Doomed to Fail

First Impressions

Lefu lay sick and dying in her bed. She coughed up blood and her breathing was labored. She was in Japan, waiting to die. Lefu closed her eyes and opened them to a shining ball of light at the foot of her bed. A melody sang into her mind and she nodded in consent, letting out her last breath. The light enveloped her as she passed. Lefu's eyes snapped opened and gasped out a deep breath. She sat up quickly and walked away. Once outside, wings emerged from her back and she flew out into the night.

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"You sound like a promising candidate. I'll team you up with Clark Kent to see how you do in the field. Writing articles in Japan is different from the US of A. You'll see," the editor said with a laugh. Lefu smiled and adjusted her thick black rimmed glasses, her dark blue eyes peeking out from behind contacts to hide their strange yellow and silver blue eye colors. Lefu stood up to shake the editor's hand as he led her out of his office and towards Clark's empty desk.

"You two will be sharing desks. He should get back from lunch soon so just hang around." The editor smiled and patted Lefu on her shoulder before leaving. Lefu laughed and sat down in the chair beside the desk. Her hair was pulled into a harsh bun and she even went so far to hide her figure behind unflattering clothes with dull colors. It was the perfect disguise for her nightly activities. Lefu swung her feet to and fro, observing her new place of work. It was like any other newspaper room, rows of desk messily filled with various office supplies and papers. Lefu sighed and sunk back into her chair twiddling her thumbs. She looked up when a tall man blocked the sun from her.

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" The man's voice was deep yet it was like he purposely made the tone lighter. Lefu stumbled as she stood up, rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment.

"You must be Clark Kent. I'm the new reporter that's transferring over from Japan. It's nice to meet you," she said, her melodious voice making Clark's eyes widen in surprise. He smoothly smiled and held his hand out for a handshake. She took it and grasped it firmly, trying not to grasp too hard as to bring suspicion towards her strength.

"It's nice to meet you. The editor told me about you working with me. In all honesty, I didn't expect you to be in town until tomorrow," he admitted. Lefu chuckled and shook her head.

"I'm sorry. There was a canceled flight and I came early. I did call ahead but you were already out on lunch," she said with a smile. Clark motioned for her to sit back down and looked her over. Lefu felt smug, confident that she looked exactly how he saw her, a young introverted clumsy woman.

"Yes, what did you say your name was again? I couldn't recall," he said apologetically. Lefu shrugged.

"It's ok. My name is unusual. My name is Lefu Azriel. Please, just call me Lefu," Lefu lied. Clark smiled kindly, his eyes seeming to shine in mirth.

"Lefu, what a pretty name. I read some of your stories that you've written in Japan. It's a shame that all of your stories are so tragic," he commented. Lefu huffed involuntarily; Clark rose an eyebrow in question.

"Ah, sorry," Lefu rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment, avoiding his eyes, "There are approximately 6,446,131,400 people on the planet, and the death rate was approximately 8.78 deaths per 1,000 people a year. That works out to roughly 56,597,034 people leaving us every year. That's about a 155,000 a day. I feel like that number deserves a little attention. Don't you?" Lefu smiled up at Clark. His light blue eyes flashed but he smiled in return.

"You're quite the math wiz aren't you? I wonder what else you could do. I tend to focus my articles on crime instead of death. When working with me, we can interchange our articles and see how that goes. How fast can you type?" he asked. Lefu pouted, thinking to herself.