Black Rose

Prologue: Meeting You

Xayne

I was losing, or at least that is what it felt like. Chasing my career dream of becoming a singer was a hard road. I was surviving on my own in a two bedroom apartment that I could not really afford. Between car payments, insurance, gas, food, etc. I was losing, or at least that is what it felt like. I was a volunteer singer at this club titled Exclusive and my full time job wasn't getting the task done. I needed more money and after filling out what seemed like hundreds of applications, I finally found an overnight job that wouldn't get in the way of my dream job.

My plan was to stay to myself and out of trouble. I wasn't going to associate with too many people. The way I figured it, I would do my job and go home to my empty apartment.

The first two days on the job was just training. The training seemed sort of meaningless in my eyes because all my jobs to that point had been in a warehouse environment. Everything that was being taught in those classes were second nature to me.

On our first official day on the floor, I was moving as if I was a seasoned vet. There wasn't much to the job, scan a box, place it on a pallet, wrap it, and move it. All for a very reasonable hourly wage, almost too much for such simple tasks. Still I found myself in a very good situation. I was getting paid weekly, which helped, slowly I was catching up on bills that were plaguing my checks.

My first two weeks flew by, I kept my head down, had very few conversations, and went home to my empty apartment. It wasn't until that third week that I noticed her.

I clocked in like usual and headed toward the pre shift meeting. I don't know if I have seen her before and never really noticed or with the warehouse being so big we had never crossed paths. Either way I found myself unable to take my eyes off of her. Something I can not explain was drawing me to her. She was light skin, about 5'6", long black hair with that moved like silk whenever she moved. From what I could tell from my distance, she was slim, nice figure, and she wore glasses from time to time. I had to almost tear myself away and focus on my job even though I could probably do it with my eyes closed.

As the night went on the image of the mystery lady was firmly in the back of my head. However I had decided that I would stick to myself and lay low as planned. As the night came to an end, I realized that the mystery girl was indeed apart of my shift. I still don't know how we never managed to cross paths.

As I walked to the exit, I noticed that she was standing there with her coat and a book bag. I almost asked her if she wanted a ride cause it didn't seem as if she drove. Instead I just kept walking out to my car and drove home to my empty house. I was losing, or at least that's what it felt like.

After two days of being off, it was back to overnights. I found myself searching for her as I walked across the warehouse floor and to my disappointment I didn't see her. As I approached the meeting, a slight chill ran down my body. There she was. She was wearing gray sweat pants and a blue hoodie. I entered the semi circle that usually forms around the shift supervisor when he talks and points out assignments. After giving everyone their assignments, I noticed the mystery girl and I were headed in the same direction.

We were working in the same area today, much to the comfort of the teenage high school crush side of me. All night though I didn't say much more to her than excuse me as I passed her by. At the end of the night as work was slowing down and almost over I noticed her standing alone. Drifting in her thoughts is what I assume she was doing. She looked tired and worn down. I do not know how, but finally, I spoke.

"You look so tired."

She turned her head toward me and smiled slightly.

"I am. I have been here since five."