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You turn the corner as the lights flicker. Lost. Not alone. You don’t remember how you got here, you can’t even remember your name. All you know is that something has you trapped and if it catches you…
Footsteps. You run down the hallway, the cold tiles under your feet are constant, as are the locked doors. You continue trying every handle, peering in every window. It’s clearly a hospital, but there’s only you and whatever’s following. You look to your right, back the way you came, as the lights turn off one by one. Move. Move. Move.
You run for your life. Turning left, right, left. You slip as you turn another corner, crashing to the ground and curling against the wall. It was just a moment, but it was more than enough. Eyes clenched shut, you can feel the presence overwhelm you, reaching out to you…
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
Your alarm wakes you. Drenched in sweat you bolt upright. 6am. You’re alone in your room, the vaguest of dawnlight has begun to filter through the window. You shake your head while you throw off the covers. You can hear noises from the kitchen. She must be making breakfast. Probably stayed up all night working, too. She always complains that your schedules don’t line up and you have to remind her that she works on her own off-beat clock, but you’re thankful for the moments you do spend together.
You stretch, throwing off the last vestiges of sleep. You think of giving her a good morning kiss, but decide to shower first as you wipe the sweat off your brow. The dream had slipped into the aether, as they are often wont to do, leaving you to face just another normal day. You make sure there’s a towel for you before turning on the water. The couple that lived here had a bad habit of leaving them in the dryer, but it seems someone was considerate enough to restock the bathroom.
You jump into the cold shower before it could heat up properly. It was a good shock treatment for your body when starting the day, you heard on some health program that it helps with overall health or something. If you can’t trust a doctor on the radio, then who can you trust? The water quickly heats up and you wash yourself off. You notice some small bruises on your legs and try to remember if maybe you bumped into a coffee table or something, but nothing comes to mind. Odd, what the mind decides to omit.
You step out of the shower and dry off, taking a moment to look at yourself in the mirror. It seems you worked off most of the weight you had put on, but there was definitely room for improvement. Might have to sign up for a gym membership, this is probably the limit of what your night jogs could do for you. You chuckle to yourself and how mundane things were.
After getting dressed you head to the front of the apartment, smelling the aroma of a breakfast, only to find your girlfriend isn’t there. A small piece of paper is folded next to the plate of food. ‘Gotta do some shopping before I forget, Love You’. Probably has to pick up some supplies for work. You sit down to eat the lovingly made meal, an omelette on a bed of rice with some little sausages cut to look like octopi. Octopusses? You were never sure of that, but the little faces she put on them made you smile. You wolf down the meal, it’s like you hadn’t eaten in days and hit the spot perfectly.
You wash the plate and grab your keys. Part of you regrets not giving your girlfriend a kiss before you went your separate ways, but that’s the cost of living this cozy little life of yours. You’ll make sure to give her a real kissing when you get home later.
The day speeds by before you know it. Guess that’s what happens when you’ve worked at the same place for so many years, you just go on auto-pilot. On the drive home you reflected on how It was pretty satisfying to have found a job you were good at. Less stress at work lets you focus more on your personal life.
You laugh to yourself, remembering the shitty job you had before this. Or trying to. What was it again? Delivery driver? Like a fish in a stream, it kept slipping away from you. Kind of troubling, must be the distance of time. You have been working at this current job for, what, 10 years?
5 years?