“Finally! I can go home” Cara breathed out. She tilted her head upwards, her golden eyes taking in the sky as she locked up the door to the gem shop. She pushed her short dark hair back behind her ear, letting the strip of red hair continue to dangle playfully on the side of her face.

She had spent the last eight hours working into the dead of night to make sure their delivery would be ready to go by the first light of the morning. She was a rather strong and tall woman for her town, so she was often burdened with the heavy lifting at the gem shop. 

By now it was so late into the night, that the only thing that provided any kind of light were the stars in the sky. Not even the moon hinted at its existence. There was a stillness to the world around her, she felt like the last person alive. Cara turned to face the road home and started her way down the path.

Unbeknownst to her something else turned in the same direction as well. A blurry fog drifted smoothly from one shadow to the next blending in with the dark of the night. It's presence a secret to the world around it.

Cara made a sudden turn in the wrong direction and started down the street Sunny lived on. While this was in no way a faster route home, Cara missed her best friend who had been out of town for nearly a month now making deliveries in Trigo and Tair. At least with the added time on her walk she could put it off. She knew, though she would never admit, once she opened her front door she had to face the solitude of her empty home.

Since her mother had passed away her home was emptier than ever. Her father, he was always a mystery to her. While it wasn't uncommon for children to have no contact with their fathers here as the town only allowed woman to enter. Her mother never even once spoke her fathers name.

Alas the time was here, she could avoid it no longer, when she finally unfixed her gaze from the stars, there it was, her front door. Not nearly as menacing as it felt, a light colored wood ornamented with white and purple flowers illuminated by the lamp she had left on. 

In the shadows behind her the fog moved closer and closer, mindful to stay out of sight. This was its chance, as Cara opened her door the cloudlike entity slipped in behind her and swiftly slipped into the crack of the door next to the next room staying just out of sight.

Cara quickly made her way to her bed and flopped herself onto it on top of her covers, her feet hung over the edge of the bed as she smushed her face into her pillow. Cara lifted her head just for a moment to allow herself breath of air. In that brief moment she saw a blurry shadow move along the floor across her doorway.

“Oh no, what on earth got into the house?” Cara prepared herself to be face to face with a lost wild animal. She got out of bed and followed the direction the shadow went. The bathroom was in darkness, she flicked the light waiting to be greeted with a hiss of some rabid raccoon. Just to see nothing. Nothing at all out of the ordinary. “Okay, now I must be really sleep deprived”

She checked all over the room to no avail, she assumed she must have made it up. Cara rubbed her eyes and pondered how long it had been since she had a good night's sleep. She went back to her room and removed her  black bustier and long black and red skirt, threw them on the ground and went to sleep for the night.