The Trigger

- Chapter 1 -

September 28th, 1998

I was late as hell...

I freaked out when I saw my alarm which read, "6:30 AM". I throw back the covers with loud curses streaming my mouth and rush to the bathroom to shower. I was supposed to start work at 7:30 and had a solid 30 minute drive to where I worked. I rush to the shower tearing off my clothes haphazardly. In the process of throwing my clothing everywhere, I hopped in freezing cold water that took its sweet time to slowly turn to a lukewarm. With chattering teeth, I cursed once more as goosebumps scattered across my once soft skin and chills scurried down and up my spine, shaking my limbs as I tried to grasp at any tiny bit of warmth.

I just moved to Raccoon City with much protest, to me it seemed utterly boring, it was complete foreign land to me, plus their mascot ads were annoying. I lived in a good sized city with enough friends, there were plenty of cool hangout spots and tons to do, to me Raccoon City looked drearily monotonous to the core, trust me, I wouldn't be here unless something good was gonna come out of it, and for me it was money. A quite posh and overly grand skyscraper of an office complex belonging to Umbrella Corporations was hiring people with skills that will pander to them without question, the high price they were willing to pay could almost be labeled as hush money if they were guilty of a scheme to cover. I only took the job due to my dad's insistent pushing to make me get the job I caved in and signed up. He keeps saying it will be good for me to flex my math skills in their accounting department, and due to my aptitude to business economics, I should be hired on to help work their money books. Only being 21 and in college for just a few years, I quickly climbed to the top of all my classes except one fateful subject . . . Science. You assume since science is heavily dependent on math skills I would be at least average on the execution of it, but I have nearly burnt down my school . . . twice.

I snatch the shampoo bottle halfway into its fall from the shelf due to my awkward flailing of my limbs in and effort to quickly grab my body wash and loofa from the same shelf. Dousing my head in shampoo, I scrub my scalp quickly and rinse while blindly reaching for where I am sure I put my conditioner at failing to grasp it, instead grasp air. Trying to get soap out of my eyes, I spot the bottle on the other side of the shelf where my body wash was. I sigh in frustration, I need to get moving or I could lose a job I never started. If only I wasn't such a slut for sleep.

I finishing washing my hair and scrubbing my skin clean. I wish I could linger in the warm cozy shower but I need money to keep the water warm. I lazily groan as I force myself out of the shower and grab a small towel for my hair, and one to dry off. I use my wet feet as a slip n' slide to glide into my kitchen like a ballerina with the legs of a newborn foal.

I yank open the cabinets and throw a box of cereal on the counter, and pull out a plastic bowl, tossing it hard on the counter behind me, thanking the Lord above I didn't have porcelain dishware, otherwise I'd be cleaning up broken fragments that would resemble my sanity in my current moment. I look into the fridge, cursing even more when I realize there is no normal milk, only chocolate milk.

"Screw it" I murmur. I rip off the cap of the bottle and set it down as I dump an unhealthy amount of cereal into my bowl, and drown it in the sweet nectar of choccy milk. Snatching a spoon from the dish rack, I run like maniac balancing my cereal as I bolt over to my room. In between bites of my poor breakfast, I start putting on makeup as best as I can. Finishing my blush, I hear my doorbell ring.

"Coming!" I yell as I set my food down on the counter, running to check the peek-hole. I hope I didn't piss her off with my clamorous symphony of chaos that I called my morning schedule.

"Jess! I'm so sorry if I'm loud, I'm running late-" I try to explain myself breathlessly.

She holds up a hand to stop my excuse, "Hun, let me help ya"