem to come from any direction, just a sound that leaves her inside her feeling despair and hopelessness. She's trying desperately hard not to panic, awakened every morning with the feeling of impending doom. Day after day, Norah feels someone is sitting there right next to herself, watching every move.
The rearview mirror does not show the shadowy figures she thinks there are. Instead she sees tired eyes, pale skin and dry lips, her own reflection lacks any emotion — eyes roam critically from one feature to another, cataloging all of it. Clutching her car keys, she fiddles with the radio to distract her mind from everything. As the car engine starts, she relishes the light winds that twirls in her hair and whistles in her ears. It's a Friday night and Norah starts driving aimlessly, getting nowhere. She keeps driving and driving till the towers and the lingering suburbia is long behind and fades away.
It started with seeing glimpses of someone ...... something, she couldn't say. The eerie feeling of someone following her down her apartment — maybe that should've been the first red light. Norah sees the news reports on TV almost every other day on people who fit just the type; seem harmless enough but will carry out life-in-prison crime. Norah knows there are enough fucked up things in this city alone that would make a great deal of nightmares — sudden disappearances and crimes, that'll send chills down your spine, reported on the news channels almost every day. Her own mother used to tell her in a high voice of hers that used to turn shrill — before the harmless little pills, and alcohol bottles on the floor and next to her — to beware, and the things happening around is not a black and white situation.
