To Be A Villainess

    The rain pours heavily over the busy cosmopolitan city as the sun sets behind heavy rain clouds. People with umbrellas open try not to get wet as they rush to wait for transport in a hurry to get home to their families. In an office inside a large building with huge glass windows and walls reflecting the dark gray sky, the sound of rain is more muted. Many hands skillfully and quickly type on their keyboards as they all rush to get their work done. The sound of the coffee brewer and the aroma of Arabica permeates the office; the silent tick-tock of the clock serving as an invisible pressure for everyone to work diligently.      In a corner cubicle, one can find one of the managers, Sophie Valdez, a half-Asian, half-European woman  who seems to have married her work. Having no interest in life outside her job and and her direct circle of friends, her primary interests lie in furthering her corporate career. She slouches over her desk as her fingers move at lighting speed. Her lips move slightly as she mutters what she writes. Strands of her curly dark hair, usually in a tight bun but has loosened in the hectic day that she had, falls over her face. As she finishes another section of the report she has to finish, she feels a light tap on her shoulder and the smell of dark coffee invades her space.      Sophie looks up abruptly at her co-worker, Gen, slightly shocked due to her intense focus. She gives him a light smile. "Thank you," she says, grateful for the cup as she takes it from her.      "Take a break, Sophie dear," Gen advises as she takes her seat in the cubicle next to Sophie. "That report isn't due for another two days."     Sophie laughs. "Yeah, I know, but the annual company trip is next week and my team really needs to get started on next month's quota so we can at least relax on the trip." She takes a sip of her coffee. "Mm, just how I like it. Thanks Gen."      Gen shakes her head at her friend and goes back to her own work. Sophie puts her cup on a coaster and stretches her arms above her head and rolls her shoulders to ease the tension. After shaking her fingers, she focuses back on her screen. Before she begins to type again, she notices that she has received an email. She doesn't recognize the sender, but she clicks on the message anyway. Her eyebrows furrow as she only reads eight words. There were no greetings or salutations, just eight words and nothing more.     Do you want to go on an adventure?     Sophie looks around, trying to figure out which one of her coworkers is pulling a prank on her. Seeing everyone deeply focused on completing their tasks, she looks back at her computer. The email did not contain a box which contained the word "yes" when she received it, but now it did. Sophie hovers her mouse cursor on the box and sees that she could click on it. She bit her lip and quickly clicked, feeling that there was no danger to it. She thought that maybe it had come from the company as a part of the trip next week. Her company really was always quirky when it comes to making sure their employees were having fun. She goes back to finishing her report.     As the hour falls deeper into the night, Sophie’s coworkers clock out one by one. At exactly nine in the evening, only a few people were left, and Sophie finally finishes her report. She saves the file and sends it to her supervisor. She grabs her things and throws her cup on the bin and waves goodbye to her remaining coworkers. Her heels click on the floor and the sound echoes through the empty hallway as she walks towards the exit. The rain had stopped, but her face was slapped by the cold wind when she stepped outside.      Sophie breathes deeply and feels her entire body relax. She loves the cold weather as much as she hates summer. Summer was hot and made people sweaty and Sophie hated sweating. Memories of her childhood invade her thoughts but she quickly shakes those off and starts walking towards her apartment. She was thankful that her salary was enough for her to avoid an apartment near her place of work. At least she won't be spending unnecessary costs on travel. She stops by a pharmacy on her way home and buys some pills for her incoming headache. She knows she's been overworking her body for the past few days, but her team had been working very hard and as the youngest manager in the company, she had a lot to prove to many people.      Someone pushes past her on the sidewalk and she stares at the person's back incredulously.  “Hey!” she calls. The sidewalk was more than wide enough for the both of them. When the person ignores her and keeps walking, she just shakes her head and starts to walk again when she steps on something. She picks it up and examines it.     It was a small pocket knife.     Sophie's eyes widen and she tries to chase the stranger, but she's already lost them. She clicks her tongue and just goes home. She was tired and hungry, and thankfully there was no work tomorrow so she could afford to sleep in. When she arrives at her apartment, she immediately heats some left over food from breakfast and picks up her book. Reading books was her only pastime, and the current one she was reading was set in a fantasy world where the heroine battles to prove herself as the true heir of a duke. She was the prophesized Saint born to save the empire from destruction, but an impostor had taken her place.      