Achilles

Chapter 2 - The start

Dead end.

That's where I felt I was at, one hell of a dead end. How I ended up here, I wasn't quite sure. I once had ambitions, I had dreams but somewhere along the lines they slipped right out from underneath me.

Maybe I should've tried harder, but then maybe working at this quaint little office was all I was good enough for.

"Callie"

Surely I could've been more.

"Callie, god damn it!"

The burning sensation that spread through my hand brought me back to reality. I quickly noted the spilled liquid that had flowed over the edges of the mug and over both the worktop and my hand.

"What the hell, girl are you insane?"

The panicked Viola stood by my side examining the slightly burnt flesh on my hand.

"shit" I murmured

My zoning out was becoming too much, I had been dealing with it but Viola had been wanting me to seek some sort of help for a while. Perhaps she was right.

"Are you alright? here, put it under the cold tap"

She directed my hand under the cold running water. The burn subsided almost straight away.

"I'm such an idiot" I tried to joke

"This isn't funny Callie, you're hurt"

She shook her head in disappointment. I had met Viola almost a year ago when I joined this office. She's a journalist, a good one too. I thought it was a shame she worked for a crappy news office like this one. She was much better than this place.

"You should go home, you can't exactly do much filing with you're hand like that"

"I'm fine-"

"No Callie, listen to me. Pop to the pharmacist on the way home and get some burn gel, okay?"

Viola was a good friend, in fact she was my best friend. Much to her approval I agreed to go home and the smile that appeared on her face when I nodded clarified that I made the right choice.

I listened to what she had told me and decided to stop by the pharmacy. I knew Viola would be checking up on me later and I didn't like letting people down.

I walked through the stacked up isles until I found what I needed. I began looking at the prices, the cheaper the item, the better for me. I wasn't exactly rolling in cash.

The rush of air that hit me as a hand lunged in front of me grabbing bandages caught my attention. More specifically the spots of blood that sat on the skin of the hand caught my attention.

I followed the length of the arm until I found a body and then I looked up at the face.  The furrowed brows, the pointed nose, the plump lips and slight stubble. He was beautiful.

"What? you're in the way and taking too long, some of us are in a rush"

Usually this type of rudeness would've offended me since it's uncalled for but staring at this man, I could only think that the harshness in his tone rather suited his exterior.

"sorry" I whispered while stepping back slightly to offer him some space.

He didn't even mutter a thanks. He just continued grabbing bandages and some stitch kits.

As he lifted his arm, the jacket that he was wearing moved allowing me the view of the red stained shirt underneath.

"That's a lot of blood" I accidently spoke

I watched as his body froze before he slowly turned his head towards me. This was the first time he had properly looked at me. His eyes slowly moved over each feature of my face making me slightly nervous.

"I'm clumsy" he spoke

His eyes dropped down to the packaged burn gel that I was clutching in my burnt hand.

"Looks like you are too" he continued.

I couldn't bring myself to say anything back, not that it mattered. I wouldn't have had the chance since he walked away immediately after finishing his sentence.

"Nice to meet you too" I huffed