Cursed Contract

Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1
The First Encounter

I stood under the shade of a tin-roofed bus stop, soaking wet. From the looks of it, one would know that this spot had been neglected for years because of the holes on the roof. The wet metal bench was not an exemption. The flaky rusts ate almost half of it. It had a weird lingering smell. I felt like I could taste it in my mouth. I moved to the right side, enough to fit my body to the part where no water, that passed through the holes, would fall directly on me. I also needed to dry my clothes a bit to avoid catching a cold.

I sneezed. "Oh yeah. This is what I was thinking about."

My waterproof wrist watch struck 8:33 in the morning. Earlier, I remembered checking the weather app on my phone for today's updates and it didn't say that it would rain this hard today. I should have just given it no stars at all and left a negative review instead of a perfect 5 out of 5 rating. They should just take down that faulty app.

"Of all the days that I could possibly forget bringing my umbrella, why did it have to be today? Tsk!" I whispered to myself as I tried to squeeze and twist the hem of my shirt to wrench out as much rainwater as possible.

My phone, wrapped securely with transparent plastic bag which I desperately asked for at a pharmacy I passed by along the way, had been vibrating endlessly inside my tote bag. People would think I'm a famous person for receiving a lot of messages from people who care deeply for me but no. All of these phone beeps were either from the consecutive alarms that were set last night with five-minute intervals which I didn't even bother turning off since four o'clock this morning, the updates and reminders from the National Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC), the notifications of all applications that needed updates or I recently subscribed to, or a text message informing me that my phone number's subscription to unlimited text messaging service which I hadn't even used to its full extent had already expired.

I looked at my reflection from the glass window across the street and my shoulder fell after seeing how crumpled my outfit looked like now. I spent a lot of my time ironing this cropped polo top last night. My high-waist denim jeans became heavier now that it's dripping wet. My white pumps turned brown because of the mud splashes. What could be more annoying than ruining the OOTD I put so much thought into?

"I could already imagine how messed up my day could get right now," I started my monologue, "Is the universe testing my patience or does it just want me to give up with my life? I just can't take this anymore."

It looked like the rain is far from stopping anytime soon. I was already so late for my final exams and I just missed the 8:30 am bus. I remembered the call from the coffee shop where I applied for a job as a weekend part-timer about my interview scheduled at 10 am today. Unfortunately, I had to wait for 30 minutes plus the time it would take to reach the university, which is 14 songs away from here. As weird as it might sound but I preferred measuring distance by the length of music playlists. I always love to create special playlists for different destinations. That way, I won't feel bored thinking of how long I have to travel. It always helps me forget my mind-controlled motion sickness.

"Oh, shoot!" My palm landed on my forehead after realizing that I forgot to bring my earphones.

I let out an exasperated sigh. The day just started but I am already exhausted. No, exhausted was an understatement. I could scan all the thesaurus books around the world all day to look for the right adjective to describe my everyday life, but I would still not find the exact words to say.

As if the universe had heard me complain that so suddenly, a garbage truck passed right in front of me, with tires so muddy, about to splash my whole body with filthy water. It's like everything was in slow motion and all the distressing situations I had been through flashed before my eyes...