The microwave suddenly signaled that it was done just as Sophie was getting to the good part of the story. With a groan, she shut her book and went to get her food. After eating, she took her medicine for her headache. She wanted to read a few more pages from her book, but exhaustion and the need to sleep eventually overcame her and she collapsed on her bed soon after.  ~.~.~.~     Sophie felt it before she saw it. Heat. Heat so strong it felt like it was about to burn her skin. Her eyes shot open and smoke immediately invaded her lungs. Her vision was blurry and everything felt muted to her. As she coughed, she felt that her body was bound to something.     Sophie was beginning to panic.     She tried to regain her senses and focus her sight on her surroundings. Her body was tightly bound with ropes to something behind her. She was wearing strange clothes. They were dirty and torn. The sky was blue and clear, and she met eyes with a piercing gaze. There was a man on a balcony looking down on her with hatred and contempt. She felt her heart beating on her throat, and she could neither speak nor scream. She finally noticed the people around her shouting angry words and cursing at her. And then, she noticed the fire.      “Burn the impostor!”     The red and orange flames licked around her and slowly started spreading. Sophie could not think clearly, and she began to struggle. Ignoring all the shouting and noise around her, she looks around frantically trying to find a way to escape. She does not know what is happening, or if this was just a dream, but she knew that the heat she was feeling was real because it was just right there and if she didn't do anything about it, the flames would get her just like it had many years ago.      In her struggle, she felt something on her sleeve. It felt sharp, and she quickly tried to shake it out and take it into her hands as the fire crept closer to her. She felt the edge of the object as she firmly gripped it. There was a sharp sting as the object cut her finger, but hope spread through her chest as she started cutting away at her binds. She looked around and observed. It seems that neither the people nor the guards noticed what she was doing, but the man looking down on her squinted his eyes suspiciously. Sophie did not have to to be discreet as the flames caught on her skirt. The ropes finally snapped, but in her panic she did not think about how to escape an angry crowd.      Sophie resorted to sacrificing one hand and throwing all flaming materials at the crowd while patting the small flame in her skirt to stop the fire from spreading on her. As the guards came up to get her, she resorted to diving in the panicking crowd and blending in. She did not know where she was going, and she definitely did not know where she was enough to know where to escape, but adrenaline just kept her moving and running until she was able to break away from the crown and run towards a direction.      Sophie ran as fast as she could and there seemed to be no one following her. She did not slow down until she saw a forest. Without hesitation, she entered and kept running and running until she couldn't anymore.  She tripped over a tree root and fell down a small slope. As she lied there at the bottom of the slope, she couldn't find the strength to come back up. Her breath was ragged and she took violent inhales and exhales through her mouth. Her legs were shaking and throbbing at being pushed past their limits. Her one hand was bleeding due to her hard grip on the knife, and the other was burned and twitching. She did not know how long she laid down there, but as her breathing stabilized she heard the faint sound of moving water.      Gently lifting her head, Sophie realized she could not stand up. But she needed water. She needed to drink. She needed to survive. So, she gathered all her strength into her arms and started dragging herself in the direction of the sound. As she put one arm in front of the other, her thoughts began to race.     All the pain, shock and frustration just came crashing down on her as tears began to fall. Through her crying, she persisted in crawling towards the body of water. When she finally reached it and saw a clear stream, a fresh wave of tears fell as she moved to drink. After quenching her thirst, she lied by the stream to rest.     Sophie knew that she could not stay there, not when she was apparently hated enough to be sentenced to death surrounded by people who seemed to vehemently hate her. She had to keep moving, but if she wanted to survive she had to move smart. First, she needed to figure out where she was and what she did to be sentenced to death. Next, she needed to figure out where to go. She needed to survive long enough to figure out how to return to her world . . . assuming that this was a different one.     Sophie sighed. Everything just felt so surreal. One moment she was enjoying her microwaved leftovers, and the next moment she was being burned at a stake. Although she managed to escape, she still doesn't know how long she can keep her freedom. With this thought, Sophie attempted to once again stand. She succeeded, albeit her legs were still shaky, and began to walk up to cross the stream. She was dirty and she definitely felt like it, but she figured she didn't have time for a leisurely bath.     So, with an aching body and a steeled, determined mind, she began to move as far away from danger as possible.