The Rift Walker

Part 1- Stress Makes Your Hair Fall Out...

Chapter 1

Kaelyn Emory Rose

She had been walking home one long night, wincing slightly at the pain in her head. That bitch sure knows how to punch she thought. Katie . . . or was it Cassy? She wasn't sure, but she had been pushing Kaelyn around for weeks on end for apparently no other reason than the fact that she felt like it. 

Because she was a bitch. Well that was Kaelyn's explanation for her behaviour.

At first, Kaelyn had simply stood by and suffered it until this very night when she decided that she'd had enough of Katie (or was it Cassie's?) shit. She'd picked up the chair closest to her and smashed it into her stomach, causing her to double over in pain.

 The wooden chair broke.

 So Kaelyn had resorted to punching her in the face, sending her crashing into the ground and kicked her until her nose exploded and sprayed blood everywhere. Some sprayed onto her shoe but that didn't bother her too much; they were red anyway.

She had then walked away, praying that the school wouldn't exclude her. In her mind, she already had a speech ready to explain why she had kicked the shit out of Katie/Cassy. And why she deserved it.

She had decided to go for a run in the park before heading home, considering whether or not to have a joint. She had stopped selling weed for a living when she found a job working in a cafe, but that didn't mean she had stopped smoking it. Although she was trying hard to quit.

In the end, she decided not to smoke; the weed had made her slightly paranoid, fearing she would be arrested any day now for possessing drugs.

She had been jogging around a corner feeling slightly breathless when someone grabbed her arms, pulling them tight behind her. "I'M NOT SELLING!" she yelled, thinking the police had somehow finally caught her and found out about her drug selling past.

"Huh?" a deep voice said, clearly confused.

Not police? Oh fuck! "Get the hell off me!" she screamed, kicking out and somehow managing to escape him for a moment. But another one appeared, with the worst haircut she had ever seen. She grabbed onto the remaining hair which had clearly been creeping or running rather, away from his forehead and pulled as hard as she could.

 He cursed and slapped her hard and briefly touched his hair, assessing what remained of it. A huge chunk of it remained inside her hand. She threw it into his face.

But then something hit her head hard and she blacked out.

Kaelyn didn't know how much time had passed. A couple of days, a week perhaps but the hours had run into one another and those hours had eventually ran into days.

She had no view of the outside world, whether it was night or day made no difference to her. It was eternal night, brightened only by a single flickering yellow light just outside her cell.

She paused for a moment when she heard approaching footsteps and rushed to the door of her cell listening intently. She recognised the clumsy sound of the footfall.

"Hey, you ugly fucker! Mind giving me some fresh water and something besides the shit for food you normally give? And whilst you're at it, do you mind fetching me a key, I've grown awfully weary of this cell . . . it stinks. Or maybe that's just you" She wrinkled her nose in distaste when the smell of sweat and cover up cologne drifted over to her.