Lila awoke.
The light of the morning was slipping in through the partially drawn curtains of her front-room, lighting the room in a gentle glow. She yawned, ready to drift back off to sleep when she felt a thump onto the blanket covering her.
“Noooo…” Lila thought to herself grimly.
She opened one eye a smidge and peeked through, to show a grey tabby feline standing on four legs in front of her face. She met a pair of green-gold orbs with two black slits staring at her intently. She rolled over onto her side, throwing the cat from the couch and adjusted the blanket around herself to get comfortable again.
Soon after the pitter-patter of paws started drawing along the blanket resumed, and eventually the cat returned to the previous position in front of her face. She began to feel a gentle sensation on her cheek. Sighing internally, she groaned and swiped ineffectually under the blanket;
“Stop…”
Sensing the cat would not let up, Lila relinquished herself and drew herself back before straightening up and sitting on the couch. Dj mittens, her cat stared at her on her lap as if questioning why she moved before meowing at her.
Lila put her hands to both sides of the cat, giving an affectionate scratch before placing a gentle kiss on the cat's forehead. Mittens purred, stepping with its paws onto the blanket before letting its claws pierce through and into Lilas leg. Lila gritted her teeth, picking up the cat and setting it on the floor before standing up.
“You little terror”
Lila continued to her morning ritual, reaching out with a groan and blinking away the remnants of dreams that clung to her consciousness. The meeting with her father last night held firm in her mind, though she scarcely thought it real. She absently checked the drawer and saw the puck still there from last night.
Sighing internally and keeping it out of mind for now, her steps began to find a familiar rhythm and she continued through a shower and a quick breakfast. Slipping into some casual yet professional attire, she began dressing for work. Double-checking she had everything she needed she grabbed her keys, and began leaving for work. Though not before feeding Mittens who at that point was pawing at her feet incessantly, leaving a purring cat eating whilst she left through the front door.
The first light of dawn peeked through the cloud in a number of soft hues, Lila continued on her way to her cafe and walked to work. The morning air was a familiar greeting as she quickened her steps through the mostly empty streets, the thrum of the city still quiet. The streets only got busy in the next three or four hours, so it was mostly just a cold scenic morning.
As she arrived at the shop, Lila adjusted her coat around her as she approached her shop to find a familiar face. A short hispanic man by the name of Luis who was a regular and only recently been discussing with Lila about a book he was trying to publish. Lila spoke out to Luis and greeted him;
“Luis, qué sorpresa!” (what a surprise)
"Hola! Chica, your Spanish is improving! Muy bueno." (Hello!, Very good.)
They both flashed matching smiles at eachother, as Lila unlocked the shop and waved Luis inside. Lila went out back to hang up her coat, and spoke out to Luis;
“Take a seat, I’ll only be a moment. Need to hang the coat and then I can get things ready”
In the back of the shop now, he heard Luis shouting out “You sure you don’t want help Chica, I have a cousin that could come by to help”
Already walking out to the front of the shop, she caught Luis saying that and threw him an unimpressed look;
“You mean Juan, who was in the news selling drugs?”
And continued to set up the barista equipment for the day. Luis looked like he ate a sour lemon, and swore “Gillipollas” silently under his breath. Shaking his head before continuing “No, Mierda! Juan is an idiot. I mean Marina, she came here last time with me. Remember?”
Lila scrunched her face, thinking back to the woman that was with him. From what Lila could remember, she was mild mannered and spoke appreciatively good english. She reminisced and juggled the decision in her mind before nodding lightly;
“Okay, if it is who I think it is I can give them a chance and so long as you vouch for them”
Luis shot to his feet, a childlike grin spreading across his features as if he just won a gold medal. He reached out to hug Lila, as she returned and pressed her hand against his chest pushing him away.
The grin dropped and he looked sheepishly at her, pausing before continuing;
“Alright Lils, when do you want her here? I will make sure she is here”
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Lila thought for a moment before just saying “When can she start, I do need help in the mornings?”, though was cut off as Luis called out;
“No problem Chica. I will wake her up now!”
And began running out of the store.
She did try calling out to Luis as he left, but he’d been lost in his own little world and shot off like a wirework. Lila thought to herself grimly before verbalising her thoughts;
“What did I get myself into?”
As it turns out, not that much. She only managed to serve two customers that wandered in as Luis returned in less than 20 minutes with a slightly tired looking but otherwise smart looking young hispanic woman. She had short black hair and wore long jeans with a reddish pink shirt. He dragged the woman in behind him and spoke out to her before leaving;
“Good luck, hermana!”
