we came from the moon

Chapter 1

The day had certainly started as it meant to go on. I managed to fall back to sleep after breakfast, being so tired it was unbearable. After eating half of my cereal (heartbreak had sucked my appetite dry) I'd placed my bowl on the floor and rested my head on the sofa. It was only supposed to be for a moment. More fool me for thinking it would be okay to take a minute to myself. Yeah right.

Almost an hour later, I awoke to the noise of Aoife, my smelly Staffordshire Bull Terrier, licking the milk dregs from my bowl with a disgusting slopping sound. I tried to name her elegantly, but elegant she was not. Most of the time we called her Teefuh, as her lip so often got stuck on her teeth, and for her tendency to thieve socks.

"Teefuh, you thiefa." I scolded half-heartedly, sweeping the bowl away and wincing at the phrase. It was something Dante used to say.

Quickly depositing my bowl into the sink and glancing at the kitchen clock, I realised I was going to have to brush my teeth and go. It wasn't like there was a concealer powerful enough to disguise my exhaustion anyway. It was imprinted on my face like a permanent sleep mark. You could see it in the way I moved and the way I held myself. I stank of post breakup depression.

My job was a dead end but it paid just about enough. I was working as a Sales Assistant at EES Electrical Supplies. The days were filled with purchase order emails and phone calls with grumpy old men who barked product codes down my ear condescendingly. Admittedly, I had no idea what the codes stood for, but still, they were so dramatic. You could almost feel their contempt radiate through the phone, enraged by the fact I couldn't tell them whether a DC16R or DC24C (whatever the things were called) was better for his project. I'd pass the call to my manager, Charlie, who would look equally as annoyed with me, despite his lack of training being the cause. As you can imagine, it's not really a place you want to be when you're feeling down. Or ever, as a matter of fact.

Luckily, that day, the phone lines were quiet. I'd been there for hours but only had two email orders processed. I couldn't concentrate for the life of me and spent most of the shift clicking on random things whilst I drowned in my own thoughts. Occasionally, I snook a look at Charlie, guiltily. He was always engrossed in his phone, which made me feel a little better. That was definitely woman-related rather than work-related. I resisted the urge to whip my own phone out. I'd already checked it three times in the past hour. There were no notifications.

The office was near silent, bar the tapping of Christine and Robert's keyboards. I looked around it's plain interior in total boredom, searching for something to focus on. The building could've existed in either 1980 or 2040, with its basic blue carpet tiles and scuffed white walls. And it did feel like a time warp in the office as the hours dragged on. Rusted grey filing cabinets stood in the far corner like mountains that had been there since the beginning of time. Beside them sat Robert, who also looked like he'd been there since the beginning of time. His yellowing shoulder length white hair fell into his face as he concentrated on his computer like the good employee he was. The best actually, but this wasn't recognised, he was practically a part of the furniture. He went largely unnoticed other than an occasional cringe from staff at his out of touch jokes.

I didn't dare to look in Christine's direction. It was never a good idea to encourage her attention on me. I knew I was supposed to be working, but I just couldn't bring myself to tap meaningless codes into my computer any longer. It was going to cause me problems later when she dropped me in it. I could just imagine her, bragging on about how many purchase orders she'd done pridefully, as she hints that somebody isn't pulling their load. I.e. me. God, I couldn't stand the way people were happy here. Happy in this job. I needed to get out. 

DLANG DLANG DO DO DLANG

I almost didn't react to the noise that ripped through the silence, only jumping to attention once I realised all eyes were on me. Clumsily, I pulled my phone out of my bag as though it were a hot potato.

Dante is calling...

My stomach dropped and my hands began to shake with adrenaline.

"I need to take this." I glanced at Charlie, already halfway to the office door.

Charlie gave a curt nod. This annoyed him, but on a quiet day like this, he couldn't give me a reason not to take the call.

I wrenched the office door open and clicked answer as I leapt down the steps to the warehouse in search of a private spot.

"Hello." I said, as normally as I could manage.

"I need my stuff." Came a cold voice.

"Okay..." I said quietly, trying to keep my voice steady.

"Can you drop it off?" Dante asked, businesslike.

An annoyance stirred within me. "No. I can't."

"Alright, leave it outside then." He said. "I'll get it at 6."

"Dante..." I started. The call end tone beeped.

I wanted to cry and shout and scream. He had nothing else to say?? The call had lasted just 30 seconds and I was embarrassed by that, even in my own company. There was no chance I was going back up to the office when the brave face I'd put on was so ready to crack. If Christine was to make one of her digs, I might've exploded, either into tears or worse... God forbid I might say something I mean. I sat down on a slightly damp crate and stared at my grown out acrylic nails. The pink of my natural nail had emerged, pushing away the white painted plastic that hung on for dear life. They looked as ridiculous as I felt. Tears pricked in my eyes and I attempted to swallow them away desperately. Just make it through the day, I told myself.

The store manager could be heard bustling around, picking an order, and humming to himself contently. Upon the approach of his footsteps, I hurried from my hiding spot to the stairs, avoiding human contact before it was required of me. I stood awkwardly on the steps, checking the time on my phone and wondering whether it'd been an appropriate amount of time for an 'important' phone-call. In immediate answer to my question, the office door creaked open. Time up. Back to work.

Charlie's face popped around the corner like a meerkat on the alert.

"All okay?" He asked, in a tone that told me he was more concerned about my absence than my personal issues.

"Yep. Sorted." I placed a foot onto the next step, hinting that he should let me pass.

"Good." He smiled at me, continuing down the stairs on a false task, though he was obviously checking up on me.

I rolled my eyes and carried on my way back to boredom.