The Premonition

Chapter 1-A: The Spilled Latte

Selene curiously entered into the coffee shop, her breath staggered by the agenda racing through her overfilled mind. Sometimes she felt like it was more of a filing cabinet stuck in her head than a squishy pink organ. The only thing that usually set her at ease was the sweet aroma of a skinny vanilla latte.

"Good afternoon, Miss Selene!" A scruffy haired brunette nodded his head as a greeting, already grabbing for a cup. Seeing as Selene visited the Grove daily, she already knew all of the workers and they all knew her and her order. "Skinny vanilla, what size?"

"Hi, Daniel." The creases on her forehead seemed to meet the corners of her lips as her pale salmon lips drew a grin at the sight of him. Selene touched her wallet to the countertop, and she began to withdraw her credit card. "I'll take a large today."

His eyebrows shot up, knowing that she usually ordered a small, unless things were extremely stressful. "Wow, rough day?"

"It is not even ten o'clock yet, and my list has already doubled in size as to what I have to do today. Plus, Alaine got fired about a half hour ago. Well, I guess it was more like she quit because my boss is an absolute a-hole." Selene's fingers graced her already brewing headache, their cool touch trying to ease the pain.

"I appreciate how you always try to keep the conversation clean in our family friendly facility," Daniel added with a smile, in an attempt to pick her up. He began to brew the coffee, talking to her all the while. "Look, Selene, things get tough and that is just life. I also know that you enjoy a challenging challenge, but do you ever think that maybe you take on too much work?"

"What do you mean?" Selene snapped, becoming protective over her work ethic.

"I'm just saying that from what you've told me in the past and what happened with Alaine, your boss sounds like a major, uh, a-hole, as you say. Like you said, it is not even ten and you are already freaking out, which is far from okay. I would never advise you to quit, but I would encourage you to stand up for yourself and tell him when it becomes too much." Daniel shrugged his shoulders and swiped her card as the coffee began to blend into the cup.

Some of her dark brown strands fell in front of her face, trying to hide some of her pain. "I'll be fine, I like work and staying busy."

"I just don't want to see anything happen to you," Daniel said quietly, his back turned to her as he added the whipped cream. He turned back around and placed the cup in front of her with a sleeve to protect her hand from the heat. "My mom was admitted into a hospital due to stress and it almost killed her. Just look out for yourself, alright?"

"I will," she nodded, still precariously going through her mental to-do list. "In fact, I don't start until eleven, so I might just sit here and work on some things before I head over to my office."

"Or you could read a magazine or something, and worry about work once you actually get to work?"

Selene let out a shrill of laughter. "No, this work is personal. Just for me."

"Wow, Miss Selene knows how to have fun?" Daniel asked with an overly exasperated facial expression. He continued with his dramatics by clapping his hands, crying like a proud mama at a piano recital.

"Oh, Daniel," she said with a slow sigh. Selene headed over to one of the tables with two chairs, put her briefcase on one chair and sat in the opposing one. She pulled out her laptop and logged on with the word document she was working on last night beginning to visualize in front of her. She read through the last few paragraphs as a refresher, then beginning to type away.

As envisioned from before, the governor broke the chain of life and let the thousands of spirits roam the palace. If anything were to happen, it would take place tonight. Indeed, later everything would have officially changed in Egypt for the better.