Chapter 1

Anaya woke up with a raging headache, it had been an eventful evening, to say the least, but she had always dreaded the next morning. Hangovers were always unpleasant, but it always seemed like they were harder for her. When her drinking buddies were semi functional by midafternoon, she was barely getting over the morning nausea. It always irked her so, and she hadalways been jealous of her drinking buddies. Thought slowly coming back to her, she was lying inher bed, eyes closed trying to collect herself. After a few minutes of agony, she opened her eyes, chose her target and began the trek.

Waddling through the door into the kitchen, she poured herself a cup of tap water, ice water the usual alternative would serve a small disaster and right now she needed calm. Barely refreshed, Anaya with slightly firmer steps made her way to the fridge. The blinding white light caught her off guard as the fridge light illuminated the dark room. Dawn was about to break but Anaya wouldn’t know. No light made it into her apartment, curtsey of blackout curtains.She preferred the dark, always did and as such she made an effort.Comfort was a luxury she could afford and so she had tried to bring all needed amenities to her humble abode.

Anays had fallen in love with the apartment the moment she walked into it. It was small, cozy little apartment nestled in the center of the city. It seemed that it was usually rented out by students as there was a college nearby,but the rent was so high that she hadn’t even had to ask the landlord why, the information was volunteered. Apparently, students are not the best tenants, so the rent had been increased so that most students could not afford it and those who could, would look for something better. The landlord seemed not bothered by the fact that the apartment had not been rented for a while. He did own an apartment in middle of the city so probably moneywas nota problem he had, she had thought.

She had made the apartment her home, sparing no expense. What the home decorator had managed with only a slight variance in shades of green had blown her mind the first she had seen the apartment. She had hired the best and they had delivered. The apartments undertone was comfort with hints of mystique, as if there was something to explore in every corner, where an indelicate touch would break the spell, but a mother would swoop in and take everything back to where it belonged. Some parts of her house she had never touched, the dedication to detail in the assorted toys above her television stand always amazed her. The small cove she had found in one corner full or children’s storybooks and poem books. She had read every book, and it was her favorite thing in her new home. The books took her back to her childhood, and she had since added some of her childhood favorites. She still couldn’t find a few, as it seems they had since grown to be timeless pieces and so collectors had increased their rarity.

Barely waiting for her eyes to adjust, Anaya started preparing her hangover cure. Broccoli, cauliflower, 2 large eggs,1 cup of milk, a pinch of salt and her last can of coke into a blender, running it till smooth. Barely a minute later she “uttered bottoms up” chugging it down. The harsh sound of the blender unbearable. Another minute later, she was in the kitchen table scarfing down barely microwaved chicken wings. Embers of what happened last night slowly lit as she remembered bits and pieces of the Christmas party. Grimacing at the thought of her last coherent moments, Anaya realized, nay, understood she had messed up majorly. The fact that she was on duty, today of all days made her dread the day she was about to have. A groan followed by a sigh made it out of her lips, as she lay her forehead on the tabletop.

…

Opening the door, Anaya swiftly checked her corridor for any signs of life and immediately bolted for the elevator. She appreciated and loved the landlord, but the old man could not take a hint. If he caught you, a conversation was to be had and the old man was as annoying as he was bold. He observed no social etiquette, and it seems he did it on purpose. As you get older people let to get away with a lot by virtue of your old age and the old man had learned to take advantage of this. He was most parts harmless,but he liked to push buttons, it was a skill he had mastered. He found what irked you and made every effort to push you with it. Patience the virtue was never something she sought, nor did she think she needed and so the old man had made it his life mission to piss Anaya off on this very flaw. Once, for a week he had told her the elevator did not work and she had to go up and down five flights of stairs, something she had hated entirely. She and the landlord were the only people on the fifth floor, and she had found out the elevator was never broken from the nosy girl on the first floor. Aninsult veiled as a compliment by the girl on how she was losing weight by using the stairs instead of the elevator had baffled her. The slight smirk she found on the girls face after she asked when the elevator had started working again was all she needed to know that she had been played. She had been fuming but when she passed her mirror and saw the results of the little prank, the anger turned to slight amusement. She had continued to use the stairs since, much to the amusement of the old man and the annoyed looks of the nosy girl.

