Chapter Text
This was, by no means, a “normal” day, no matter how you put it. The first thing that happened was me waking up to my dog barking at the back door of my apartment. Looking out the curtains, I saw that the research facility a couple blocks away exploding in a bright light. I couldn’t see for a good ten minutes after, and the windows shattered from the shockwave. Gretta, my dog, was cowering on the floor with her paws over her ears whimpering. I tried to comfort her and called into work.
“Hey Amanda, it’s me. Yeah, sorry I can’t come into work today. Yeah, the research facility near my house exploded. I’m fine, but it blew out all my windows. I’ll have to call the landlord to get them fixed. Thank you so much for understanding. Bye.”
With a sigh, I hung up. Looking over to Gretta, I gently pet her between the ears. That calmed her down enough for me to stand up and walk over to my calendar. I phoned the landlord to tell her what happened. Sighing, I poured myself a cup of coffee, groaning at the amount of broken glass on the floor. Grabbing a broom, I swept up the worst of it. Thank God I got the carpet replaced last spring. I nearly jumped out of my skin when my phone started ringing in my back pocket. With a trembling hand, I picked it up.
“He-Hello? Oh! Hey Gwen, how are you? I'm fine, my apartment windows got blown in from the explosion though. Yeah. Where are you? Oh just give me a sec somebody's at the door.” I put the phone down and answered the door. Gwen’s smiling face beamed down on me. She was a tall woman with dyed blue hair. She wore leggings and a skirt, with a button-up blouse that was form-fitting. “Guinevere! Oh wow you weren't kidding when you said you were close. Come in! Sorry for the mess, I was just cleaning.”
“Don't sweat it. I came to see if you were ok!” She removed her black runners and stepped inside. “Also, the news is out front. How their sources get scoops so fast, I will never know. I think you should go talk to them though.” She practically shoved me out the door. “Go! I'll stay here with Gretta. You got this girl!” I gave her a weak smile and walked down to the front of the building. Surely enough, a reporter was outside, interviewing the landlord. He was tall, handsome and confident. I suddenly felt embarrassed to still be in my tank top and shorts.
“Ah, you must be Genevieve! So wonderful to meet you! My name is Marius, may I get a quick interview?” He held out his hand, and I just stared and nodded. “So, tell me. What were you doing when the factory exploded?”
“I was sleeping at the time. Gretta, my dog, was barking and it woke me up just before the explosion.”
“So I see. So you can see the factory from your window, correct? Could you see what happened?”
“No, all I saw was a blinding white light and then all of my windows were broken.”
“Ah yes, your windows. Are you sure it was the explosion that caused them to break? According to the landlord, there wasn’t any other damage that severe.”
“What do you mean, not as severe? The shock wave should have broken every bit of glassware in the area.” I couldn’t believe it. It was supposed to be a normal day. All I wanted to do now was sleep, far away from prying eyes and judgemental voices.
“That’s what I mean. By our physics, that should have happened. But it only happened to you. Isn’t that peculiar?” I started to feel dizzy. This couldn’t be happening, not today. Not on the anniversary. I think my distress showed on my face, because his face fell and he looked concerned. “I didn’t mean- oh, I’m such an idiot. Sorry, I’ll leave you alone now.” Marius awkwardly walked away, and I went back inside.
Plopping down in my reading chair, I groaned loudly. Gwen poked her head out of the kitchen. “Hey, is everything alright? Did that reporter say something to upset you? If he did I’ll-” She flexed her arm intimidatingly.
“That isn’t necessary. And how did you know the reporter was a he? Oh right, you were outside. I found out that only my house was severely affected by the blast, that’s all. Marius, the reporter, felt really bad about it. I just left, because I didn’t want to be around a bunch of strangers and reporters.” I stretched out sideways in the chair. “Ugh, why did it have to be just my apartment? It’s not fair.”
“Hate to break it to you Evie, but life isn’t fair. Say, did you see the news yesterday? There was that story about the peace conference the other day.” She placed a plate down on the end table, with delicious-looking spaghetti. Damn, that woman could cook.
“Actually, yeah I did. That was the Monster conference, wasn’t it? I seem to remember something about the opening of the new villa specially equipped for monsters. Wasn’t their King talking to reporters about it?” I stopped to take a bite of the pasta. It was like a miniature explosion of flavour, each bite better than the last.
“I'm just glad that it's going as well as it is for them. The monsters seem like they've been through a lot. You know, have you ever thought about visiting one of the monster settlements?” Gwen gestured a spatula in my direction. “I wonder if it's any different than human neighborhoods. Either way-” she shrugged, putting her own plate down, “I'm just glad they can finally expand.”
I nodded. Between bites, I wondered how she could care so much for people so different, without really knowing them. Personally, I didn't have an opinion on the monster situation, but it still made me curious. “How long has it been now? Since the monsters emerged from Ebott. I've been so busy I guess I didn't notice….” I sighed, looking at my lack of windows. I'd have to cover them before too much longer, because the repairman wasn't coming for another few hours. I groaned loudly, flopping sideways in the oversized recliner.
“You alright, Evie? You look tired. If you're worried about your windows, I can help you cover them. Do you have enough tape and garbage bags?” Gwen looked at me with genuine concern in her eye. I groaned again, muttering about going to the store. “Don't worry about it, I can go pick some up. Will you be ok until I get back?” I waved my arm to reassure her, and she left.
Stretching, I walked down the hallway to the bathroom. I could have cried at the sight of my floor-length mirror still being intact. That thing was the only thing left of my Father, and it was expensive. Looking at my appearance, I realized I did look like crap. My hair was disheveled and messy, and my shirt was wrinkled and stained. I had minor cuts and bruises all over my legs and my feet were filthy.
I undressed and got into the shower, letting the water wash over my tired body. The hot water helped me clear my head, and I remembered my discarded coffee sitting on the kitchen counter. After I cleaned up, I headed back to my room and got changed. Sitting down in my reading chair, I finished my coffee. Setting the mug down on the coffee table, I settled down under a blanket. With the sun’s heat warming me, I fell asleep.