Shattered Heart's Plea

Chapter 01: New Life

Chapter 01: New Life

***

It grew colder. Darker. Lonelier. Zoe was blinded by darkness as she opened her eyes, but it did not deceive her. She knew it was just a dream. A terrible dream that marked the start of her day, a nightmare that haunted her, lurking in the back of her mind, with an icy sensation that ran down her spine. Frozen and alone, she thought herself to be.

She gasped for breath, struggling to balance what little oxygen she had left.

"Zoe," a voice called out.

A voice she knew would lead her out of the terrible darkness that enveloped her. The icy sting that clung to her skin melted, slowly replaced by scorching, burning heat. Her chest spasmed as she breathed in and out. Tiny droplets of sweat appeared on her forehead as she forced herself to run towards the voice, reaching for whatever hope she was clinging to.

With each echo of the voice in her ears, she became more aware of her surroundings. But the darkness remained blinding as if she were plunging headfirst into an abyss.

"Zoe!"

She gasped as air rushed into her lungs, her nose picking up the minty, fresh scent of the cold air from the central air conditioning unit in her office. Her fingers twitched, and she jumped, finding herself having fallen asleep on top of dozens of papers scattered across her desk.

She gripped her sternum as her chest kept spasming, getting used to the sudden gush of oxygen in her lungs. Her eyes cautiously looked around and found Engineer Evans looking down at her, covering the bright bulb at the center of her office ceiling.

"Evans," she said with a pant. "Do you need something? Is there something wrong?"

Zoe gathered the scattered papers on her table and meticulously arranged them in a clean pile at the corner, clearing the table and gesturing the chair in front of her table to Engineer Evans. She looked up when he did not sit down. His eyes stared at her unwaveringly and concerned.

"Uh, no. I was just about to leave the office," he said, pointing at the door of her office. "I just—brought the papers you asked me to review and sign." His voice wavered as he studied her. "Zoe–Architect Hernandéz, are you alright?" he finally asked.

"Huh?" her eyes flickered momentarily before masking her expression. "Of course. Are these all of the papers?" she asked and grabbed the files from his hand. "You may go now. Thank you, Engineer Evans."

She heard the tapping of Engineer Evans' leather shoes on the tiles of her office floor, venturing further away from her line of hearing. She looked up from the file and stared at the double, mahogany doors of her office. Her fingers twitched, her grip wavering from the file, gently setting it on top of the table as her hand trembled slightly.

Under the mess on her desk, there was a round, silver button that when pressed a soft buzzing sound ring. It is a pager that calls out to Zoe's secretary. She wavered for a moment, her index softly resting on the button. As if waiting for the clock to stop ticking, she waited and waited before deciding to put pressure on the button. A minute later, her secretary entered her office.

"You paged for me, Architect Hernandéz?" A middle-aged woman, at least five years older than her, entered the office holding a pen and a wooden clipboard.

"Rory," Zoe called on the woman and handed her a folder. "These contain the final reports on the case study for Imperial Valor's headquarters expansion. Deliver this to Attorney Hernandéz. Immediately."

Rory politely grabbed the folder from Zoe's hand and looked at her, hesitating about something.

"What is it?" Zoe asked.