The neighborhood.

She woke to the sound of gunfire

Or what she thought was gunfire. She put on her blue satin robe and raced down the stairs to the kitchen,
" Mom?"
There was deafening silence, the sound of her heartbeat ringing in her ears.
" MOM!?"
She raced toward her bedroom, to find her in a groggy awakening
"What's wrong Lav? Why are you up at three o'clock in the morning?"
"Didn't you hear it?"
"Hear what sweetheart?"
"The gunfire... outside... Did you not hear the pops?"
She shook her head in a state of confusion. How could she not have heard it? Lavender asked herself. Confused, she took Lavender by the shoulders and led her in to the kitchen, eyeing her with a strange look of fear and confusion. Elaine Griffith was not the kind of woman to be fooled easily. She had raised Lavender alone since the age of eighteen, not having much choice when her parents kicked her out. She had bought the house they lived in when she was only twenty years old. Her and her daughter looked very much alike, chubby long legs with clinched waist, with small shoulders, and ivory skin. The only real difference was their hair, Lavender's being bright orange and long, while her's was deep brown and shoulder length. Elaine pulled out a chair at the dining room table, plopped down and tied back her hair.
"Honey, what are you talking about?"
Lavender sat down in the chair across from her mom. Fiddled with her glasses for a moment, and listened. Silence. Then, out of the darkness, came another pop. Pop, pop, pop. The front window shattered, and Elaine's eyes widened. Then a scream filled Lavender's ears. A scream that seemed to make the walls bleed. A scream Lavender then realized,
Was hers.

...

She woke with a start, sweat beading down her forehead. She ran downstairs, and looked out the front window. No cracks, no glass she thought. She bounded into her mother's room, swinging open the door. The door made a mighty crack as hit the beige colored wall. Elaine was sitting in her bed, with her glasses down her nose, and a crossword puzzle in her lap. The noise made both of them jump. The warm bedside lamplight did nothing but make simple shadows seem to hide menacing monsters in their depths. Elaine threw the covers off her legs and stood, shaken by the fear in Lavender's eyes.
"Lav what's wrong?" She breathed, concerned.
"Mommy," she ran to Elaine, and buried her head in her chest, her mother stroking her hair.
"I had a horrible dream..." Tears streamed down her face, but Elaine hugged her tighter, and the monsters of her own device seemed to melt away.