Rage

Prologue

ELIZA WOKE UP feeling strange early in the morning. It was still dark outside, the sun hadn’t gone up the horizon yet. The alarm clock said it was still fifteen minutes after four, too early. But she was really feeling strange, she was on edge, her senses were heightened and her heart was racing fast as if she had run a mile. Her wife who was beside her sleeping peacefully was the opposite of her.

She couldn’t shake off the feeling and only a cup of tea could calm her down. Careful to not wake up Paula, the blonde beside her, she got off the bed, walking on tiptoes and opening the door slowly to go downstairs into the kitchen. She switched the lights on and closed her eyes to adjust at the sudden brightness. She walked to get a cup from the cupboard and boiled her favorite rose tea. Waiting for minutes before drinking her tea, she decided to climb back upstairs and check her daughter in a room adjacent to theirs.

Slowly, she opened the door and expected to find her daughter on her bed. Her long raven hair sprawled out on her white pillow, her one arm dangling on the other side of the bed, and the blanket on the floor. But she found no one, only an empty and clean bed. This is why I’m feeling on edge! She realized.

“Paula! Paula, wake up!” She called out her wife’s name desperately, trying to think where could her daughter had gone. “Paula!”

The door swung open loudly, revealing a woman taller than her. Her blonde hair was a mess and her eyes were still half closed. “Wha-? What’s the matter?” Paula pulled her wife to check if she was hurt, gladly she wasn’t.

“Reagan, she’s not here,” Eliza tried to say between her sobs. She was immediately engulfed in a warm hug by her wife. “I woke up feeling strange and when I got here, I didn’t find her!”

Paula searched for something inside their daughter’s room, her blue eyes slowly flickering into yellow until they became golden. Then she noticed a calendar with today’s date marked in red. It was the 23rd day. She breathed out and relaxed a bit. She rubbed her wife’s back and calmed her. “It’s fine. Today is 23. Reagan will be fine.” I hope so, she said to herself inwardly.

“Reagan will be fine? It’s the 23rd, you said! It’s not the time of the month for her to feel fine!” Eliza scoffed. She was more worried for her daughter now than ever.

“This isn’t the first time she’s done this. She will be home later, we both know that. She just needed some time alone. Maybe she will be here for breakfast like last month. Let’s go back to sleep so we’ll have energy to prepare her a nice breakfast, hm?” She guided her wife who thankfully listened to her. But she was just as woried for Reagan. Her scarce of knowledge on what their daughter would do whenever this day comes didn’t let her return to sleep. Paula just helped her wife relax and watched her breath going steady and calm before she left her room and went out of their two-story house.

Their house was a minute walk from the opening of the woods. Because of Paula and Reagan’s natures, they lived far from the swarm of houses and buildings in the Blue Creek. The small town was surrounded by trees and mountain ranges, but the central part of the town was as lively as any huge cities. Paula heightened her senses, she felt the soft rumble of the earth, the cold blows of the wind, she heard the crunches of dried leaves, and felt how many creatures were within the 500 meter range. But there was no sign of Reagan.

“Where are you?” She whispered into the air, hoping for her daughter to come back so she wouldn’t be worrying anymore.

She waited until morning. She had herself preoccupied with making the breakfast to attempt to distract herself. Eliza had woken up once again, and came down all prepared for work. She was a nurse in Blue Creek’s Hospital while Paula owned a small auto-repair shop.

“She’s not here yet?” Eliza asked in a small voice.

Paula was about to answer when they heard the door of their house opened. They fled to leave the kitchen and sighed in relief seeing their daughter all in one piece and safe. A tall teenaged girl came in while removing her black leather jacket, leaving only a tank top of the same color for her upper. She was running her hand on her long jet-black hair with grey highlights at the tip before rubbing her face. She looked at her mothers who were both equally worried for her.

“Mom, Momma, is there anything wrong?” Her cold silky yet soft voice resonated in the living room.

Eliza jumped into her daughter to give her a hug. “We were so worried about you when we didn’t find you in your room! Where did you go?”

Reagan looked away, not answering her mother’s question. But she knew Paula knew it, with her sharp senses, she should must’ve smelled the faint scent of alcohol in her. “I went there.”

“Oh no, you didn’t! What if they found you?!”

“They didn’t, Mom, I was careful enough,” she assured them.

“I know how you badly want to take everything back, but please, don’t do anything stupid,” Eliza begged. She didn’t know what she would do if her daughter was hurt.

Reagan hummed and hugged her mother even more. The three of them went to the kitchen to finish preparing and finally eat their breakfast. By the smell of it, it was her Momma who made them all, and her comfort foods were there: a strawberry crepe cake and strawberry ice cream. Her mothers surely knew how to cheer her up.

“Do you want to go to school today?” Paula asked. “If you don’t, you can just come to the shop with me.”

Reagan thought for it. She wasn’t in the mood for school and once she would get there, she knew she would just skip the classes. “I’ll go with you.” She also need to be distracted from all of the thoughts that were running on her mind.