Death City (Book 1)

Chapter 2: Color and Light

Sunday morning, after the long drive into town the previous night, Dawn awakened unusually early to start the day. By 7:00 A.M., she had gotten out of bed, enjoyed an extended shower, and dressed herself. Suitable for the warmer weather, she wore a light-red, sleeveless blouse and black, knee-length leggings. On her nightstand, a pair of speakers connected to a laptop, sounded a mellow soft rock tune. 

"Okay." She gave herself one last look in the mirror,  before pulling her hair back and tying it into a ponytail. Her fair-skin tone and clear complexion glowed under the sun rays piercing through the window at her side. She pressed her soft lips together, shifted them to the right side of her face and squinted slightly. As she stood from her chair, rocking the vanity, a picture dropped down from the mirror frame.

It was an old picture of Dawn as a young child, taken at a beach nearby the shore. Beside her, knelt her mother who shared many similar facial qualities, almost appearing to be an older version of Dawn herself. Dawn carefully repositioned the photo, stopping for a moment to smile at the picture of the two of them. While lost in reminiscence, she was caught off-guard by a sudden knock on the door.

"Come in," she said. Rick cautiously opened up the door, before walking in. The sleeves of his checkered shirt were rolled up and his jeans were scuffed.

"Hey, are you going out today?"

"Yeah, actually I told Josie I would meet with her today," Dawn said as she stood up and wiped away some scraps off the table. "You don't mind do you?"

Rick rubbed his chin as his eyebrows raised. "No. Not at all. I didn't know you were still in contact with anyone here, but that's great."

Dawn smiled and nodded. "Josie's pretty much the only one, but yeah."

"I see. As long as you know where you're going. Anyway, I'm gonna bring over a couple of my pals to help set up some stuff. Can you do me a favor and bring back a newspaper? Any old liquor store should have 'em."

"Sure thing Dad."

"Thanks Dawn. You're always such a great help, you know that?" Rick smiled. He reached into the back pocket of his jeans and took out his leather wallet. He pulled out a hundred dollar bill and handed it to Dawn, whose eyes were wide with surprise.

"Hey, you don't-"

"It's fine. I'm sure you'll need some spending money until you can find work here anyway."

"Mmm...okay, fine. Just this once then. I'm going out now." Just as Dawn began to head out of the room, Rick stopped her.

"Oh, one last thing," he said. "I want you to stay clear of the forest."

Dawn turned to him, concerned. "Did you hear about that story on the news too?"

"Yeah. But those woods have never been real safe. It's easy to get lost out there, even in the daytime. So promise me you'll stay away." Dawn's eyes drifted downward for a moment, before perking back in Rick's direction.

"Don't worry, I will," said Dawn as she skipped down the stairs. The house was slightly more orderly, with most of the boxes being moved into certain areas and many others having been cleared out. She walked into the garage and began wheeling out a red bicycle into the driveway. Once she exited the garage, she thought to herself about how nice a day it was in comparison to when she first arrived. 

The sun shone brightly through the clouds over the blue sky. It was a warm day, but there was a gentle and slight breeze in the air. The neighborhood was lively as people walked about and played in the nearby baseball field. It was fairly rare weather for Verina, so Dawn wanted to take the opportunity to enjoy it. After bringing the bike up to the sidewalk, she hopped on and quickly started on her way downtown.