Shel Bourchier was your typical introverted kind of person. She was a redhead with red eyes, which meant she was quite the neck turner despite being short. She was around her early twenties, living alone after dropping out of high school because she couldn't pay the tuition. Her life was pretty uneventful after her single mother died back when she was around in middle school due to poor health reasons, leaving her to grow up and adapt to survive fast through her teenage years. She doesn't even know much about her mother's life before she had her. This made her more self-conscious and timid, and she mostly kept things to herself rather than make connections.
She didn't really have any friends either, apart from Lucetta, her coworker who took the next shift after her. Growing up, she was always distant to others and rarely socialized, as she seemed to have lost interest in connecting with others after her mother's passing. Despite this, she still has hobbies of her own, such as reading books, listening to music, and owning a pet cat, which she named Cinnamon due to her orange color.
However, she did have some kind of habit she never got to really understand, and that was waking up in random places she does not remember going to, but it also happened only a few times, so she just chalked it up to sleepwalking and shrugged it off without giving it much thought.
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It was just another day for Shel Bourchier, working a late-night shift at a convenience store in a relatively desolate town out in the countryside. The empty aisles between shelves, the occasional flicker of a light in the corner, and the low buzzing sound of the centralized air conditioning unit. It was a weekend, and she was finally about to time out at around 12A.M. midnight. She left the store after Lucetta had timed in.
"See you around and stay safe goin home!",Lucetta said as she was setting up the register.
"Thanks Luce, you too!", Shel waved to her with a smile as she walked outside the parking lot.
After they exchanged farewell, they parted and Shel went inside her car, before driving off to the empty back roads as she headed back home. She arrived at her late mother's home that she was able to inherit, it wasn't the biggest thing but it provided her with a roof above her head for herself. She walked the small pathway leading to the front door, opened it, got in, and locked it behind her before hanging her coat and putting her bag aside with a sigh. She made her way to the kitchen and opened the fridge for a snack when her cat stood beside looking up at her with those eyes.
"Why hello there baby~ you hungry?" she asked in a bubbly tone smiling down at her cat.
That was her cue to feed her dinner which she did, before retreating to her room to settle in for the night.
This was how her days went and she didn't think much of it. All she knew was that she was living a life where she had everything essential to survive and lived comfortably.
That particular night however was different, she suddenly woke up once more, and found herself in front of her bathroom mirror. All while seemingly in a trance, the next thing she realized was her sweating profusely, with a few of the things knocked over or off the sink. She snaps her head over the doorway to see Cinnamon staring at her with wide eyes, a paw mid step and her head tilting in confusion. Shel took a deep breath calming herself, then her eyes adjusted to the morning rays of sunlight through the living room window as she turned her head slowly, back to the opened bathroom door.
Shel finally took a deep breath before washing her face with cold water sending shivers down her body before she looked at her reflection in the mirror. She noticed something while looking at herself, which was that her eyes had a faint glow of blue, barely noticeable at first glance, even up close. That was strange because she happened to have red irises. She immediately blinked and shook her head and it disappeared the second time she tried facing the mirror. She then took a towel wiping her face dry.
"What the fuck...." she muttered with a concerned look on her face before hearing her cat meow to her before carrying her up her arms. "Come here baby, did I scare you?", she said while petting Cinnamon and kissing her head.
Shel padded her way to the kitchen to see a few more things moved and knocked over. She puts down her cat before rearranging the misplaced items back as she had to calm herself down from the confusing situation she was in.
"What in the world was I doing....If only I can remember but I'm not exactly awake while I was in that state." she thought to herself but immediately shook her head thinking she was just tired.
After Shel finally finished cleaning up the mess, she plopped herself on her bed trying to collect her thoughts on what could've possibly happened while she was "sleepwalking". Just as she was pondering, something caught her attention. It was Cinnamon looking at something under her bed.
"Oh... it's just you....What is it?" she softly asked before bending over to see under her bed, only to find a box collecting dust.
She sighed deeply as she remembered that it belonged to her late mother. She decided not to touch it as she wasn't in the mood to be sentimental.
"...maybe in another time" she said as she closed her eyes for a moment before finally taking a deep breath and getting ready for the rest of the day ahead.
Unfortunately for her, this was only the beginning. To be continued...