Rachel's first day of misadventures

Rachel felt the warm sunlight on her body. A gentle breeze from the window beside her bed brushed her hair away from her face. She was just waking up from a peaceful but short night’s sleep. She had arrived at her Aunt Stella’s house pretty late, well past midnight. Rachel finished her six-hour shift as a cashier at 7 pm at a clothing store in the only mall in her tiny hometown in rural Georgia. She returned home, ate a quick dinner with her mother, Becky, and was on the road at around 8. The drive to her aunt Stella’s house, located in the small but beautiful town of in the blue ridge mountains of North Carolina, had taken about 4 hours. Maybe a bit longer. Rachel was exhausted when she finally reached the city of Welcome. Her aunt Stella lived not too far from the highway in a small neighborhood of mostly older people. Besides a massive but run-down Catholic church, a convenience store, and a library, the town of Welcome did not have much to boast about. It had started raining when Rachel pulled up to her aunt Stella’s house. From what she could see in the dark, it was a very modest house. There were no street lights, and only a useless tiny bulb barely illuminated the front porch as best it could. Rachel did not have much to carry to her aunt’s house since all her belongings fit in a small duffle bag her mother Becky bought for her in sixth grade. After six years, the duffle bag was now a faded pink mess covered in tiny holes and had a zipper that did not close all the way. However, that was enough for our 18-year-old Rachel.