Marianne jiggled her key in the white door in front of her. She twisted the hot metal quickly and rammed her shoulder into the door. She stumbled inside and quickly shut the door, wincing at the loud creak of the hinges.

She turned her head and began quietly, "Mom, I'm ho-"

She stilled. 

The place was trashed.

Tables were overturned and papers were strewn across tables and floors. Glass was shattered and dented pots and pans were on the floor. Marianne took a step closer to the wreckage and was made aware to grunts and sounds of... was that fighting? She took another tentative step forward and blinked. 

She suddenly took of sprinting towards the noise.

Guttural grunts continued and she heard a whimper. The sight in front of her was enough to take her breath away. Three figures stood around her mother, backing her into a corner. Her mom wielded a kitchen knife but it didn't seem to be doing much against them.

Marianne didn't slow her pace as she came closer. On the contrary. As she approached she didn't think that she was being robbed. She didn't think that she could get hurt. She did think that her mother could. So she kept going.

There was a sickening crunch as one of the bodies made contact with the hard tile floor. She jumped off from his back and punched another one, grateful for the ring she wore that added more power. 

She didn't notice the being turn to dust when her ring hit it. She didn't notice the same happen when her ring hit the one she tackled. No, she was too busy with her mother's last attacker.

The gargantuan figure was different from the others. She finally stopped and breathed, giving her a second to process the situation.

There were people in her apartment. They were attacking her mom. She incapacitated two. There was one more.

And suddenly

The last one has one eye.

She stopped and seemed to have short circuited.

Wait, what?

That was probably why she couldn't- no, didn't prevent what happened next.

She watched in a frozen shock as her mother spoke her last words. Watched as the one eyed thing raised his club. Watched as he brought it down-

Right on her head.

She stumbled back.

No. No. Wake up. Wake up! She was dreaming! That was it!

Hot tears shot down her face and she didn't realize she was speaking out loud. 

"I'm dreaming! I'm dreaming!"

Sobs escaped her lips.

Why wasn't she waking up?!

She shrieked in pure anguish. It was a terrible heart wrenching sound. The wiped her face but gave up. Her vision got blurred and a steady stream of tears came out.

Her feet carried her back to the door. Everything was a blur but this time not because of her tears. They were dry on her face.

If you asked her about the events of the day she wouldn't be able to tell you much.

Just a memory of pain. Unbearable pain.

Then running.

Running to the last place her mother ever spoke of. All the way to Long Island. To the strawberry farm. To 'Half-Blood Hill'.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

*backs up slowly* OKSOIKNOWISAIDI'DUPDATEBYTHANKSGIVINGBREAKBUTIDIDN'TANDIMSORRYANDI'MNOTJUSTGONNABLAMESCHOOLCUZTHEREAREAUTHORSUPDATINGPERFECTLYFINEEVENWITHSCHOOLBUTI'MTRYINGSOOOOOHARD

DOOOONNNTTT KIIIILLL MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

*deep breath*

Ok. Please don't kill me. I'm tired. I was gonna make the update longer but I thought u guys might prefer shorter but more frequent updates than 1 lump update every 10 billion years so...

Yeah. There u go.

I'm making a huge effort to incorporate writing into my schedule but whenever I write something I start criticizing it and going back and changing stuff and I end up never publishing anything even when I do write stuff, hence why I didn't get anything out on Thanksgiving break-

Ok, I could go on for hours but I think u would prefer that I just get writing so bye and