The Inauspicious Forest

Chapter One: ColdWell

 Warning: Mild Language And Smoking

The year was 2010, Carmen Luise was taking Botany at Coldwell University and had been doing so for two years. The experience was nothing short of a monotonous fever dream. She scarcely socialized with her peers, she neglected to converse and was incapable of promising to do so. She was different in those ways. Teaching yourself to go ahead and detach yourself from a group of people because you're different, is a skill. Our instinct is to change, to adapt. To act like these people. Though, Carmen knew what they were like; for example. Sorority girls, the ones with a caving self-image and a plastic act. Why would someone change for that? She always had the drive to achieve. Seeing these girls get their way into some of the state's best colleges because of daddies' money, yeah. That was infuriating. She couldn't count the number of scholarships she applied to, to only pay for a small sliver of the tuition. She strived to be a sort of hierarchy. Some prime examples: Valedictorian, Honor Society, and AP classes throughout high school.

Carmen was a charming and dominant woman. She was tall, had black sleek shoulder-length hair, green eyes, and an overall appealing aura. She was kind, caring, and very smart. Her mother taught her to never give up, to strive, to compete. Well, she did that.. but the thing was, she had no sense of when to take a break. She overworked herself to impress her mom but she still wasn't proud. Carmen never understood why that was.

She made a single loyal friend. This being the smart, kind and loyal, Sabrina. She was tall, with blonde fluffy hair and a concerning rate of rebellion emanating off her. Which was not her mental Feng-Shui. They had been friends since freshman year of high school, they were the same people. I mean, come on. When you and someone have the same outlook on associating with sorority girls. It's destiny.

The campus had an overview of the mountains. For perspective, the University was at such a high altitude that you could look out the windows some days and see clouds. This was a more than odd feeling. To Carmen, it felt suffocating. Besides the point, there was a small town that had a few inhabitants miles down the road. That was why Carmen missed home so dearly. It was like she was being teased and tormented. When she was home she had friends, a nice house, and a quiet life, she would go get coffee with her mom and thrift with friends. This was a normal occasion, now she was a broke college student with no social life and crippling depression. She hated change but she needed it so dearly.

Carmen opened her eyes, the sun beamed in through her peripherals. She groaned in discomfort. Staring blankly into her ceiling was all she felt like doing, but yet she arose from her bed and slid on a shirt. It was another day, yet it wasn't different. She couldn't use sleep as her escape anymore, being that it wasn't her that was tired. But her poor soul. Carmen picked up her bags and walked out of the silent dormitory and walked to the highly accompanied parking deck. She hit the unlock button and sent a signal out to her gray Nissan Altima. The air was painfully cold, she could feel her throat tighten up with each breath. She hopped into her car and drove down the concrete spiral decline and drove a few minutes down the road. She pulled into a small parking lot and put her car abruptly in park and turned the key till the hums of the engine silenced. Carmen grabbed an apron with her name plastered on it from the back of her trash-filled car. Another day in an underpaying prison. She had come to terms with the underlying fact that her entire life had become overpriced and underpaid. An active participant  in this was, Molly' Family Diner. She swung open the glass doors and was welcomed by her co-worker.

She approached the overpacked bulletin board.

"Dishes and tables"

That was her duty for the day. She sighed in regret. Why did I come to work today? She thought to herself. Carmen went behind the counter and grabbed the order sheet. It was a small leather book that she decorated with stickers and a large array of small messages. She used things like those stickers for instance to make her situation less mundane.