Untitled Project

10. Unknowingly waiting

Morning fell on Ivy, heavy and abrupt, as she awoke in bed. Her head throbbed slightly, but the familiar morning-after effects of alcohol did not trouble her. It was her memory of the previous night's vision, remembered immediately upon opening her eyes, that was causing her stress. That, and the job interview she was now running completely late for.

"Shit!" Ivy screamed, tearing open the closest box and searching for a decent shirt. Then another thought came back to her, causing another outburst of profanity. She had agreed to meet Astrid, Oliver, and the rest of their group. In her mind, Ivy saw two distinct possibilities: she could blow off Astrid and Oliver, ignore the vision and hope not to have any more, and show up late to her job interview with some lame excuse, or she could blow off the interview, and find the address Oliver had left with her.

It took very little thought before she came to a steadfast decision. Ivy abandoned her search for an interview-appropriate top, and grabbed a shirt at random from the box. It went well enough with the pants she still had on from yesterday. She changed into new underwear and socks, applied a little deodorant, and put the pants back on, along with the fresh shirt.

"Bam. Ready to go," Ivy said to herself. She felt relieved to have an excuse – however insane – to skip the interview. She did not want to get paid to answer phones and sit through droning meetings taking tedious notes for some higher-up person. If the alternative was receiving visions from all corners of time and fighting against evil, well, so be it. The road less traveled, and all that.

The address Oliver had given her was not familiar, but this fact hardly surprised Ivy, as most of the city was still unknown to her. She entered the street name and number into her phone's navigation system, and was relieved to see that she would have time to grab a coffee and bagel on her way. She threw on her jacket and made her way out of the apartment, past the dirty dishes in the sink, out into the world to see what this day had in store for her.

Ivy got her coffee, plus a bagel with peanut butter, before she followed the directions on her phon. they led her halfway across the city, to a seldom-visited dead-end street in a neighborhood that appeared to be mostly populated by college students. She found Apartment 12B, which was up a flight of stairs connected to a rickety-looking porch. The floor of the porch was painted a loud shade of purple, and Ivy stepped over a few bottle caps on her way to the ring the bell. She was beaten to the punch by someone flinging the door open.

"Ivy!" She recognized Astrid's voice before she saw the red haired face in the doorway. "Get it here!" Astrid's mood had improved since their parting the night before.

Ivy slipped inside and found herself in a brightly lit kitchen. Her eyes travelled immediately over the walls, which were decorated in an intricate series of hand-painted images, making the room feel like a colorful, eclectic art exhibit. Behind the sink, a forest of trees grew towards a brilliantly orange sun. A great green dragon crouched over the cupboards. Eyeballs peeked over the top of the stove, and a tall mushroom sheltering a family of gnomes was visible behind the trash can. Ivy could not take in every image, for Astrid hurried her through the kitchen.

"Come and meet everyone," she urged, dragging Ivy into the next room.

This room, a bit larger than the kitchen, was painted in highly-detailed circular patterns of varying sizes and colors. Mandalas, Ivy believed they were called. The effect was hypnotizing. She noticed the paintings on the walls before she noticed the faces staring up at her. Astrid was perched on the arm of a couch next to Oliver, who was seated next to a woman who looked to be a few years older than Ivy. She had olive-colored skin and short, fluffy black hair. Next to her was a tattooed man of about the same age, his dark hair trimmed neatly and slicked back.