Just Like Heaven - Ethan Torchio

Elaine

A nice morning breeze blew through her hair. The wind was not too cold today, but also not too hot. It was perfect. A girl, who was now fixing her hair because of the wind, looked up smiling. The sky was blue, no cloud to be seen. Normally the weather in London wasn't this nice. It was raining almost every day. Well, at least it felt like that. The girl closed her apartment door and walked down a small alley.

¨Oh Elaine darling, are you still here?¨ A high-pitched, shrill voice exclaimed. The girl turned her head to see an old lady standing in a garden, looking surprised. 

¨Good morning miss Norton,¨ Elaine laughed. ¨How are you?¨

¨I thought you said you were leaving for France this week?¨ The old lady said, standing there confused with her laundry in her hands. 

¨No miss Norton, I told you I was moving to Italy, in six months. Remember? I told you for the third time last week when I was visiting you,¨ Elaine said politely. All of a sudden she and miss Norton heard barking, and a small dog sprinted towards them. Elaine squatted so she could reach the dog and it started playing with her coat.

¨Oh dear god!¨ The lady exclaimed while Elaine was petting the dog and playing with it. ¨That dog is going to be the death of me one day, always barking, and barking-¨

¨Well unfortunately for you,¨ Elaine pushed the little dog away because it was starting to chew on her boots ¨that's what dogs do miss Norton,¨ she got up smiling. ¨And unfortunately, I need to go to work right now.¨ 

¨Oh. Oh alright, bye dear! I'll tell you when I baked your favourite pie again!¨ She waved as Elaine walked down the street.

¨You really don't have to, miss! But I'll stop by, have a nice day!¨ Elaine waved back, laughing. She put on her headphones and started playing some music. Just like heaven. That was what the song was called, of course. The Cure blasted through her ears. She started walking on the beat, nodding along. Arriving at a small park, the girl peeked around to see if anyone was around. When she figured no one was, she started quietly humming along. That quietly humming transitioned into a soft singing within seconds, and the soft singing then turned into louder singing. She started moving along to the music, caught up in the moment. It was an unusual sight, to be honest. She was twirling around in her long coat between the bright green trees with the sun shining through them. It was a bumpy path, so how she didn't fall in her plateaus was a miracle, even for her. An unusual sight, but her happiness was contagious. Out of nowhere, Elaine heard a chuckle. She turned her head to see a girl sitting on a bench, smiling. 

¨Well you seem like you're in a good mood,¨ The girl was around Elaine's age and she had pretty blonde hair with bangs. Elaine laughed, a little ashamed that out of all the people who could've seen her, it was this really nice-looking girl who saw her. ¨It's nine am, couldn't be me.¨

¨Well,¨ Elaine answered, eyebrows raised and with a smile, ¨it's a-¨ She stopped herself mid-sentence. Nine a.m.  Did she just say nine a.m.? ¨Is it nine already?¨

¨Eh,¨ the girl raised an eyebrow, ¨yes, why?¨

¨Shit. Shit!¨ Elaine exclaimed, panicking. Her job starts at nine. Her job. She turned around and started running. Her hair was waving in her face, and as she tried to tuck it away, she made a wrong move which caused something to fall out of her pocket. Elaine didn't notice, of course. She was too worried about what might happen. She had worked every single day last week, from nine in the morning till twelve at night, sometimes even two a.m. It was ridiculous. It wasn't even allowed. She was supposed to work from nine till five, but her boss had other plans. That asshole. He really was. 

Elaine worked for a music company. You would think she had made a lot of music there, but she didn't. This company was really big, they could make anyone famous in a day, so when Elaine applied for a job there, she thought it would be easy. Surprise, it wasn't. She was told by the boss himself that if she went three days without disappointing him, he would help her produce music. Well, that turned out to be a lot harder than Elaine thought it would be. Yesterday only she had to have a song fully written, which sounds easy, but I promise you it's not when your boss comes in every ten seconds to tell you what you did wrong. Elaine, fix this, Elaine, fix that. Even when she did nothing wrong. It's really sad to finally start working at the company you've always dreamt of, just for people to use you as their, how should you call it, maid.

After a few minutes of running, Elaine had arrived. For such a big company, the building she worked in was relatively tiny. She opened the big red door and stormed into the office, just to see her boss already standing there, waiting for her. She looked at him with a panicked look in her eyes. ¨Sir, I can explain, I just-¨