Clandestine

1- Arduous much

You groaned in annoyance as you felt the your eyes opening. The sunlight that had filled your room was almost blinding. You were feeling jelly like.
Absolutely lazy to get out of bed. It was your summer break. Most probably the last vacations of your life because you had already graduated from high school. Luckily, you were accepted in one of your favorite colleges for higher studies in computer science. You were gifted with brain and beauty according to the others. But you barely felt yourself to be beautiful. Even if someone called you beautiful,you told yourself that they were lying. You never believed in relationships.

When you were younger, you saw before your very eyes how every time your Daddy would beat your mother to death. How he would treat her like trash. She had told that she was tricked by her father into marriage but he never felt for her that way. You saw before your eyes how your mother started feeling depressed and hung herself. She apparently committed suicide and you being the gullible you were, Never found courage enough to stand up for her.

You ended up in the orphanage at a tender age of 7 ,when your father was stabbed to death in some robbery attempt. Although he had already registered you in the orphanage and left you there after your mother's death, you did feel devastated about your father and mother. Too much for a little soul.

You were face to face with the reality and the practicality of life way before than anyone else. It was as if you were destined to spend your major part of life in the darkness that had no sign of ending. If there was the darkest shade of black, from where even the smallest Ray of light wouldn't reflect, your soul lied there.

Last year finally you were out of the hell hole and on your own. But being on your own wasn't easy. You had to live as a working scholar. Full time student and a part time worker.

You had it quite planned though. On Saturdays ,you worked at the library ,all day. And on the weekdays, at a book store. And Sundays, you had it for you.In the past few months you had saved enough to support your little expenses.

"It's Sunday. Means no work!" You thought and reached for your mobile .
You unlocked it and the moment you did, you cursed yourself.

It was Friday. And it was 9:18 am. Work starts at half past nine.
You could not afford to loose your job. It would be the third time you signing in late.

You quickly threw your covers and rushed to the bathroom to wash up a bit. At that moment, adrenaline rushed in your blood making you feel like the female version of The Flash.

You quickly put on some decent clothes, not that you had some revealing ones but you had to look presentable. You checked the time before leaving. Mentally cursing yourself,you rushed out of the house.

It was only 5 mins until the work started and if you ran ,it would take 10 mins. You started running to your destination but the splendid effect that adrenaline had on your body was fading ,making it harder for you to breath. You definitely were not The Flash.

"Shortcut. Y/N , shortcut! The park!! "

Abruptly making your way towards the park, you looked here and there while beads of sweat trickled your forehead. You had propped your hands on your knees while looking here and there to find any other way. The store was on the other side of the park.

The long bridge caught your attention. Graphically plotting the whole map to the store, you found that it was easy if you would go through the wooden bridge and jump a fence, that was easy to climb.

You hurriedly made your way towards that bridge.

You were in the middle of the bridge when you looked behind for some unknown reason and there you ran into someone. You collided with full force as a result of which you fell flat on your butt and the coffee that the young man had in his hand, spilled all over. At that time, you had a recollection of all the physics that you had studied in your high school. He grabbed on to the metal railing and was able to balance himself ,unlike you, who was lying on the somehow hot floor mentally crying. Luckily the coffee did not fall on your clothes or it would have been a big amount of trouble.

"Woah there lady. What's the rush?!" He exclaimed.

You looked up and saw a quiet young pastel pink haired man. Why would people dye their hair pink? You thought. You quickly got up ,fetched some money out of your pockets and handed it to them as an apology. You mouthed a quiet sorry . Polietly bowing, you ran towards your destination. You didn't look at him carefully. All you knew was he had pink hair. You were too damn busy thinking about the consequences if you didn't reach there on time. Which of course you had to face..

After running for what felt like hours, there it was before your eyes. The orange board with letters that was the name of the book store you worked at. you were standing outside the store. The inner you was jumping in happiness while your body was barely able to breath. You heart beat was uneven , so was your breathing. You felt sweaty all over while your legs were hurting.

You fetched out your phone and checked the time.

9:33am.

" Still fine though!"..

You walked into the store and to your relief , the manager was in a good mood.

You quickly wished her a morning and went to work.

The rest of the day was the same. Boring as usual but you couldn't be happier to think that your college was starting from the upcoming Monday. Barely two days left. New friends , new life, new knowledge. You could not wait for it. You would finally become a better person in life and stand on your own feet.

Of course you knew that managing work and studies won't be easy but you had to do that somehow. After all you didn't come here, struggling all the way just to give up.