Strange Kindness

Wounded and disoriented the young man flees through a dense wood. He carries a long gun from the scene of a heinous crime. He comes to a lone house deep in the forest. He gambles it’s empty. He collapses in the kitchen.

Chris rushes to the bathroom before she is awake, overcome by nausea. Today is treatment day. A terrible day, but she will get to see a friend. She goes downstairs to make tea and watch the morning sipping in breath to steady herself. She stands at the sink and feels a presence. ‘Please don’t run’, goes the young man. ‘This is my house’, goes Chris.

It's late or it's early and James has traveled a long way finally arriving at his childhood home where his sister Rose lives. He’s anxious as he enters the house, unsure of his sister’s reaction to seeing him but this is where he needs to be now- home with Rose and close to Chris.

He has no idea how terrible this day already is. He has no idea what he’s walking into. He waits. Upstairs, Rose wakes with a start. There is a draft in her bedroom coming in from the hall. The front door is ajar. She gets up from bed and moves to close the thing, lolling on its hinges in predawn breeze. The sound of engines, red and blue lights in the trees from two passing police cruisers. Lights on, sirens off.

She feels a presence and turns. “I came in early, I didn’t want to wake you” goes her brother, James. “Were those for you?”, goes Rose.

There’s police at Chris’ door. Rose is on her way there to administer chemo. James comes across the scene the young man fled. The young man continues to bleed. Chris will handle the young man. The young man will not leave.