nine | inhuman

301 20 7
                                        

You'll never know the psychopath sitting next to you, you'll never know the murderer sitting next to you

Avertizare 4|5

The air conditioning blows steadily down onto Arrow's desk area, swirling her dark hair around her face softly as she types away on her computer. The Monday traffic can be heard distantly from the street outside, the pattering of feet and whir of cars striking under the tap tap of the keyboard. It's almost 10:30, and she has to resist the urge to take a nap on the desk.

Her third cup of coffee sits half empty next to her, and she sips it occasionally to help clear her head. It's hard to focus on work lately. To think that four days ago none of this page/proxy stuff was even a remote thought shocks her, because it feels like it's been years since she's seen that boy in the shop. She still gets goosebumps every time he even crosses her mind.

"Arrow." Lea's voice snaps the girl out of her headspace, and she looks up to see the blonde leaning against the doorframe. "You've been typing all morning, why don't you come out here and help me? You look like a ghost, I think you could use the slight social attention."

Arrow blinks at her. "Yeah, um, ok." She glances at the mirror in the corner of the room, catching sight of her ratty ponytail and dark circles. All she had time to put on this morning was mascara, and her acne is on display like an antique painting in a museum. She sucks in a breath. "Are you sure you need help?"

Lea seems to hesitate, looking out into the store and back at the girl before signing. "Not really, Michaels got it." She shuts the door, to Arrows surprise, and sits down in the chair across from her. "What's gotten into you? You seem so.. dead. Are you and Calum having relationship problems?"

Arrow wants to face palm, but resists. She's never been a very good actor. "No, Lea, we're fine. I'm just tired, nothing important."

She raises a filled-in eyebrow. "People who are 'just tired' don't look like they're half zombie."

"I disagree." Arrow takes another sip of the coffee, a huge one, like it'll help with her shitty looks at the moment. In a desperate attempt to change the subject, she asks, "Has Michael been acting weird to you?"

Her eyebrow goes even higher. "No..." She's looking at Arrow like the girl has grown a second head. "Why?"

She shrugs, setting her eyes on the computer screen so she doesn't have to look at the girl in front of her. Her thoughts go back to the dream, to Michaels soulless black eyes. She had walked past him as fast as she could this morning. She lets out a long breath. "I dunno. Just wondering."

Lea stares at her incredulously. "Oook. It's clear you need some serious sleep. If you want to take a nap in here, neither me nor Michael would protest." The blonde gets up, making her way to the door. "Come out when you feel like it. More merch came in yesterday, we need to get it restocked by this afternoon."

Arrow nods, sighing in relief when the door shuts behind her. What the hell was she thinking? Has Michael been acting weird? Of fucking course he hasn't! She's just messed up in the head.

She doesn't go out to help Lea, and when lunch rolls around she doesn't get up from her desk. She texts Calum that she won't be coming home and she'll just run and grab something, when in reality she just plans to sit here and drink the rest of the coffee pitcher. Her article is still on the screen, half finished already, so she saves it and shuts the computer with a sigh.

She's actually dozing off in her chair when she hears a boyish voice call out from the main area, and her eyes snap open. She looks at her phone to find that it's halfway into the lunch hour. Grudgingly, she gets up to investigate.

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