Hell Hole

Chapter 1. The Madman

'In this world, is the destiny of mankind controlled by some transcendental entity or law? Is it like the hand of God hovering above? At least it is true that man has no control; even over his own will.' -Void

A stressed young woman in a messy bed jerked awake in a cold sweat. Another restless night and nightmares again...

Her chocolate brown waves of hair rebounded as she sat up, half concealing a pair of light blue eyes darting around the partially lit bedroom. She frantically checked her phone to find it was Wednesday, finally.

For anyone else it would have been another day but as a part time editor at the dying local newspaper it was her one actual self imposed day off. She spent so many years trying to make her hollow town sound interesting but found it nothing but dull, dirty, and dry anymore. What was once the most successful small town newspaper (Voted five time in a row by the Kansas State Journalism Group) now languished in obsolescence.

'Fuck.' she sighed sitting up, taking a few slow breaths in while running her fingers over her face and into her thick hair, preparing to get out of bed. This was her normal morning ritual.
The call of the warm blankets was tempting but caffeine was the stronger addiction this morning. Slow taps from her bare feet echoed through the cozy two bedroom apartment until they were met by a pair of pastel blue house slippers.

A gurgle of hot coffee brewing, the snap of an opening fridge, a sigh of dissatisfaction to find nothing appetizing for her stressed stomach, it became too easy to ignore meals in the mornings.

She sat in her favorite chair by an aged plastic window covered in decades of nicotine from previous tenants. The view wasn't much brighter when you did look beyond it. She faced a very bleak view of the concrete parking lot illuminated by a horizon of fast food signs that lit bright at night. Sometimes it was kind of beautiful over the purgatory grey that was her little sleepy little town.

It was a cold and dismal day when the young woman found herself alone, and maddeningly bored. She'd spent most of the morning aimlessly scrolling through her phone, checking emails for possible jobs, ignoring all the responsibilities around her that kept screaming for her attention.

The dishes were left untouched for several days, the litter box loud with cat odor and her floors hadn't been swept or vacuumed in a forgettable time. All these things to do but Parker was in no such mood to be productive.
The coffee pot remained untouched until she remembered she had started it four hours earlier. Where had the time gone?!Quickly, she rushed to her kitchen to find that what hadn't evaporated had turned into a boiling tar.

"Shit! Not again. I don't even know why I buy this damn stuff." She scuffed angrily as she emptied the container and filled it with hot water to soak in the sink.

Slightly irritated with her mistake, she left the coffee pot alone, along with the rest of the dishes and sat back down to continue scrolling online and making no efforts what so ever to move.

Her body ached from the day before at work and all her limbs demanded rest. Parker was a time bomb lately waiting to explode if the wrong thing set her off. She knew the best way to defuse it, was to simply ignore the antsy feelings until she forgot about it and was calm enough to attempt to start the day again.
Her days off were mostly spent in panic attacks, sitting by the window trying to convince herself to go out.

Some time had flown by, she'd almost fallen into a sleep when she heard a loud banging at her door. Completely startled by it, she hesitated answering but knew anyone banging that loud probably knew who they were looking for.

She groaned as she climbed out of her chair assuming it was one of her more relaxed friends Cami.

Cami had become incredibly lonely since she had her child in the past year. She was incredibly religious and constantly letting Parker know what her duties were as a wife and mother. Bored senseless by her husband's absence due to working all the time Parker tried not judge as she didn't have any kids of her own yet, nor a profound religion to cling to and wanted to be supportive. She didn't have to believe in the same things to get along with people. She just wished Cami would've found a hobby.