Arcane Sequence: 1987 (WLW)

November 7th, 1987: The Interview

!!!My novels are completely off-limits to any adaptations and if plagiarized, you will be reported!!!

This novella contains mature language.

Yua sat up as her body irrepressibly shivered with the cool air filtering in from the vent just over her bed. She stood and glanced down at her silk pajamas soaked through with sweat so thick she felt the fabric matted along her sides. Her bed held a near perfect outline of her body. Maybe some would look at it. Perhaps they would think that they had an excellent physique to leave such an elegant shape on their sheets. Although it was anything other than uplifting for Yua Watanabe.

She stared at her linens a moment longer, then slammed her eyes shut. Yua steepled her fingers and began to press each one of the tips against the other as she counted. It was the only way to bring her down from the more than evident anxiety attack headed her way.

One finger, two fingers, three fingers makes a room. Four fingers, five fingers makes a home. I am home.

She repeated the mantra in her mind a handful of times and before too long, her bunched muscles unwound. With a lofty sigh, she opened her eyes. Yua raked her slender fingers through her jet black hair and began the task of getting her sheets into the wash. Not remembering any of her nightmares should have been a blessing to her. In her psychologist mind, however, it was only irritating. At least if she knew what was happening in her sleep she would have the wits on how to treat it. This waking up in copious amounts of sweat was for the birds, as her father always said.

Her parents...

Yua shivered and scooped up her sheets. She hauled them to the floor at the foot of her bed, shed her sticky clothes and gathered her linens in her arms again. Good thing she never hired a housekeeper. Just imagine if she had someone to actually witness her daily sheet washing antics. They would think she was up to no good, or perhaps up to entirely too much of a good thing. She would have to explain incredibly too much of her life and--

A jolt ran down Yua's spine. "Oh, no."

Correction. She could imagine having someone else in her loft and was meant to interview said person that afternoon. Yua glanced over at her nightstand and read that her alarm clock said eleven-thirty-four.

Not good!

When she decided to work late into the night, she hadn't anticipated awakening so late the following morning. Yua ran her sheets into her laundry room and threw them and her pajamas into the washer. They could be taken care of later. As long as they were out of the way for now, it would all be fine. It had to be fine. Not that the woman arriving in the next twenty-three minutes would see her room, but if she just threw them into the wash area...

The anxiety was back, creeping up on her like a stranger in the dark.

She jogged back into her room, acutely aware of her nakedness. She instinctively wrapped her arms around herself as she made her way into her bathroom. Just because she was close to the epitome of physical health didn't mean she was mentally, despite the fact she was a licensed therapist. Actually, she could stand to lose a few pounds. Yes, she was certain she should shed a bit more weight.

Yua quickly hopped into the shower and was in and out in a surprisingly timely fashion. After drying her hair and looking over herself in the mirror for a moment, she grimaced. Perhaps she wasn't quite the epitome of physical health after all and her previous pondering was correct. At least, she wasn't with that pudgy belly. She stepped onto her grandmother's old harmony bathroom scale and read her weight. She'd gained two pounds and had no idea how.