Chapter four: A normal day
1062 Words
The alarmclock blurred out its annoying sound and Barbara pushed back the urge to throw it against the wall. If I could do that only once, she thought, wouldn't that make life much more livable?
With a deep sigh she got out of bed, sat on the side of it and rubbed her head.
She still felt the effects of two nights ago, but a warm shower would surely fix that. When she got in, she put the water as hot as she could bare and a shiver ran through her body as the warm water touched her skin and wrapped her body in a steaming blanket.
A sigh of relief escaped her mouth and she gave herself a few moments longer than usual to enjoy the sense.
As she showered too long, she had to get ready quickly if she didn't want to miss her bus. She had never been late before and she wanted to keep that track record impeccable.
That meant breakfast on the go, she decided with a small grin.
Letting her hair dry on its own was not a problem as she had natural waves. Although it was rather cold out, she was sure that was the least of her problems.
She put on a light amount of make-up, decided against jewelry and jumped into a pair of comfortable pencil trousers, a clean sweater and a pair of sneakers. The years had learned, sneakers were by far a better option than anything fancy.
Time was passing too fast to dare make coffee, so she settled for a glass of water knowing that she would be able to score coffee in the canteen, grabbed an apple, her jacket and a warm shawl.
When she reached for her keys at their usual place, she stopped dead in her tracks. They weren't there.
"That's odd", she thought. She never misplaces her keys.
Looking around on the ground under the hook she usually hung them, she was going over where she last saw them.
Two nights ago. The night she didn't remember how she got home.
A feeling of discomfort creeped up on her. Did someone steal her keys? But then how did she get in?
With her hands on her sides, she looked around her place, when suddenly she spotted the purple feathers of her key hanger, apparently lying in a bowl next to the door. A sigh of relief escaped her and she hastily grabbed her keys. She would have to run now to catch that bus.
Luckily, she was in good condition.
Jogging through the corridor of the flats, she wondered why she would have put her keys in the wrong place? "That'll teach you", she grumbled to herself. "No more alcohol for you, you id##t".
Upon entering the elevator she found her neighbor, Miss Elly, and her little dog already standing in it. The little mutt immediately started barking at her ferociously. With Miss Elly making excuses for it as she always did. "I'm sorry dear, I swear he's never like this to anyone else. He just seems to have a light dislike of you. Maybe it's your perfume?" She ended hopefully.
Barbara knew it wasn't her perfume. She didn't know why, but she always seemed to have this effect on dogs. The moment they laid eyes on her, they started growling, barking or worse, biting.
Shame actually, Barbara liked dogs. It was just never the other way around.
After leaving the building, Barbara sprinted with all she had to catch that bus. She reached the stop just in time to hold the doors open and jump in. Luckily, the bus driver knew her and gave her a friendly smile. Good Monday morning Miss Barbara, he said. And a good morning to you, Barbara replied out of breath. She liked him.
Still panting, she found herself a seat. Exceptionally, there was a spot open by the window. She settled in it, nice and warm in her jacket and shawl and looked out the window as the bus departed for the 30 minute drive towards her work place, Gracies.
At that moment, a man arrived at the bus stop. "Just too late, aren't you?" Barbara thought to herself. The man looked around and lifted his head in the most peculiar way, as if he was sniffing the air. Barbara almost giggled, it was such a strange sight. As she passed him, he looked straight at her, locking eyes. His eyes were exceptional.
It gave Barbara a shock and she found herself unable to break eye contact.
The bus passed the man, and the contact was broken. At that point she realized she was holding her breath.
What was that all about? Barbara felt strangely vulnerable, as if the man had looked straight into her soul.
The drive to the stop nearest to Gracies was calm, and the routine of it all gave Barbara some rest in her head. She thought about the day ahead. As a shop manager, there was never a moment where nothing had to be done.
She'd worked at Gracies for some years now, she started right after she was politely asked to leave home by her grandmother. And she had worked her way up to the post of manager. The pay was slightly better, but it basically just meant that she had to deal with more sh#t than her colleagues all day long. And although everybody seemed satisfied with the way she handled her job, she still suffered from imposter syndrome.
How was it possible that someone at certain point thought to themselves: "I'll make this one manager, she'll do a good job". It didn't make sense. Nevertheless, she always did the best she could. And that's all that can be expected in a sh#tjob like this.
Upon arrival, Barbara said good day to the driver (she should really ask his name some day) and walked the 5 minute walk towards the shop. With a sigh of relief she saw that her colleagues already started opening up for the day and everything was going smoothly. Perfect, she thought to herself, she doubted if she would be able to handle much more stuff this week, and it was only Monday morning.
She walked in, said good morning to no-one in particular and headed straight for the canteen, hoping that there would be some coffee ready.
- Writer
