Before us...

Chapter One

At the crack of dawn, Lila Walker awoke to the light puffs of air escaping her German Sheppard's huge nostrils as he hovered over her to inform her, rather rudely, that he had needs that needed taking care of. Right now. Grumbling, she rolled out of bed and away from the bad dreams of last night to accommodate the pressing needs of one's best friend, releasing him out through the back door and out into the crisp September morning to do his business. She herself elected to stay indoors and fix the mutts breakfast ready and waiting upon his return.

Not that the promise of fresh air didn't appeal to Lila, she simply wanted to avoid looking into the morning sun's glare with the splitting headache she was sporting at the current moment; the memories flashing through her mind of what once had been her life had not been kind to her last night and today she felt like she was suffering all over again. At least she could count on, Zar who was currently rolling around in the recently cut grass to put at least some semblance of a smile on her tired face.

Leaving the door ajar for him, she wandered back through the small Kitchen, down the hallway, to the first of two doors that opened into the teal tiled coloured bathroom coming faced to face with a very drained reflection of someone she did not recognise in the mirror hanging over the white sink. A pale, brown eyed stranger with dark hair hanging passed thin shoulders stared back at Lila. The eyes dampened in sadness at how tired and lonely the girl looking back at her seemed. Decidedly, she ignored the pity she and the mirror image felt, quickly brushing her teeth before jumping into a refreshingly cold shower to try and shock some life back into herself.

The cold water did wonders for the strain she felt in the tense muscles of her back, providing relief for the slowly fading ache in her head and prepared her for the eventual journey she needed to make to the store to pick up some necessities she had been running low on. Leaving the house these days was not something she enjoyed very much, despite the kindness of the locals. Building relationships was not something that came easily to her anymore; unless it was canine.

However, as she emerged from the shower, she discovered that her canine friend had left a trail of grass throughout the house in his search to find her and it was honestly enough to revaluate the status of their friendship at this point.

Sighing to herself she carried on to her bedroom to get dressed for the hopefully short day, settling on black leggings and a simple maroon hoodie to keep her warm in the autumn weather currently billowing through the beautiful town of Saratoga Springs. The autumn colours and cool air sweetly blowing through the house due to the open back door made her greatly miss the beautiful scene of Central Park, where she used to journey through daily on her way to work. The warmth of her coffee from Le Pain Quotidien saving her from the chill of the wind until she reached her destination. Her old destination. Stonehearst Industries.

Dwelling on the nightmares of the previous night was not going to help her seize the new day, and so with a shake of her head, Lila proceeded to leave the comfort of her bedroom and venture into the kitchen where she found a sheepish Zar waiting for her to take away his now empty bowl (excluding a few clumps of grass). Smiling to herself at his bashfulness, she gathered up his bowl to clean and ruffled her hands through the matted fur on his head to show him that all was forgiven.

"You know I can never stay mad at you." she informed him, although from the tooth filled grin on his face, he already knew that.

She swept up the grass he had brought inside with him, dispersing of it outside and closed the door behind her ready to move onto her own breakfast, although she did not have much in the house. Settling on the last bit of cereal that was hiding at the bottom of the Cornflakes box she quickly ate and cleared away the mess she had made and quickly grabbed Zar's lead to take him with her to the store. She was not yet at the point where she felt comfortable leaving the house without him; he provided comfort and safety despite his puppy status.