9.

Just after midday on the first day of February 2018, a forty-year-old woman begins feeling as if she were being watched when she had believed she was home alone. There should be no one else in the building with her though as the seconds and minutes tick away, the feeling of being watched intensifies.

She is in her kitchen preparing a lunch for herself when an overwhelming feeling hits that there is someone just past the kitchen door silently staring at her. She turns to look and sees that no one is there. She takes a good step backwards to get a better look beyond the door and still sees no one.

Back to chopping some vegetables she goes when she suddenly feels that someone is moving towards her at a speed faster than a walking pace. Her heartbeat quickens and she turns quickly to look and once again there is no one there. Gasping for breath, she tries to calm herself, she tries to convince herself that she is just having a moment where her own mind is messing with her. This is silly really especially when it has only just gone afternoon, it would be one thing if this were happening after dark but so early in the day is another thing.

Once again it is back to preparing lunch and as the seconds tick by, she becomes all the more sure that she had been experiencing a moment of craziness. Then, just as she has calmed herself, something rushes her. She feels the movement; she more than ... senses it. Whatever rushes her does not completely get to her as something drops to the floor behind her ending the rushing sensation and causing her to jump and shriek.

'Jesus ...' she shouts out loud having turned around to see a plate smashed on the ground.

She had not been using any plates; she had intended to do so eventually but ... how and why did a plate fall and smash on the floor behind her? Such a thing could in no way happen by itself. There must be someone in her home with her.

'What the hell?' she asks herself out loud before dropping down on her hunkers to inspect the shattered debris. 'Ouch' she says picking up a shard and seeing blood begin to dip down a finger.

Something rushes her again and this time she sees him or rather it, well ... she kind of sees something. Blurred movement comes at her fast; it is as if light is being bent around something and that something has its own shadow on the ground to go along with the bending of the light. It knocks her over without actually touching her; this is something more a case of falling over while anticipation contact. What that more is cannot yet be known.

It is early evening when this lady walks through the doors of a shelter specifically run for women. Whether or not she knows it, the place is run by Florence Reardon and whether or not she made it here of her own accord or aided in some way by another may not be determined for at least a little while to come.

Her dazed demeanour and ragged appearance along with her shaking hands being slightly bloodied ensures attention comes her way immediately. As by chance Florence Reardon is close by when the newest arrival to her facility enters through the doors. A fuss is made, and Florence looks to see what the cause of the fuss is and realizing that someone is in need of help Florence moves all the closer until a moment comes that takes her aback somewhat as she recognizes who has only just come through the doors.

'Shelly? ... My God.'

Florence and Shelly were once close friends or at least Florence had thought of their friendship from so long ago as being close. Coming close to about twenty years ago, Shelly had invited Florence out and had introduced her to two young men. By the evening's end Florence had been attacked and left unconscious in an alleyway near to a venue both the young ladies had gone to.

With the two men in question coming from money and with no help from Shelly, charges Florence made did not stick. She did not receive the justice such an attack should have had brought. That night ensured that Florence would go on and aid other ladies in need at times they'd need it most and with the fact of what happened that night so long ago and with the fact that two former friends had not seen one another from that time until this, Florence was not about to abandon Shelly in the here and now.

The lady who walked through the doors is in need of assistance, this much is clear; assistance is what she will get. Shelly had entered the building in somewhat of a daze, covered with cuts and bruises ensured attention came to her straight away. Florence herself made a request of a shelter volunteer to go fetch a doctor and Shelly would be seen to right away.

After initial assessment, treatment and a rest, Florence would come to Shelly's side. Shelly had been given a temporary bed at the facility with the recommendation she stays put at least for the night.

Standing about thirty feet away from the bed Shelly has been given, Florence looks and watches on as if she has seen a ghost. The most recent events have had a chance to sink in for both ladies and now the two are faced with a conversation neither thought they would ever have.

Shelly is laying on her back in the bed she has been given and when she sees Florence not all so far away, she repositions herself to a comfortable sitting position. They both eye each other for a number of seconds as if neither wants to be in this moment while also knowing they each need to be.

Florence is the first to speak a 'hi' and Shelly is quick to respond with a 'hi' of her own. Then Shelly begins to express regret for the past and Florence is quick to respond saying that the past should be left right where it is and saying that where they both currently are would not exist if it weren't for that past. The conversation moves on to what it is that has brought Shelly to this moment. Florence not only believes what it is she is told but she finds it intriguing to say the least too.

Once the coming together has passed and once she has a moment to herself, Florence considers that the occurrences within her own life were not just occurrences of chance. The events of twenty years ago, then going on to come across Majella Smith two years ago from this coming summer and now a reconnection with Shelly along with what has happened with the former friend, some things seem a lot less of chance but a lot more ... contrived.

Since the day Florence found Majella wandering the streets, the two have only met on one other occasion. Florence wants to change that. She has a want, a need to go visit with Majella Smith. For some reason or another Florence feels that a revelation is not all that far away. Shelly's arrival feels if it backs up that feeling for Florence and such an incoming revelation may indeed be a big one. This dredges up an element of fear for Florence too as that second coming together with Majella was odd to say the least.