Code Green
Chapter One: Harsh RealitiesRain poured from the dark sky, drenching the lone figure of a woman as she stepped out of her car. She slammed the car door shut and pulled the back of her jacket above her head before racing through a large puddle towards the safety of her front porch. Thunder grumbled angrily as she hastily unlocked the front door and stepped into her house, shutting the door quickly behind her.
A bag and purse were placed on a chair in the dark entrance room of the house, and a small lamp was turned on. The jacket was removed and straight brown hair, slightly damp, cascaded down the woman's back. She sighed tiredly as she looked at the clock, her dark eyes noticing how the minute and hour hands were both pointing to a large twelve.
Social work did have its disadvantages.
With another sigh the woman trudged up the stairs to the second floor, weary and all emotional strength exhausted. She moved into a small room and turned a light on. Her eyes roamed through the room, ensuring that everything was in its proper place before she went to her dresser. She pulled out a pair of pajamas, changed into them, and then sat down at her large vanity.
She looked into her mirror and shook her head. No matter how much makeup she wore, it never seemed to hide her fatigue. For a twenty-eight-year-old, she felt extremely aged and washed out.
Social work was taking its toll on Sarah Williams. Every day was spent helping abused children, and now she was starting to look like one herself.
This particular evening had been spent with the police at the Carter house. Jessica Lee had been rushed from the house as her parents, previously in a drunken fight, had been intercepted. It had been Sarah's duty to hold the terrified child, comforting her as best she could before confronting the parents. Just as they had been abusive to each other and their daughter, the parents had been abusive to their social worker. Now Jessica Lee was in the care of an agency and Sarah was, once again, the hated interferer.
A picture on the vanity caught Sarah's attention, and she picked it up gently. She looked at Karen's face and Toby's mischievous smirk. Her father was smiling from behind them, almost blocking a large surfboard that stood behind the family.
It was times like these when Sarah wished her father hadn't gotten his traveling job. She wanted a hug from Karen or a joke from Toby to cheer her up. It was too late to call them now, and she really wanted their encouragement. Even more so, she wanted to be with them. Florida seemed like the terrific place to push troubles aside and use one's imagination.
Sarah's job didn't leave much room for imagination. The past five years of her life had been filled with cold realities. There was no time for dress up or toys. Dreams had no place in her world. She had forgotten how to dream as her days were filled with cruelty and pain. Oh, to have the innocence of a fifteen-year-old again!
"I'm too old and tired to dream anymore," Sarah whispered, fingers coming to rest on a small statue of a man in blue. "But I don't want to be. I am just too busy. I'm not a little girl anymore. People would think I'm crazy if I ran around in a medieval gown and spouted poetry."
She picked the statue up and put it in a drawer.
"And now I'm reasoning with a statue," she sighed, looking at her reflection in the mirror. "Sarah, you've lost it up here," she said, tapping her forehead. "Go to bed. You're tired. It's too late to be talking to yourself."
She moved away from the vanity and turned her light off. She slid wearily into bed and pulled the covers over her tired body, eyes fluttering closed as she did so.
"I wish," she yawned, drifting into sleep, "that I could dream again."
She never saw, as her world of realities changed to darkness, a great barn owl lifting effortlessly off the limb of a tree outside her window and soaring into the stormy sky.