Unfortunately, the music had to end eventually, as did the journey home. "Journey" wasn't really an exaggeration. You see in truth, the distance between Hanover State University in Midtown and her home in Uptown was a little less than a thirty-minute drive across a highway bridging the two islands together; three if she chose to take the bridge over Fayhurst Island. However, Kiara liked taking the longest route possible.
Her favorite route consisted of passing through the Coventry, a particularly macabre section of Midtown. It was enjoyable to slowly move by the morgue and the cathedral. It was like being sandwiched between Death's counterparts. Truth be told, she would love to see inside the city's morgue, to see the beautifully peaceful bodies. Preferably without the caked-on makeup and overly starched formal wear.
For some reason, death has always called to Kiara. It was appealing, to say the least. The thought that someday, at last, she could have peace. Peace from the constant bickering, from desperately trying to keep the darkness away, the nightmares. She sighed. It was comforting, but also somewhat unsettling. The thought of what might happen to Kiara when her body was no more sent shivers up her spine. A fucked up idea but anything would be better than this.
After passing through her little sanctuary, Kiara would have to drive across Eastway Pass, a small bridge connecting Uptown to Midtown. The drive was actually somewhat enjoyable as it gave her a great view of the river that divided the two islands. Unfortunately, the bridge disconnected in the middle, meaning she had to drive across Fayhurst Island, home to Hanover's only sanitorium and a sewage treatment plant.
She hated being anywhere near Fayhurst Asylum, always holding some deeply seeded fear that somehow, someday, Kiara too would end up here. That society would deem her unfit to live amongst them; that she was too broken, too dark, too far gone to be "saved." Kiara slammed her hand down in frustration on the wheel as she passed, her eyes squeezing shut for a moment. She sighed, bringing her anger down to a simmer. Deep down Kiara knew that the only real reason she would end up in Fayhurst would be through her own actions. If she wanted to stay as far away from this damned island as possible, Kiara needed to keep a level head. Or at least make an attempt to. It wouldn't be easy. Kiara was beginning to become too dependent on her music; it was a crutch. If she wanted any improvement in her condition, she would need to learn to function without it.
With that thought in mind, along with a softly budding new hope, Kiara made her way into Moorfield, a quiet neighborhood in Uptown. Curiously, the street lights had just begun to turn on. She quickly turned her gaze to the dash clock. Only 7:45?! She groaned internally. It seemed in her attempt to "speed" through her self-condemning thoughts on Fayhurst, she had unintentionally sped through her drive home. She moaned again, attempting to slow her speed as much as possible.
There were other bridges from Midtown to Uptown. However, most of them meant having to drive through the more undesirable districts of Hanover: West End, Courthall, and Lakehaven. All of them were crawling with prostitution, drugs, and crime of all kinds.
It's true that the route she was currently on was the lesser of two evils, but it still meant that she would get home sooner on most nights. After a few more minutes of mindless banter with herself, Kiara began making the dreadful set of turns back. Each one was more painful than the last, and as she finally pulled into her driveway, Kiara could already feel the dark's icky tendrils make their way between the cracks of her doors and into her car. She reached up to her sun visor and instinctively clutched at where the remote for her garage door was located. The only problem, though, was that it wasn't there. Kiara slammed her fist down on her steering wheel and silently cursed herself. She had forgotten that damn thing too. Her throat was becoming dry, and the hairs on the back of her neck were standing on end. Kiara didn't want to go back outside, but without the remote, she had to. She tried to take a few calming breaths and took in her surroundings, hoping something could take her mind off that for a minute.
Her home was pretty simple really, despite it being in one of the wealthier districts of Hanover. The outside walls were comprised of dark brick with a few small clusters of white scattered about. The shingles of the roof were slightly lighter than the walls, and the whole thing was adorned with white trim. The windows on both the first and second story were barred, but tastefully so, having white shafts embedded into the glass instead of having those massive steel beams bolted to the outside which often left houses looking like prisons. Although I suppose here, it's no different. To the left of her home were the separate one-car garages. It was initially a two car garage, but her mother insisted that they have two doors because she was afraid of her car receiving damage from Kiara's, by which her mother meant to imply that she was not a very good driver and might scratch her "precious baby" or worse.
Kiara hadn't protested. There was no point in arguing over something so trivial, besides even if she had wanted to, there would be no changing her mother's mind. Especially if she was in one of her moods. To the right was the patio which was surrounded by thick white stone pillars connected by a simple white picket fence and opened only to the small two-step staircase leading to the beautifully crafted dark oak door. Her mother had had a passion for gardening, and as such, she had planted many flowers around the patio which gave the space a "secret garden" feeling. In hindsight, it was a very charming thing for her to do.
From an outsider's point of view, all appeared normal, fine-looking even, and would give them a sense that the family that lived here must be equally normal, equally fine-looking. They would be wrong. Kiara could see past the lie of a lovely two-story traditional house with inviting scenery and others could too if it's what they truly desired. Of course, none of them really wanted to. They were happy believing the lie. If one were to look closer, they would see the heavily draped curtains in the windows, the slowly dying flowers and the massive unkempt beech tree dropping its leaves over the main walkway like a jungle cat ready to pounce and claim its prize.
Kiara shivered at the thought of what kind of grotesque creatures might be residing within. She always hated that tree and the way its branches swayed around the window of her bedroom. Her room was upstairs, and just to the right of the front door, so the branches often hit the glass. She shivered again, but only because she was beginning to get cold sitting in her car in the dark. She didn't want to move, but she also didn't want to spend another second out here. Kiara pulled her coat as tightly around her as she could, grabbed her backpack, and threw open her door, power walking to her house.
In reality, it was a short walk that would last a minute at the most. However, in this unforgiving darkness, it felt like an eternity had passed before Kiara was even halfway there. She could feel the tendrils of the dark slither their way in and around her hair as the bitter wind blew through it, but that didn't bother her nearly as much as the drooping branches.
The leaves' cold and slimy texture caressed the side of her face. Each time it happened, Kiara could feel her heart beat more and more frantically in her chest. Her skin was crawling as the whispers of the night started to swarm around her head. Kiara was beginning to lose her focus on the task at hand and, not even halfway to the damn door, ran the rest of the way like a mad woman.
She pressed her burning forehead against the cool, smooth glass panel centered in the heavy wooden frame and practically cackled with relief. I made it! Kiara reached into her pocket and was just about to pull out her keys when the door suddenly swung inwardly open. Gasping, she quickly threw out her hands and caught herself on the door frame.
"And just where in the Hell have you been?!"
Oh Gods, please no…