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Today she had no patience, she did not want to use the stairs, pressing the button, multiple times and as fast as possible, made the elevator move faster. Everyone knew that. She pressed and pressed and waited. But it never came. Her annoyed reaching a new level, she turned and found amused eyes as they were peaking at her through the door. The landlord was smiling at her, annoyance turned to fury, which seemed to make the landlord even happier.

…

The elevator never came, she had been forced down the stairs.Holidays when everyone was home, made travelling bearable. She had the elevator to herself, then the bus and then the small walk to her office fielded only the occasional street cleaner but no life in sight, something she appreciated greatly. It was an unusual sight, the city so empty. Most days, the city was packed like sardines, and she hated every moment of the commute. Okay, not every moment, the shoe polisher young man that always said hi to her when she got off at the bus stop was something she always looked forward to. It was the one indulgence she had allowed herself. She got off at the bus stop a bit further just to see him and she had hoped he would see him today but alas. The empty street gave her a new appreciation for the city. It was one of the oldest cities on the continent. Built when innovation was but a budding flower, it still had echoes of a time when survival was the norm, not life to be enjoyed. She understood the importance of rules and structure but the rigid nature of the streets and house, as well as the planning made it obvious that time was a powerful mistress.

The calm let her settle into her thoughts and come up with a game plan. Pretend that nothing happened or just go for the direct confrontation. She was not good with dealing with people, so she wanted to go with her usual routine, pretend like nothing had happened, but it seemed that was not a choice she had.

Soon she was at the doorstep of a small laboratory. She, a laboratory technician worked in the microbiology department, overseeing the five laboratory assistants. She liked the job; it allowed limited interaction with people, and she liked worked in microbiology.Mostly microbial life was predictable, she liked predictable, it made sense. Microorganisms behaved in a way that increased their odds of survival at every turn. People were different, chaotic, and their ideas of self-preservation were rarely correct. Emotion had long messed with the proper expression of whatever genetic code was responsible for self-preservation. All this to say, she had found a fascinating job, and she did enjoy the work.

…

Dread crept in; she realized people had found out, how they did she, did not know and she had known that no secret was safe here, but she did not think it would be that fast. The dirty looks and slight smirks she got, made it obvious. They knew but hopefully she didn’t know. Hopefully the bits of gossip hadn’t made their way to her office yet. Picking up her pace, she shuffled through the halls, heavy steps met by unfriendly looks and joy that creeped into the fake smiles. They enjoyed her misery. She knew and they knew she knew. The games of make pretend were not just for kids.

Eyes closed, she knocked and dragged her way into the office. Her eyes met teary eyes as her friend, her only friend was in tears. Clutching her phone and trying to fight back the tears, Aevi ran straight for Anaya. The moment slowed down as time seemed to come to a crawl. Her body sought her, asking to focus on self-preservation. But she stalled, she did not move because she knew she was at fault. Anything that came her way was well deserved. Expecting violence, she braised herself for the pain. She was not immune to the chaos of emotions.

Anaya stood there, a moment turning timeless as the pain never came. What she found was her only friend crying in her arms. She stood for a second, confused, dread turned into concern as muscle memory kicked in. Rubbing her back gently, Aevi also settled into their routine as she cried her eyes out. Her cries soon turned into a description of what happened. She was fluent in Aevi,and it hurt her that she was so used to her crying that she hadlargely understood her mixed sobs and incoherent speech. Anger seeped out slowly as it was the same story once again.

MEN.

More specifically

KIRV!

Gnashing her teeth, Anaya remembered was happened yesterdays.