The Terrible Twelve

Chapter 2: The Typical Day

That day started off just like any other day. Viridian got up when her alarm clock went off and fed her animals before feeding herself cereal. She cleaned up and then let both of our animals outside so they could do their business while she did hers. She took a shower and washed her hair before braiding it down her back and blow-drying it. She walked into her closet and took of her pajamas off and neatly folded them. She set them on the chair that was right inside the door. She chose a simple dress and sweater combo and then went to her bed to get her sandals from underneath.

When she was done, she grabbed an apron and her purse before getting Phoenix from outside and letting in Shadow. She hooked Phoenix up to his harness and then waited for the honking sound the came ever morning that she had work. When she got the job working as a massage therapist in the fancy spa, she had set up a carpool so that she could get to work on time. Public transportation wasn't always dependable.

When her friend arrived, Phoenix led her to the front door and she opened and closed it behind her. Phoenix led her forward until she could feel the side of the car. She heard the window slide open, "Hey Sweetie, how are you this morning?"

Viridian opened the back door of the truck and let Phoenix hop in before she climbed in herself. "I'm doing just fine. How about you?"

"Pretty good. I did some yoga this morning and it really opened up my chi." She listened to her friend talk about things that she had no interest or knowledge about. But she smiled and nodded anyway, her dark sunglasses hiding her soft brown eyes.

They arrived at work half an hour later and Viridian made her way through the back door and to the employee locker room. Viridian worked at Empire Spa, a famous spa resort in the middle of Los Angeles. Hundreds of people were turned down every day for appointments and sometimes the whole place was rented out for a celebrity that needed a massage.

Viridian was a massage therapist with her own personal room. She had taken a six weeks course in massage therapy before she'd moved down here in preparation and the owners of the spa had loved her. They had said something about loving the idea of a blind masseuse. It didn't matter to her, as long as she got the job.

She worked almost every day and had to wear a scratchy apron but the pay was good and the people were really nice to her. The customers had incredibly bad attitudes sometimes and drove Viridian up the wall but if she stayed silent and accepted their nasty words, they left her decent tips. Apparently she even got to work on celebrities but they never talked and she never said anything so the other workers could have been lying to her. She was too afraid to ask and she didn't want them to laugh at her behind her back.

After storing her things and pulling on her apron she removed her sunglasses and had Phoenix lead her towards her room. She opened the first door on the left and felt her away along the room. She flipped the light switch on and set everything up the way she liked it.

She had help decorating it the way she wanted and the energy felt really good to her. There were candles all over the place that she had help lighting and there were tapestries on the wall that were in soothing colors. She kept the lights dim mostly and had the temperature close to hot but it was better for the customer to sweat while they received a massage. It helped cleanse the body and spirit of negative energy. She waited patiently until someone knocked on her door. Phoenix raised his head off the floor as she moved towards the door.

"You need your candles lit?" It was Jacob.

Viridian laughed as she opened the door and let Jacob inside. Jacob was another employee at the spa. He usually was used as a physical therapist but sometimes he helped with the messages. A couple of times a week he would be the one to help Viridian with her candles.