Closed Starter: @instinctsqz (Sebastian & Iris ) Place: Graham Household
The night stretched on without disturbance at first. Iris had just groggily woken up on the living room couch, book resting open next to her head. Carried away again, she thought, and now I have to pee. Sitting up, Iris moved her legs off the cushions and put her feet to the floor. Sleepy eyes opened and closed a few times as she felt out her surroundings as best she could. An oil lamp that had been on some time before was no longer, leaving the room bathed in darkness--either Seb or Papa turned it off while she slept. The curtains on the window a few feet away from her fluttered faintly as wind moved through the cracks. Front door close-by locked up nice and tight. A wooden board beneath her creaked as she stood to walk slowly off toward the bathroom. The world in a calm sway before the storm.
When she returned minutes later, that’s when it began, passing by with such swiftness. There were nearby gunshots, loud and angry shouting with it. Iris had just leaned over to grab the book, but she stopped, immediately retracting her hand and moving backward away from the space. Breathing was steady before it grew faster, sharper with passing moments; posture hunched itself as if to shield from bullets that weren't coming for her. Her sight latched onto the world she couldn’t see beyond those breezy curtains--hidden away in the night, some mystery, some horror, maybe.
“Papa! Somethin’s wrong!” She yelled loudly to her sleeping family, though surely one of them had to have heard the commotion themselves. She moved to the stairs without missing a beat, eyes shifting nervously over the railing and to the entrance across from them as she ascended. No thinking, no waiting, just go.
Pounding footsteps led to a door opening upstairs, closely followed by another, as Iris made it to the top.