No Hope In Dawn

Chapter 1: The Shared Nightmare, part 1

Ever notice how in some fast-food restaurants, usually the ones located near the richer areas, the smell is so appetizing that just a whiff will make your stomach forget anything you just fed it. Unfortunately, that is not where Lysandra is right now. She is walking the busy streets of a not-so-rich district, to put it lightly. The street is crowded, even more now she thought, since it's a weekend. Pedestrians pour out even to the middle of the road, where every now and then, some cars drive slowly, parting the sea of people. The once appetizing smell of hot gravy, sizzling burgers, brewed coffee, crisp fries, and various fried food, is replaced with their stale counterparts, mixing with sweat, trash, and smoke from both cars and future cancer patients. I don't think anyone would be lying if they said they could actually smell the poverty.

Lysandra doesn't mind the smell that much. She is too busy keeping her belongings safe from the hands that are guided by their stomachs. The crowd is so diverse that you could put anyone there, and they wouldn't be out of place. There are students on their way home, vendors of various goods, wives and husbands who just finished shopping, couples on dates, and even some businessmen looking for entertainment paid by the hour.

Lysandra stops by one of the apartments. It's a low-rise building with a faded name painted at the top of the entrance. She glances at her left wrist to check the now smudged instructions written, before finally entering. The lobby is bare except for a few pieces of furniture. On one side a reception area with a few couches and a coffee table with some magazines and newspapers scattered at the top. On the other side is the front desk with a log book, behind it was a security guard currently reading a book, and behind him is a wall of letterboxes for the tenants.

She approaches the reception desk and asks whether a Jesse, the one who asked for her to come, lives here. The guard nods and asks that she logs in and leaves an ID. She takes out her student ID and gives it to the guard, who inspects it while she continues to write her info on the log book. Once everything is in order, the guard points her to the elevator.

When she calls the elevator, the doors instantly opens revealing a small boxed room with walls covered with mirrors. She goes in and presses the button for the 8th floor. The door then closes and she is left listening to the whirring of the elevator mechanism as it lifts her closer to her destination. She looks at the mirror and sees herself staring right back at her. She examines her own reflection, her pitch black hair that barely touches her shoulders but often get in her line of sight, her dark brown sleepless eyes, her petite nose, and her blood red lips located where they normally are on her fair (thankfully) unblemished skin. She isn't that short, but she is often teased by the insecure girls about it. That is, until she learned recently that she shouldn't care about what they think and that she has more important things to worry about. She is wearing jeans and a black shirt with a neon yellow smiley face and an unzipped light blue jacket on top. She is also wearing Chucks with different colored laces knotted differently for each shoe. She also has a red backpack slung on one shoulder. There are pins of anime icons and band logos scattered on it, as well as a stuffed toy of a chibi style grim reaper, complete with a toy scythe, hanging on it. She stares at her stuffed toy, and it seems to be staring right back at her with a mocking look as if to say "You're being vain."

"Shut up." She mutters back at the stuffed toy, knowing full well she looks crazy talking to an inanimate object. Thankfully, when the elevator doors open, no one was there to see her odd conversation. She steps into the dimly lit, narrow, tiled corridor with alternating doors on each side. Each of the doors had a number 8 and a letter next to it. She walks along the corridor while keeping an eye out for the door with an 8E written on it. She spots it near the end of the hallway. She stands right in front of the door, takes a deep breath, and then knocks.

"Just a second," Says a muffled female voice from inside. After a few seconds the door was opened slightly by a girl. She was taller than Lysandra, with hair just as long as their height difference. Her also sleepless eyes were hidden behind light pink oval glasses. Lysandra couldn't see more than that because she was still hidden behind the door. "Are you Lysandra?" She asks in a shaky soft voice.