Silence was typical in the dark of night, in most places. Magnolia was a place that never slept. A constant din flowed through the streets; rowdy bar goers and the loud caw of nocturnal birds contributing to the noise. As such, daytime was quiet, the nightly prowlers subdued and awaiting the coming sunset. It was a warm city all year, though the air that surrounded a certain bespectacled woman was nothing short of sinister; those nearby would feel the unnatural cold, coupled with an unpleasant shiver down their spine. Despite the displeasing aura encasing only her, the situation she was stuck in was most definitely not her fault. Her existence had become an anomaly in the town of peaceful and trusting folk, what with her constant paranoia of the unseen entities she so fervently preached the existence of, the very entities that she remained deathly afraid of.
Oddly, the woman herself was the only person who could see these entities. The townsfolk would go about their peaceful life as the woman was jostled about between crowds of them, fearful for her life. Perhaps it would be odd to outsiders, but to Lorelei it was not. After the explosion several months prior, the aftermath of which still plagued the city, she had nearly died. Leaving the hospital, very much aware that she was lucky to have survived after being caught in the blast and several pieces of shrapnel having lodged themselves in her skull, all of the injuries she once held now gone. However, as she stepped out of the hospital, the peaceful city she once knew was no more. Immediately, she began to panic. Shoulders tensed. Eyes flitted from side to side. They were closing in. She was going to die. It was an invasion, an attack, a takeover. Demons. As far as the eye could see, demons. Not a single human remained in Magnolia, making Lorelei the lone survivor of the deadly invasion.
She was next.
Naturally, she went into hiding, locking herself in her house and staying there for over 6 months. The reason for her survival so far evaded her. Every day, she wished for someone to come, to answer her unspoken cry for help. Surely it was obvious, painfully so, that the city had been taken over. As such, she stayed, and she wished. She wished for salvation, to be saved. For someone to come and help her, liberate her from the damned town.
Nobody ever did.
By Monado Boy
