Hidden in Shadow

Chapter 3

In my head a timer went off that told me I had been asleep for way too long, still, there was an urge to stay the way I was. It was almost like sleeping under the effect of pills, all I felt was extremely tired. A feeling of anxiety spread through every fibre of my being when I forced my eyes open. I turned my head over to the other side and saw Serenity leaning over a my laptop studying the screen. I reached over to grab her arm that startled her.

"Good morning." She said. "You scared me."

"Mornin'," I rolled over to her side and saw the Account sheets for Kingsfort. "Were you up all night?"

"Well," She looked over to the clock on the front wall; 11am. "I guess.."

"When did I doze off? I don't remember." I said feeling awkward that I had no memory of last night.

"Somewhere between the master accounts for Avoc and the TA-8 tender." She spread her hand through her hair. "You snore you know."

"I do not." I grunted.

"Yeah after every 10-15 breaths." She laughed a bit.

"Whatever." I got up from the bed and rustled my hair. "I'm going for  a shower, did you eat?"

"No I was preoccupied." She said with her eyes fixed on the laptop.

"Hey." I came up to her and closed the laptop screen flap. "You can't  change everything in one day."

"But I have so much to-"

"Yeah I know and I'll help you but only if you don't burn yourself out." I took the laptop away. "Wash up and we'll get something to eat, and call Ryan before he freaks out that you aren't home."

"Anything else mom?" She teased to which I gave her a glare. "Alright I'm on it."

I disappeared in to the bathroom and turned the shower on. I took cup full of water and rinse a mouth thoroughly before starting to brush my teeth. I spread my arms to opposite sides and inhaled forcefully letting out a grunt. My body ached but a hot shower would fix that soom enough.

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My closet had a wide range of formal shirts, suits, ties, basically the whole formal attire package and in the far corner hanged about half a dozen casual tees. There weren't many chances for me to wear something exceedingly casual and after a while I stopped trying to but today I thought, what the hell.

I came out of the room in a plain round-neck gray tee with black jeans and slippers. Around the corner the breakfast table had to servings of scrambled eggs and a chicken salad. Serenity was on the other side tweaking her coffee.

"You didn't make all this right?" I asked just to be sure.

"Na." She gave a clumsy answer and brought herself to the table. "I ordered it, I didn't know what you wanted so.."

"Its fine." I smiled.

"What do you like?" She spoke between sips.

"Anything you know." I shrugged my shoulders taking the first bite of my egg. "I don't really get to decide half the time but I guess nothing's better than a big bowl of cereal in the morning." I was kind of embarrassed to admit it.

"Me too!" She beamed. "And?"

"For lunch?" She nodded. "A good pasta."

"And dinner?"

"Fried chicken with a side of mashed potatoes." I gave a wide smile. "But I also like going to Valentinos for a hot and cheesy mid-night snack."

We both laughed at that. "Your turn."