Chapter Text
It’s been 3 hours since the power went out. But this was expected by the inhabitant of this apartment, as the rain had been going on for days and the various news channels had given ample warning that this year's monsoon season would be one of the worst to ever hit. Frantic scratching noises of pen on paper can be heard echoing through the living room. A girl of simple stature, freshly dyed red hair and white rimmed spectacles can be seen hunched over on the teakwood dining table surrounded by 2 large 3-wick candles and a battery operated yellow lamp. “Shit this doesn’t sound right…” she mutters to herself. She places her pen down and flicks through the pages of the medium sized leather-bound notebook. Skimming through the pages of writing on the cream coloured pages while massaging her temple, she sighs to herself and thinks.
“I’ve been working on these essays the whole day today and I’ve only completed 3? No, that won’t do… I still have 4 more to go!”
Now, while she knew that writing on her notebook was in fact, probably the least efficient way to map out, write and edit these essays, her laptop that she had originally intended on working on had died around 2 and a half hours ago. Only 30 minutes after the power had gone out. Deciding enough is enough, she closes the notebook and glances out of the window slightly perplexed at the lack of light outside.
“Oh yeah the sun set ages ago, that's why I lit these candles.”
She feels the emptiness in her stomach and rationalises that she should probably get something to eat. But knowing that the power had gone out, she understood that eating a filling meal entails leaving her house to buy food from any open food stalls or restaurants nearby. And so, quickly putting her stationary away and returning to her bedroom to arrange the items on the small table next to her bed, she fixes herself for the journey she would have to make outside.
—
The wind outside is forceful and pushes against her umbrella causing her to tense. But while the rain wets the hem of her shorts and her feet splash in her slippers along the footpath she isn’t bothered. Instead, her mind wanders to the work that she has to complete. She has finally reached the point in her life where she needs to worry about beginning her higher education. She had graduated in May of the year and had decided that she wanted to begin her formal education in the following year. This was to give herself a break from the strenuous academic cycle that she knew she would eventually have to drown in (again). But months have passed and it is now August. These essays that she has been working on are all for the universities that she intended to apply to. Still lost in thought she eventually reaches an outdoor food-court. While many of the stalls had closed for the night already, she looked at the only two stalls available; the drinks stall, and the stir-fry noodle stall. Sighing in slight disappointment at the rice stall not being open, she orders her meal and starts taking some plastic utensils while waiting.
After sitting down at one of the tables to wait, she opens her wallet and starts counting her money.
“$24.65. That's all I have left for this month… Shit. I thought I was careful this time.”
The girl had miscalculated her budget for the month and had eagerly spent a significant amount of her wage from her part-time job as a sales assistant on a new drawing tablet and various other art supplies. As the rest would be spent on other necessities like food, rent and public transport, she found herself with less than $30 for the remainder of this week till the next month began.
“Argh whatever, I’ll just have to live off of the dry food I’ve got stored in my pantry for a little while.”
As it was time to collect her food she receives the plastic bag of food and starts briskly making her way home, the coldness of the rain finally beginning to bother her. Suddenly, she feels a pit form in her stomach. All her life living in this country and she has never been bothered by the weather as much as at this very moment. The wind is unnaturally loud. The rain has changed from a classic downpour to relentless sheets of water. She looked around desperately for some shelter that she could rest in temporarily as she noticed that her vision was wavering and her limbs weakened.
“Damn I must be significantly more tired than I realised.”
After a few more steps she spots a bus stop with a covering and speeds up but her joints don’t feel right and the air around her seems to thicken in some sort of miasmic way. Moments later she feels her head spin and her limbs seem to dissolve into this new found atmosphere. In reflection of the strange new sensations that she feels, she lets go of both her umbrella and the bag with her dinner. And squeezes her eyes shut in a panic. Reality seems to warp and close in around her in ways she feels like she will never be able to explain.
And suddenly, she is gone. The street that she walked on no longer had the girl. It was like she never existed here, with the only record being the spilt bag of stir-fry left to be washed away by the wind on the sidewalk, and her umbrella which now skipped and drifted down the desolate road with the wind.