The whole process took mere moments and left Lila unable to react or respond as storm Luis shot in and out, leaving a very cute but dishevelled looking young woman. She looked at Lila with tired eyes, clearly having just woken up and frowned slightly “So… What was this all about?”. Lila explained the situation and Marina nodded;
“Okay, I understand it now. That idiot just grabbed me and dragged me here, but didn’t really say anything. I love my brother, but sometimes he can be really estúpida. Would it be alright if I headed back home to freshen up a bit?”
Lila shrugged, nodded and continued through the morning serving various customers as they came and went. Marina came back a short while later, much better looking and without the sleep in her eyes dragging Luis behind her. She pointed at Lila, motioning to him. He looked like a beaten dog, and looked around guiltily. Shifting uncomfortably he said;
“I didn’t mean to upset anyo..”
Marina hit him lightly over the back of the head.
“Sorry”
Marina nodded and pushed him lightly towards the door “Out”. Lila looked amusedly at the whole affair, wryly smiling. She motioned over to the counter and began introducing her new employee to the job, walking her through everything.
The day other than this slowed and seemed mostly usual. Eventually it hit midday and the other employees came in, introducing themselves to Marina and exchanging pleasantries as they handed over work to them. She took Marina to the back, and signed her onto work with a contract and paid her for her troubles for the day.
Leaving the shop, she began to discuss with Lila about her brothers and thanked her for the job. Discussion spread out as they walked through the bustling street and eventually reached a more secluded park area, Marina continued;
“So there was this weird thing they mentioned recently at their job. As they were working, usually bending and welding the metal and stuff, all of a sudden the entire place lit up with a bright white and blinded everyone.”
Lila cut in worriedly;
“Lit up, like an explosion? Was everyone okay?”
She shook her head;
“No! That was the weird thing, there was no explosion or fire or anything. Just this weird flash of white light, Juan said there was something fishy going on but…”
Marina trailed off, frowning at the thought of Juan. Lila thought back to the news and saw some resemblance to Marina and Juan, but thought not to mention it right now so asked curiously;
“What was so fishy about a bright light at a metal plant, isn't that kind of usual with the welding torches and everything?”
Marina laughed lightly;
“No, he mentioned something about weird looking gadgets. But enough about…”
Lila and Marina sat there discussing different things, and hearing some stories about being the only sister to three brothers. Eventually as it got later into the day, they broke up and both headed home. Marina had called Luis to walk the both of them home, and so they split up at Lila’s house.
Mr Mittens sat in the doorway, beckoning and welcoming Lila in with a “Meow” before going to the cat bed and falling asleep. Lila smiled at the welcome, and rolled her eyes as the cat turned to rest. After preparing dinner, she sat to watch the TV.
On the news she could see the anchor talking to one of the alien conspiracy theorists;
“Thanks Eve, so I am here with Mr Thomson. He is one of the members of a local group of californian alien hunters”
Thomson was fat, middle aged and balding in a number of places. This didn’t stop him from cutting in as he spoke in a nasally tone;
“Actually, I am the leader of the local group of alien hunters as you put it. My name is also Fred Thomson, thank you very much”.
The anchor stilled his smile, and continued amicably;
“So, My Thomson. What can you tell us about this local alien event you are demonstrating today?”
The anchor motioned towards a building Lila recognized as the local metalworking factory. Outside were around 30 people demonstrating with signs like “Beam me up”, “Aliens are real” and “Probe me”. All-in-all, they were clearly an intellectual bunch.
“We caught sightings of a UFO entering and leaving the building here. We also heard from the employees about unexpected lights and flashing coming from the building”
He took in a large nasally breath before continuing
“We flew some drones around, and found they covered the windows and found drag marks in the back of the factory!”
Like a lawyer delivering a final verdict, the fat man stated confidently;
“They are clearly hiding something! And we know what it is, aliens!”
The anchorman showed little emotion on his face other than a slight wiggle to the side of his mouth, he turned to the camera and spoke;
“There you have it eve! Our local alien hunters have discovered some evidence pointing towards aliens. Back to you!”
Mr Thomson cut in to speak, angered at the disregard of his evidence before the cameras cut off and went back to the studio. Eve, the new presenter chuckled lightly;
“There you have it folks! Real aliens. In other news…”
The news droned on as it usually did, but nothing else was particularly exciting. She chuckled wryly to herself, though motioned her head giving them credit for the flashes that she had heard from Marina. Shaking her head, she cleaned up the dinner after herself and headed to bed for the night.