That goddamned thing

Disclaimer:

All the characters, places and events mentioned in this story are a pure work of fiction. Any association of them with any person, dead or alive, would be coincidential.

Copyright © 2014

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or in any means by electronic, mechanical, xerox or otherwise without prior permission.

Special thanks to: My bestfriendforever for her constant support!

Prologue

“Here we go.” I say out aloud to no one in particular and do a winning gesture with my hands. I have been working on my thesis since three hours straight and I am finally done with completing a portion of it. After sending it to my professor for evaluation, I close my laptop without shutting it down properly and sigh. I slide out of my bed and walk out of my room, passing the Chicago sunset painting hanging beside the kitchen door and smile knowingly at it. I enter the kitchen and grab a tub of ice-cream from the refrigerator and sit on the top of the Kitchen Island, my back to the kitchen window and dig in. I look around my empty apartment which is mostly visible from the kitchen door. The living room is dark and is mostly unoccupied these days since I am too busy with work and my thesis.

I miss the days when I used to have fun at home but now it is only me since my ex-tenant Emily who used to live with me in the extra room, got married a month ago and so she moved out with her husband and I was left alone to live in my cozy apartment. Emily always had a way of cheering me up after I was tired out. She was a very active young girl and always fun to have around, while I was totally her opposite – the biggest nerd seen in history. But I am happy about what priorities I have set for myself and am determined to chase my dreams. Sadly, my ambitions include very less of ‘having fun’ and more of being a lady who have her every day scheduled out. Emily always was the filler for me when I was drained of energy and now I missed her a lot.

My parents offered me to live with them if I felt lonely but I didn’t want to move out of this beautiful place. Not only does it have a beautiful view when you look out of the living room, but it also is a rare building that was built about a century ago and has that vintage taste to it. The apartment sometimes feels like it holds a lot of secrets and just this feeling make me cling to it.

I put up an advertisement after Emily left but I haven’t gotten a proper tenant yet, mainly because this building is scheduled to go down soon. Yes, the state has decided to pull down this ancient beauty soon. I sigh again and slide from the Island, replacing the tub in the refrigerator. I look out of the open kitchen window at Oakland – the building standing next to our apartment. It is Pinewood’s twin and both are scheduled to be pulled down soon.

I take out my phone from my pajama pocket and stare at the screen. It is almost 1 am. Letting out a wide yawn and I start to walk toward my room. This thesis will be the end of me. But then again, I was the one who asked for it, no one forced me to get the degree but me being the perfectionist wanted to pursue my education right after I got my Bachelor’s degree. I went straight for the Master’s degree and am already done with taking the classes, only my thesis is left and I will be done for good.

I climb back under the covers thinking what tomorrow will bring for me. I have to go to office and after that I have to attend a friend’s birthday party, so I will be coming home late again. Just thinking about going to the party makes me cringe but I have to go, since it is one of my closest friend’s birthday. I close my eyes and pray that sleep will come soon so that I am ready for the day to come.

Drifting to sleep, I don’t realize that my life is going to change due to certain events that are going to happen within the next 24 hours.

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