The Odds

Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Odds of Falling Asleep.

I eyed myself in the mirror, inching a little closer to get a clear view of my teeth. Satisfied with my toothy shine, I put the toothbrush back into its place on the washbasin.

Finally, time to sleep. Isn't sleeping, after a tiring day, the best part of the routine? Well, yes, it definitely is.

Only if sleep came naturally to me, I'd be happy. I have always had problem falling asleep.

I switched off the bathroom light before exiting into my room. The lights of my room were already off, and the only source of light now was the moonlight and some streetlights, whose rays found their way inside my room from the big sliding glass door, which leads to the balcony.

I checked the time. It was 00:54.

Not bad, huh? I'll catch up on a lot of sleep if I sleep right away. Should I take the sleeping pills? I thought to myself. I have never had them. Although I have had problem sleeping but I never took those pills, I knew they were not healthy. Every night, I go through the same thing and decide against taking those pills. I sighed.

I worked as a Statistician in a university's statistics department. My work mainly consisted of looking at various projects. Currently, I was working on climate change simulations. It was both exciting and challenging. I liked it. I liked Statistics.

I had worked at a company as a Data Analyst before. It was a good job, and the pay was huge. But, it didn't allow me to work on what I wanted to do. The hefty amount of money couldn't keep me working there because I was not the kind of person who ran after money. Maybe, because I had already seen a lot of money.

My family was pretty wealthy. Well, what else would one expect from a family of an established lawyer and the chairman of a well renowned multinational company?

Lying in the comfort of my soft mattresses, thoughts of new project ideas equipped my mind as I tried to drift into a peaceful sleep.

I started counting sheep, thinking it'll help me sleep until someone decided to call me at this late hour.

I picked up my phone from the side table, grumpily, cursing the caller in the process. I was almost done counting fifty sheep.

The caller was my sister, Cassidy.

Cassidy? I thought, why would she call me so late.

I answered the phone.

"Cassie? Why are you calling-- "

I was cut off by her drunken voice, "Sky, Sky -- you remember?" Her slurry voice gave me an idea of the amount of alcohol she must have had.

"Remember what?" I frowned.

"You once told that you'll beat up anybody who hurts me, remember?"

"Yeah, well--"

"Come and beat up a boy, right now", she slurred again, but this time trying to be a little bit firm.

"What!" I was shocked. But, then she sounded very drunk, so I didn't know if she knew she was precisely making sense or not.

"Yeah--", I heard her throw up.

"Cassie, are you okay?" I asked into the phone.

"You come here", she said, stretching the all the e's in her sentence.

"Fine, I'll come to pick you up. Where are you?" I sighed.

"Bar." That was her reply. I was let out an inaudible breath of disappointment.