A large house stands atop a hill of about 10 acres of land. It's old, that much can be told by its design, and very well built. The white paint on the sides is, however, quite new and bright amidst the greens and browns of the prairie. On the second floor, a balcony wraps around about a quarter of the house, appearing graceful but sturdy at the same time. French doors lead inside, and together with the bay windows of the first floor, a welcoming feeling resonates from this house in the middle of nowhere (to be more specific, somewhere in the Great Plains).
On the particular day this story begins, the balcony was not empty. A woman leaned against the solid wood railing, a smile on her face as she breathed in the fresh air.
Fresh out of college, Kiara was ambitious and determined. Although not yet running a veterinary clinic of her own, she somehow came into a large sum of money--just the right amount to fulfill her lifelong dream, in fact. She bought ten acres of cornfield from a farmer, who complained that the land wasn't producing anymore. Kiara just smiled at that and signed the deed to the land.
In building her dream house, she strove not to damage the field any more than necessary. She hadn't the money for landscaping, but she didn't want it. Nature would return at its own speed. Besides, the soil needed a good, long break. She didn't care that the land would look ugly for a while, for she knew it would look all the more beautiful if she waited.
And beautiful it did look. Prairie grass spread rapidly, hiding the dirt and dead cornstalks. Trees and shrubbery were slower to come, but they too were shooting up. Kiara had found the young plants here and there when she went out for her sunset walks.
Now, it was morning. The sun had already risen, and the wind with it. Kiara was dreaming about the future, when she would have pets here as well, when a quite odd sound rose up in the distance.
The siren of a police car.
Kiara jumped, startled by the sudden noise. She stared out toward the east, where the sound seemed to be coming from--and there the offending car appeared, speeding down the gravel road towards her house.
That was when a helicopter crashed on her front lawn.
Later, the police questioned Kiara and informed her that the lawn was, until further notice, a crime scene. After they left, Kiara plopped down onto the couch and sat there for quite a long time, staring off into space. Her growling stomach alerted her to the realization that it was noon already.
In the middle of preparing lunch, the doorbell rang. Hoping this wouldn't take too long, Kiara left the stove and looked through a side window to see who was there.
It was a woman in her 20s. She was standing as close to the door and as far into the shadows as she could, her eyes darting around as if she were afraid of being seen.
Curiosity led Kiara to the door, although instinct told her something was wrong. But then again, humans were above instincts, so Kiara opened the door.
A charming smile lit on the woman's face, as if it was perfectly normal to come knocking at the door of a house 5 miles away from town--and without any visible vehicle in the driveway, Kiara noted. Nevertheless, Kiara smiled back at the woman, who said nonchalantly, "Hi, my name's Selana. Can I come in?"
Though the police had told her to call them if anyone came to her house, curiosity still had the best of her. She let the woman inside.
"My name is Kiara," she said politely, leading the woman into the living room. "Do you need anything?"
"Yeah, can I use a phone? My car broke down a few miles from here...I need to call my brother to come pick me up." Selana answered quickly.
Though something just didn't seem right about the woman's situation, Kiara gave her the phone and left the room. If anything got out of hand, she could use her cell phone to contact the police.
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