[center][img]http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/originals/8f/ec/9f/8fec9f2007764ada7991942f1581e3ba.jpg[/img][/center]

[center][b]Abandoned Souls - Enter the Benefactor[/b][/center]

Cedar sat staring through the half full bottle of clearance shelf convenience store wine at the distorted view of the blades she had wrenched out of the the razor in her bathroom. A bottle of assorted pills sat next to the wine, pills from nearly empty bottles from her medicine cabinet, pills stolen from purses and first aid kits she could slip her fingers into, even pills she had found lying on sidewalks and floors. Some of them might even be tic tacs. She wasn't sure what the contents of the old pill bottle were, exactly. 

She heaved a sigh. The shattered camera lens was in the trash can. Her negative account balance didn't even leave her enough money to keep her electricity turned on, much less replace the lens. Her student loans had run out and her efforts to find a job willing to work with her class schedule and her "history of instability", as employers tended to put it, had proven unsuccessful for nearly three months. She had even tried finding work that would take her on full time, her class scheduled be damned, but that still hadn't proven to be useful. She had struggled with going to classes due to the depression and impending homelessness, and hadn't been in three weeks. She was sure to fail this semester.

She couldn't help it. The tears were coming.

Angrily, Cedar snatched the bottle of wine up and yanked the cork out. The pill bottle was next. The lid flew across the room as tears started pouring down her face. She tipped the bottle of mixed pills back as if she were taking a shot of hard liquor. 

Oh yeah, there were definitely mints in there. The sweet taste of peppermint combined with the bitter take of medicinals and dirt, coming together into a complete cocktail as Cedar took a deep gulp of the foul, astringent tasting strawberry wine. At last, after several deep quaffs, all of the pills were down.

Trembling hands picked up the razors and the last ounces of desperate determination fought the waves of intense nausea that had begun. She examined her wrist. It would be harder to cut through the scar tissue. She had to pick just the right spot, the spot that would give way easily. Ah, yes, there it was. Along the left side of her right forearm, right beneath where the scar tissue from the jagged glass she used previously had healed. With a deep breath, Cedar lowered the razor to her skin where it bit in. She could barely feel it. She could barely feel anything.

The next wave of nausea hit just as a knock sounded at the door. For a moment, Cedar sat perfectly still, the blade still resting inside her bleeding flesh. No one ever knocked on her door. [i]Unless...[/i]

Flashes of her little brothers faces as she had last seen them came into her head. Clumsily, she pulled the razor out of the small cut it had made and rose. 

Dizziness welled up inside her, and she steadied herself on the table. After a moment and another knock, she lurched her way to the door, glad for once that she couldn't afford furniture and thus there was nothing in her way to trip her. She didn't realized just how desperately excited she was at the thought it might be her long missing brothers and uncle. You could almost hear her heart shatter when instead she saw a dark skinned UPS delivery woman holding a box.

"Delivery for Cedar Collins." Her voice came out a little muffled. She must not have been speaking very loudly. Cedar nodded and took the clipboard to sign for the package.

Her knees were shaking now, the corners of her mouth set firmly down as she resisted the increasingly violent contractions of her stomach. Finally she got her signature down- it had taken so long to write it!- and handed it back. When she took the box, Cedar noticed just how deep brown and lovely the skin of the other woman was. She wished she could photograph it.

Damn her broken camera! It was useless! Fighting back tears, Cedar nodded and muttered a 'thank you'. The woman nodded back with a raised eyebrow. "Have a good night." After contemplating for a moment, the woman turned and walked away.

Cedar shut the door and turned around. How odd... when had she gotten to her knees? Her stomach gave a final, tremendous assault and suddenly all of the work she had done that night was splattered across her floor. As if in a dream, Cedar realized what had happened. The tears came again.

"Dammit! Dammit!Dammit!DAMMIT!" She shrieked, tears pouring down her face and dripping down her throat. Those were all of the pills she had. There were no more. Sobbing, Cedar knelt over the puddle and tried to see if any of the pills were salvageable. Some of them might have been, but another set of heaves attacked her, and anything that might have been left to achieve Cedar's ends was deposited with the rest of it.

