Chapter 1: Section 3

      It was finally time to return back home. Her watch read 8:04am she walked back up to her house. She paused for a few seconds. She shook her head, wondering why she even paused. She walked through the doors of her red house, and plopped down on her living room couch. She'd just met 11 new people. She tried to remember all of their names. Rose, Raphael, Elaine... Amanda? She wasn't sure. She laid back and closed her eyes. She opened them again to find that more than an hour had passed. 9:47am She jumped to her feet. She had to be at work by 10:00am, and who knows how bad traffic would be? She grabbed her keys, grabbed a coat, and raced to her red Mitsubishi 3000 out front. She pulled out of her driveway and drove down to Main St. After pulling onto 99E, she drove straight for about 10 minutes. That 10 minutes suddenly felt like 10 hours. Her brain struggled to find one simple conclusion to everything that happened that morning, and how it could possible relate to all events leading up to it. There was no conclusion. Slowly but surely, Cynthia began to realize that. Slowly but surely, her head began to hurt.
      She pulled into the bookstore's parking lot, trying to come up with a conclusion as to why she was late this morning, only to find that she was earlier than normal. Although this came as a relief, it did nothing to help the pain in her head. She walked through the front doors, greeted her boss and a few of her co-workers, then went into the back of the store and set her purse down. She sat down on her raised chair, and logged onto her computer. She worked in book-buying. Almost as soon as she had gotten everything set up, two people walked into the room. A mother and her son. They were selling a book series priced for $38. The books were in good condition, decent sized books. The price was good. They made the exchange and left the room. Cynthia put a $40 tag on the series, and set them on a shelf. Same as usual, this same process happened for multiple hours. Cynthia looked at the clock for what seemed like the 100th time that day. The time was 12:43.
She locked the computer and stood. It was most definitely time for food.
      She exited the building, but instead of walking to her car, as she normally would, she walked away. She walked to a restaurant just down the street. She didn't even pay attention to what she was eating. She thought. "The police are suspecting a bombing." The words ran through her head once again. Who would want to bomb the tracks? It was a freight train! What would even be the point? There was none. She glanced at her watch. Her lunch break was already over.
      She headed back to work. She walked through the doors, walked again to the back room. She settled herself back into her chair once more. She looked up from her computer and looked through the store. Four people walked through the doors. The last four people she would have expected to see that day. Raphael, Rose, Elaine, and Adalia walked through the doors. They headed straight towards her. They were here to sell books. Cynthia lowered her head. They walked through the doors and set on the desk a stack of 4 separate books. She lifted her head.
"Hello again," she said.
"Again?" said Elaine.
"Oohh!" said Rose, " I thought I recognized you!"
"Yep," said Cynthia, unsure of what to say. She didn't want to bring the crash back to their mind, yet it had been the only thing on her mind the entire day. "So have you heard any more about the crash?"
"Nope," said Rose.
"You?" asked Raphael.
"Nothing," said Cynthia.
The five of them looked at each other. Awkward silence. Cynthia sighed. She gave the four their money and watched them walk out the door.
Cynthia was left without a single idea about the crash.