Her eyes fluttered open as she squinted up at her bedroom ceiling, roaming around the dark room as she reluctantly awoke. Her eyes coming upon the clock-radio resting on the bedside table, the glowing green letters reading 4:30. She tiredly threw off her covers, and yelped as her bare feet touched down upon the cold, wooden floor. Dashing across the room as quickly as she could, she collected a pair of socks from her run-down dresser. She leaned against the nearest wall as she quickly slipped them onto her feet, sighing in relief as the warm socks barricaded the floor's cold wrath. She then stretched, popping the kinks in her back as she walked into the bathroom, a bit cheated at the thought of being awake at the current hour. Twisting the tarnished silver handle on the sink, she proceeded to splash her face with a bit of water, washing the sand out of her eyes. She blindly reached for a towel, her vision temporarily obscured by the droplets of water still in her eyes. Something soft and fuzzy soon found its way into her grasp, and she lifted it with both hands as she pressed it into her face, wiping away the water still dripping down her face. She set the towel on the sink, and left the room, reminding herself to run it through the dryer later. After dressing, she entered the small kitchen and dining room, each taking up about half the room- the other half joining into the living room, which took up the space on the other side. The coffee maker sitting next to the toaster on the counter-top was already done with its brew for the day, as she quickly realized after flicking on the light. She grumbled to herself as she removed a mug from the cabinet, her mind chiding her to go back to sleep, and avoid the caffeinated drink if possible. She blocked it out, and poured the steaming liquid into the off-white mug. Setting the coffee pot back in its place in the coffee maker, she wandered over to the couch and sat, determined to wait for the sun to rise before heading out. She grabbed the remote off the table sitting before the couch, and pressed the power button, forcing the television to flicker to life. As usual, nothing good was on this early in the morning, and settled on some old rerun or another. She wondered why she was even drinking coffee now, she could always get some at work- she did work in a coffee shop, after all. She jumped suddenly as a loud, booming crash came from outside, forcing her to spill hot coffee all over her lap.
'Damn it...' she cursed, setting the now-half empty mug on the table. She switched off the T.V. before walking to the door, a pant-leg of her shorts now soaking in the burning coffee. She was wondering just who in the world would be knocking at her door at this hour. She dried herself off as best as she could as the ruckus outside continued.
'Probably just some raccoons getting into the trash again...' she thought, remembering the problems her neighbors had been having with the scavengers. She opened the door, staring out into the slowly lifting darkness, the light from inside the house casting a shadow of light a few feet into the yard. She scanned the yard, and finding nothing out of the ordinary, closed the door.
Little did she know, that was the night everything began...
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