Dizzy and shaking, Cedar sat back, leaning against the door. Through her sobs and tears, she saw the box. Funny. She had nearly forgotten about it.

Curiosity taking over, she gently pulled it to her lap, ripping through the tape. She didn't know she had the strength left to do that.

On top of the two lumps covered in bubble wrap was an envelope decorated with an intricate circular symbol. On the envelope in a delicate font typed into the rich paper was her name, her full name, along with her address. It wasn't sealed. Inside was a letter on the same rich paper with the same fine, printed font.

[center][i]Greetings Miss Cedar Collins,

You have been selected to participate in an interview with Silent Wheel, Inc. Please arrive tomorrow at 9:00 PM promptly, at the address listed below. Ring the bell three times. Dress code is casual. Duties and compensation will be discussed over cocktails and dessert.

6200 Belladonna Drive
Leyden City, PA

Warmest Regards,
[img]https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/quiz/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2014/05/20140531-govbeat7.png[/img]
Silent Wheel, Founder and CEO[/i][/center]

Cedar wiped her mouth. She read it over several times before she was certain she understood. Had she applied to Silent Wheels, Inc.? What were they? She didn't remember. Setting the letter aside, Cedar found one of the two lumps in the box and unwrapped it. She gasped, nearly choking herself.

It was a camera lens. The exact type she had broken the day before. Hardly able to believe it, she fished out the second lump and found it to be a complimentary lens, one that could handle further shots. She could hardly believe it.

Cedar got herself to her feet. Then she got herself to the bathroom. Cupping water in her hands from the faucet, she drank some and brushed her teeth. Holding the lenses as if they were the source of life itself, she resolved to deal with the mess tomorrow. She was tired. The lenses and the letter sat on the suitcase she used as a bedside table for the mattress on the floor she used as a bed. She drifted off to sleep, and for once hoped to wake up in the morning.

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The house was so beautiful. The drive had been a little further than she thought it would be, but her car had made it and she was happy it did. Her car did not like long drives. But this house... it was [i]so beautiful[/i].

Cedar pulled her camera out and snapped a few photos of the building and the grounds. Her fresh lenses were perfect and she had been snapping photos all day long of nothing in particular. She was too excited not to. This house, and she could only assume the person who had supplied her with the lenses, was the exact right subject for the day, especially in the dark.

Slowly, she walked up to the house. She was just a little bit early, and the letter had stated "9:00PM promptly". She was nervous to be standing on the porch, but the threatening storms from last night had held off on any real rain. Tonight, it seemed the clouds would make good on their threats.

Cedar stood admiring the grounds. The drive was a long, well kept dirt road lined with tall trees that were losing their leaves. Autumn was well under way. It was mid-October, and the trees were obligingly exploding in the signature colors of the season. The scent of the fallen and rotting leaves on the ground added to the excitement and mystery of the evening for Cedar. Still standing on the porch, nervous to knock, she decided to wait until exactly 9:00. According to her watch, it was 8:53. She had left early in order to be on time, thinking her slow movements brought on from the incident the previous night would threaten to make her late. She was glad she left early and moved slowly. If she had assumed she could move as normal, she would certainly have been late.

Being early allowed her time to look out at the grounds, well kept in the style of an English garden, with shrubs and bushes growing along the drive and deeper into the grounds. Walking paths were lined with soft muted colors, hard to make out in the darkness of the night. The only light this far from the main road came from the sliver of moon overhead and the lights gently glowing from inside the house. The trees were growing in elegant draping shapes, casting shadows that looked sad and beautiful among the flowers that were still blooming. 

Bushes of white blooms grew further into the grounds, almost too far to see in the darkness. The fluttering movement around the white flowers drew Cedar's attention to them. Bats. Cedar smiled and checked her watch again. The watch face flashed 8:55. With a nervous sigh, Cedar stood to wait the last five minutes before 9:00PM.