CHAPTER 1
A FRIENDSHIP
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Nevada had a certain beauty to it, a beauty that could not be found anywhere else on earth, sure everything there was dry and dead, but all you had to do was look at the way the sun appeared through the distant clouds and mountains to see the true beauty to this place. At six in the morning a gentle wind carved its way through the barren lands of Nevada, like a whispering message being carried on a beautiful, never ending journey, leading endlessly onward until the end of time itself. The skye filled with a beautiful orange as the sun greeted the day, bringing with it a hazy and warm feeling even though the nights within the desert were freezing cold, especially during the summer times.
The wind carried on to the old farm house, an almost abandoned place where two unsuspecting girls laid in rest for the night. The wind penetrated the old wooden beams of the farmhouse, causing the entire building to creek like a naturally occurring alarm clock being triggered by the wonders of the universe. The wind began to increase in intensity, causing one of the window shutters to bang hard upon the barns foundations, the sound alone was enough to bring Riley to her senses, springing her awake to face the dimply lit interior.
Riley would immediately splutter, clearing the hay from her lips, nose and eyes, sure it wasn't the best of places to sleep but it was fairly comfortable to say the least, one thing that wasn't so pleasant though was the smell, a smell like one-hundred barn animals had lived there for hundreds of years, but sure.. It could be worse she thoughts. With a gentle whimper she'd slowly emerge from the hay, arms reaching outward for the floor to give some support to stand, being half blinded by the breaching sunlight she'd stumble at first, slowly making her way over towards one of the windows of the barns interior to get a good observation of what the day had to bring.
She'd eerily turn around towards her backpack, pulling out a small bottle of warm water, she'd screw her face up at first, but honestly it was better than nothing at all. She'd cough gently before taking a small swig from the bottle, allowing it to clear her throat and give her skinny body a kick-start for the day ahead, but before she could do anything else, she felt it, the inferior crams began to build up within her, followed by a rumbling stomach. She'd groan, letting out a soft sigh before turning around to pick up her backpack and ready herself to leave the small safe haven, but then.. she spotted something or... someone?
With a tilt of her head she couldn't help but notice the arrangement of long brown hair flowing out from what appeared to be half the body of a young girl in the opposite stack of hay. At first Riley thought she was seeing things, immediately causing her to jump back in a nervous retaliatory reaction, flopping back and falling onto her ass, the impact made her yelp. After falling down she's just sit there, staring at the girl, then thoughts began to fill her head, such as. "Was she here when I arrived?" "Is she dead?" "No.. She's breathing." "What the fuck?" She'd let out a soft exhale of air, thinking once again that perhaps the best thing to do was just leave and let her sleep... She didn't know her, the girl could be a crazy serial killer after-all.
Riley would wait for a few moments more, thinking things over... But then she realised, perhaps this was an answer to her loneliness. The girl was clearly homeless like herself, and the presence of a backpack and ruined clothing certainly proved that point, like seriously, why else would someone choose to sleep in a damn barn of hay? With a build up of her courage she'd slowly crawl towards the girl, leaning over her to get a better look at her face. Riley twitched a little bit.. Damn.. She was cute, and it didn't take a genius to see that.
Riley leaned back away from her a little before extending her arm out towards the sleeping girl and would proceed to gently poke her. "Uhm.. Hello?" She'd say quietly at first with a whisper before pressing her finger against the girl a little harder. "Hello!?" She'd say a little louder, hoping to get the girls attention and hopefully not to scare her... This was after-all the first person around her age she had seen in a month, Riley wasn't going to pass this opportunity for a friendship.