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Broken glass.
Lorelei could barely register what was going on before screams invaded her ears along with the sharp sound of broken glass. Immediately, she falls to her knees and ducks under the closest table, medium-sized black coffee long forgotten on the counter. Her trembling hands looked pale in contrast to the dark wood flooring of Café de la vie, the tips of her fingers blotchy from the cold. Alas, she gathered enough strength to crawl slowly to the back exit of the coffee shop, trying to go unnoticed.
There was noise. People were shouting, crying, some begging for help, but all were muffled in Lorelei's ears. Her only goal was to get out, and she'll go from there.
She wasn't sure, but a boom scarily resembling a gunshot echoed, silencing the room for only a second and making her yelp, before chaos ensued. Her surprise made her slap her palm to the floor blindly before searing pain erupted in her hand. She looked only to find small shards of glass sticking on her skin and blood oozing out, and for a moment she felt dizzy at the red sight. Breathing heavily, she continued to crawl out.
She could hear sirens surrounding the area when she got away. There was maybe less than a block between the ambushed café and herself when she stopped brisk-walking. Letting out a heavy breath, she closed her eyes and leaned into the wall of the alley she found herself in, clutching her injured hand. It was only just her luck, really, that her usual coffee place would get gunned down for whatever reason there is. She had barely escaped. Exactly how many people took bullets? How many thought they were just getting coffee like no other day and now lie dead? Lorelei shuddered at the thought.
She stood there trying to even her breaths for a minute. She didn't dare open her eyes to see the inevitable destruction. Her jet black strands were sticking to the sides of her face, but she couldn't bring herself to tuck them away. Suddenly Lorelei felt numb.
It was as if all feelings left her body. The throb in her hand ceased, the coldness of the sweat forming on her forehead disappeared. She felt nothing. And then everything seem to came back all at once in full force, making her gasp out. "What the..."
But something was different. Her injured hand was throbbing, yes, but it didn't hurt. She was feeling the start of a migraine, but as far as she knew that was the only pain she could feel. Slowly opening her eyes, she looked down.
"Holy shit," she breathed out, gazing at her open palm that now had dried blood but no wounds. The glass shards were there but they lay against her skin gently, as if they weren't harming her earlier on. She let them drop to the concrete ground before running a finger over her impossibly healed hand.
Thoughts came flying in her mind from everywhere, thinking of possibilities and scientific explanations. She was so caught up in her head that she didn't see the paramedic approaching her.
"Miss?" Lorelei snapped her head up to the man with a heavy accent, maybe in his mid-thirties, with medical gloves in his hand and a jacket letting her know he was part of the paramedic that arrived at the scene. "Are you alright?"
She merely nodded her head, still dazed from what happened.
"Were you inside when...?"
Again she nodded her head.
"Well we got to check on you miss, alright? It's standard procedure—"
"No!" Lorelei found herself exclaiming, eyes wide as she tried to hide her bloodied hand from view. "I-I'm fine. I... I have to go."
She didn't wait for the paramedic to respond, darting away as soon as the words left her mouth. She fisted her hands as if any more pressure would make her wounds reappear, but nothing.
