Zyla The True Lioness

Sugar to Shit

Zyla❤️
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"Best friend! Best friend!" Erica yells, running into my bathroom to show me the magazine she's holding.

"I'm naked, E." I yell back, knowing she doesn't care or even know what personal space is.

"I see you naked all the time, look," she says, snatching open my shower curtain and holding the magazine for me to see without getting it wet.

"That's because you do stuff like this. Now get out- wait! Smart-Fit made Global Tech Monthly's top five on the rise?!" I yell in disbelief. It took me six months to make something of the mess they created, and I did it.

I'm a professional fixer, a solutionist. When people have problems, they hire me to solve them. Normally, I do rare finds, but this was the first rebranding contract. I went through every approved inventory list they had, reviewed everyone's resume and performance record to create a new company. Smart-fit once shipped low-grade parts to bigger supply chains. Now, they sell and produce Smart House appliances. I found a local chemical and material warehouse who prides itself on the quality of its materials. Utilized the geniuses they had stocking boxes and set them free to create.

"And guess what?" Erica bounces with excitement

"No! Don't tell me. It's finished already?" I shriek

"Yes!" Erica screams, pulling out a copy of Architects Desire Designs magazine. Show casing the new Smart-Fit building that she designed.

"You know what this means right?"

"We have to celebrate. Hurry up and get out the shower. I'll get the shot glasses," Erica runs out of the bathroom.

I turn off the shower, wrap myself in a towel and zone out into the distance. We were just two grip sock girlies with a dream, and they are all coming true. We planned to be emancipated before we turned 17 and we were. Got our first apartment in the boonies, and we have been unstoppable since. I knew it was possible but seeing it play out is soul healing. To me, life was just a place I was forced to exist in and now I'm living in it. Growing in it.

My upbringing was so horrific, I never imagined I'd make it to 16 let alone 22. I was raised in a torture house, run by two of the most sadistic individuals I've ever known to exist. To this day, I'm still not sure how I made it out. All I remember is waking up in the woods and then in the hospital. I was there for about six months before being transferred to the Chambliss Youth Institute.

That's where I met Erica. She was in a bad car accident that claimed lives of both of her parents and placed her in a coma. Not wanting or knowing how to live without them. When she woke up and found out what happened she completely shut down. Stopped talking and eating. Naturally, she was given a 72-hour hold but that turned into a transfer and six months when they were forced to tube feed her.

One day she accidentally bumped me in the hall, I pushed her, and she called me a bitch. That was the first time she had spoken in two months. For a week every time we saw each other she would call me a bitch and I would return the favor. Until one day in group therapy Dr. Ki asked us why we didn't like each other, we both laughed and said, "she's the only one I do like." And the rest is history.

"You are 2 shots behind," Erica says as I walk into the living room.

"No, I'm not, I'm right on time" I reply, quickly downing the pre-poured shots on the table.

"We should go out. This won't do it" Erica replies pouring more shots.

"Let's do it." I agree, as we take our first shot together.