Chapter 1

                                    

                                          
Pulling the hair band out of her hair, Ranalla walked out of the bathroom. Her long, blond hair fell around her shoulders when she shook her head to loosen it from its confines. Dressed in loose shorts and an old t-shirt, she climbed into bed and pulled the blankets up. She was bone tired and couldn't wait for slumber to come.  The day had been long and stressful. She needed to just let her body relax.
                          
She reached over and turned off the light. The room was blanketed in darkness. A small glow from a street light reached into her room between her blinds giving her just a small amount of light to see by. She wasn't going to need it as long as sleep called to her.
                          
Pulling up the soft blankets, Ranalla settled down and sighed. It felt so nice to have it all to herself. Everything was beginning to roll smoothly.
                          
She loved her new place. 
                          
For six months she had been looking for an apartment to rent. She had only been in the other apartment for a few months when she began to get the feeling that her roommate was going to have her boyfriend move in. The hints were getting to be not so subtle as he walked out of her roommate's room every morning and more and more of his stuff was appearing in the bathroom.
                          
It was hard to find a place on her salary at the bookstore. She made just a little above minimum wage. She sold her car for the cash and to save money on her insurance. Ranalla didn't mind eating cheap, frozen meals. Money for anything extra was not even a consideration. Finding another place was near impossible.
                          
The apartment had just fallen in her lap. Someone had dropped off a flier at the bookstore. When her manager, Donna, saw it, she tucked it away until Ranalla came into work. She had been helping Ranalla look for a place within her budget, but even her extensive network of contacts couldn't turn up anything that wasn't in an extremely bad neighborhood. Donna even thought of creating an apartment in the back of the store, but the landlords would have gotten a tad bit upset with it. Seeing the flier, Donna knew she had to let Ranalla know about it. She gave her the flier and sent her out the door to check it out without giving her a chance to even take her coat off. The price on the paper was too good to be true. Ranalla was skeptical as nothing was ever what it seemed. Nothing ever had in her life. It always came with strings that would eventually become painfully tightening. It could not be real and, even if it was, by the time she got there it would already be taken. She was beginning to accept life as one brick wall after another. There were other ways to solve her problems, but she would rather live on the streets than go back there.
                          
It turned out to be true, all of it. She checked the fine print, even held the contract up against the light looking for hidden traps. She had a lawyer friend go over it. It was perfect. The price was a special and was a first come-first serve basis. She signed the rental agreement as soon as her friend approved it for fear of losing such a great opportunity. 
                          
It was a ground level apartment that had its own private yard surrounded by a high brick wall and a locked iron gate that led to a heated garage.  It was located in a developing area where all the upscales were moving to. It had to meet their approval. The inside was newly furnished and painted and included top of the art appliances. She couldn't have asked for anything better. It was like she had stepped into heaven. 
                          
She had two bedrooms and one large bath. The spare one was quickly turned into a library to house her legion of books. A fireplace took up one wall in the living room which was larger than anything she really needed, but she enjoyed the spacious feel. All that was left to do was add a few touches to make it her own. 
                          
She had been there only a month, and it still felt like a dream. As she snuggled down in the bed, she thanked her lucky stars for it. Things were starting to go right for her. Maybe she could shake her past and move forward. She had learned the hard way that having loads of money did not by happiness. To her, it only brought sorrow. Slowly she faded and let the night take her away as she dreamed of the promise the future was giving her.
                          
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A noise woke her. She turned her head to see the clock on the nightstand; it brightly displayed 2:00. She lay still as she tried to figure out what had made the noise. She didn't have any neighbors on this side of the building, and the apartment upstairs was currently vacant. She had no pets; then again, she wasn't sure the noise had been real. It might have been a dream that seemed real.
                          
A few minutes went by, and she didn't hear anything else. Not even sounds from the streets could be heard. Thinking it was just a dream, she closed her eyes and began to drift to sleep again. Nothing had seemed out of place in the little bit of light that filtered in. All the shadows remained still, all but one that moved at the closing of her eyes.
                          
The hand that clamped over her mouth brought her abruptly from the edge of sleep. Her eyes flew open as her arms and legs began to fight the unknown attacker. All she saw was a shadowy figure above her. Ranalla's hands bent to become claws. For the first time without any vanity, she was glad she had long nails. She began scratching at anything her hands could reach. She felt flesh under her nails for a second. As a curse was muttered, her hands were roughly grabbed. Kicking was removed as an option as the figure straddled her preventing her from using her feet and legs to inflict damage. She found herself unable to make an offensive move. He pulled her arms down to her sides and pinned them with his weight. She continued to fight though it resulted more of her thrashing under him. The face came near her ear.  In the dark, she still could not see anything but felt every move made above her. She felt hot breath tickle her skin causing goose bumps to appear on her skin. Fear of the unknown began to chock her. Everything was encased in shadows and the fear building inside of her removed all logic and reason.
                          
"Shhh. Sorry about this." She felt a prick on her arm....