The Windowsill

Chapter I: Denial

Day 0

Summer nights for Rin may not be particularly extravagant to the normal person, but they were perfect for her. A community college student for the past three years, Rin Sato was used to the volunteer isolation of the summer season.

Classes were on an off schedule which made it more difficult for age-relative socializing; and the commuter lifestyle was prevalent with her college's atmosphere - keep your head low, get your classes done, and keep moving forward. Though most of her days were generally spent at the college's library Rin occasionally splurged at her local coffee shop in the afternoons, where later in the evenings she experienced the beauty of her small coastal hometown. Far away from the big cities she could easily see the starry nights when she spent her sunsets at the beach.

Growing up Rin was taught the basics about life, introduced to the notion that the world works in wondrous, enigmatic, and somewhat vindictive ways. Human life being one of those enigmatic aspects of the world. She was raised to think of the golden rule of human interaction: always treat others the way you want to be treated. Her parents gave her the basics tips to survive the adult world including paying off student debt, starting a 401K, and the basics of cooking. She felt she was truly making progress in her limited lifestyle as a commuter student who had not even visited a 4-year institution. Never in a million years did she think that she would witness the down spiraling of humanity from the seclusion of her living room.

Six-thirty on the dot and after five consecutive days of lectures and labs, anatomy class concluded for the week. The professor and classmates alike left one by one with clear excitement for the start of the weekend. The campus was spread out far and given the hour of the day when most departments were shut down for the weekend, Rin was unable to hop onto a quick golf cart shuttle.

Despite her reluctance to walk alone, Rin walked down the stairs with her backpack packed and her textbook clutched to her chest. The dusty metal clanking with the shuffling from the boots on her feet. She walked down to the ground floor and walked towards parking lot nine. A lot located to the northeast behind the science building.

On her way up she was accompanied by her friend Carter, her classmate from her Monday and Wednesday Calculus I class. She could tell something was off when she could see a peculiar scratch on his arm from a distance. It was a big one too, smack in the middle of his right forearm with a mix of a dark purple and neon tinted glow on its surface.

"Rin, wait up!" Carter yelled out, panting heavily as he lightly jogged his way up the steep hill.

"Carter? What are you still doing here? Don't you work around this time?" Rin asked, part of her focus continued to latch itself on the ever-expanding scratch on his arm.

"Nah, my work schedule changed so I work my shifts at night." Carter said. "I have another shift in an hour or two. Although I'm thinking of calling in sick, I'm not feeling so well."

"Really? What happened?"

Rin continued to press forward to parking lot nine with Carter steadying his pace for her. While they were walking they noticed a low hanging branch in their pathway. Rin, being the short person she is, simply walked forward her head barely glazing the tip of the leaves. However, with each step she noticed that Carter was limping as well. Perhaps having to do with the same scratch on his right arm.

"I scratched myself on my arm a few days ago," He said, "how this happened is beyond me. It must've happened at work when one of the patients decided to bring their dog to the ER. One moment I'm doing temperature checks on one of them - you know because of the whole county status change - and the very next moment their dog nearly bites my hand out. I fell backwards and only noticed the cut the next morning."