OPHELIA'S POV
It's Monday, which means a weekly toolbox meeting in the custodial department. Since I am the manager, I can't be late. How could I be when I live three blocks away?
I sat up in bed and tossed my comforter to my right. Yes, the AC is on and I am using a comforter. Old habits. I turned to the window to the right side of the bed. Although I am using block-out blinds, I can see tiny sharp rays of sunlight peak through the side seam. I turned my head to the other side and closed my eyes lightly to shield my vision. Operating on muscle memory, I reached and pulled on the beaded string near the corner of the window.
From inside my eyelids, the darkness was suddenly flooded with orange light.
'Good morning, Lia.' I greeted myself while slowly opening my eyes. Stretching into a yawn, I got off the bed and started for the bathroom.
My morning routine. Tooth brush, hair brush and tie, foam, exfoliate (since it's Monday), pat dry, pat with toner, facial mask.
With the moist mask on my face I strode back to my sleeping area, started fluffing the pillows and straightening the duvet with my hands. I did a few pats on my facial mask with my fingers while heading to the kitchenette, where I found my purple thermos all dried and ready to be filled up. Of course, I will not fill it with coffee here. That's what the office breakroom is for!
After continuing my morning selfcare and skincare routine which ended on moisturizer, powder, and lip gloss, I got ready for the office.
Skinny Jeans, white blouse, gray sneakers. That's all it took to get myself ready for the office. I don't wear what other office girls wear. I'll be running everywhere the whole day and going with formal wear is a big mistake.
"Time to work!" I called out to the apartment as I reached the door.
"Have fun!" A robotic voice answered as the machine on the wall flashed a pixel image of a smiling face and turned off all the lights in the apartment.
I stepped out into the hallway and locked the door behind me with a combination of pulls, slides, presses and nudges on the door lever. As soon as I heard a series of clicks from the mechanism embedded in the door, I started walking towards the stairs. There's an elevator but it's packed every morning. Rush hour and all.
As I reached the last step into the lobby, Angie, the receptionist, called in her usual cheery tone, "Ophelia, boss left something for you in your mailbox."
"Thanks, Angie. I'll check it out later." I answered without looking at her and fake rushed my footsteps.
'I know what that is. Notice of unpaidrent from the landlord.' My thoughts were loud and instinctive.
"Ophelia." Charles, the doorman murmured his greeting.
As always, I didn't say anything but just gave him a nod, clutching my tote bag close to my body, and started stepping out of the building.
I started to chew on my lips as I walked towards the office. With my expenses in my head, I felt like I was floating while stomping through the concrete sidewalk. Are my feet going numb? Why can't I feel the ground?
I suddenly felt a strong tug on my arm that pulled me sideways.
"Ophelia! Are you okay? Why were you rushing towards the center of the street?" Jeyk Summers, team leader for the archival department, is waving my totebag an inch from my face. "Ophelia?" His voice was getting louder.
The sounds of the street and the scene around me started to get louder and gain color. On my feet, I saw my purple tumbler rolling back and forth. Jeyk was gripping my arm with one hand and holding my tote with another.
"Ophelia," he stoops down to meet my eye level. "What happened? You seem to be out of it."
"Wh-what? Why?" I stuttered questions to answer him while I absent-mindedly bent down to reach for my tumbler.
"Everything okay?" The driver of a shiny black car with heavily tinted windows asked as he peered through a slightly rolled down window.
The car must have stopped abruptly.
Looking at the car, my tumbler, my position standing off the sidewalk, and Jeyk still pulling on my arm, a realization dawned on me.
'Ah. I must have... Oh, well.' The thoughts start running through my brain as I scold myself internally. 'Careless.'
"Yes, I'll take care of it. Sorry, Sir." Jeyk called out as he helped me back up on the sidewalk.
The driver nodded once, rolled up his window, and drove off.
I turned to Jeyk. "Thanks," I murmured while I peeled off his grip from my arm and reached for my tote bag, which he clutched like an eagle would his prey.
I looked up and found I was facing the wrong way so I did a 180 and saw that the office is just one more block away. I started walking towards the office and naturally, Jeyk scurried behind me.
"What happened? I think it's the first time I saw you with your head in the clouds." He said, trying to strike up a casual conversation while half-walking backwards so he'd face me while talking.
'That's because it's the first time that I don't know how to complete my bills.' My thoughts were swimming in my head while I rubbed the new dent on my purple tumbler. 'This won't work as well as it did before, with this new dent.'
"Walk properly, Jeyk. Let's just head to the office. We still have a toolbox meeting." I said while motioning for him to turn around.
The front parking spaces of the building is full. I guess the CEO is early again today. Toolbox meetings happen before office hours, that's why I am here at 7:30. The cafe opens at 7:30AM, as well. I wanted to fill my now dented tumbler with scalding cappuccino. Not today, I guess. I started towards the turnstiles.
"Give me your tumbler." Someone pulled on my sleeve.
"Huh?" I turned my head to see who it was. Jeyk. I forgot he was right behind me. "Oh," I practically shoved the tumbler in his hands. "Thanks! I'll get you later." I said with a nod. He knows I am in a rush when there's a toolbox meeting.
"Sure, boss." He beamed.
"Ms. Ophelia." Another voice came from my right side. I saw Jeyk pressed a smile, gave a shallow bow, then marched off towards the cafe with my purple tumbler.
I turned to see it was Henri Bay, the CEO's secretary and behind him, the CEO, Zeus Aurelion. I bobbed my head once and backed away a step.
The two went on through the turnstiles. I followed right after.
I padded towards the service elevator as soon as I could. The other two elevators do not have access to basements 1 and 2, where my sanctuary is stationed.
It was still early but the elevator lobby was packed.
'Well, thank my gods for the service elevator.' Only me and my team are allowed to use the service elevator. I tapped my ID card on the sensor and the doors opened. Before I could even press the button for Basement 1, a hand appeared to stop the doors from closing. The CEO stepped in, looked at me then faced the elevator entrance. Henri followed in checking for the elevator buttons.
"Let her go first." Zeus said flatly.
"Right." Henri nodded then looked at me.
"Uh-Basement 1 please. Thanks." I murmured. In a few seconds, I was there.
"Be careful on the streets, next time, Ms. Ophelia." Henri said as I stepped out of the elevator.
I turned wide-eyed and saw Henri nodding to me with half a smile and beside him, Zeus, just staring at me with piercing eyes. The elevator door closed between us. I stood there for a moment when I realized it was them. That black shiny car from this morning. This is weird. Why am I feeling so embarrassed about that? It's not like I'm embarrassed easily. I mean I could shoot milk out of my nose while wearing a glow-in-the-dark neon dress in front of the country's president and even that won't do it for me.
"Ophelia!" Arman, the team leader for Building Maintenance entered from the encased stairwell on the right of the elevator. That snapped me out of my (sort of trance.)
"Arman." I greeted him then turned to exit the elevator lobby. "Glad to see you're team's early as always."
"Well, you know what they say -- The early bird... needs coffee!" He said showing me his palm.
Of course I knew what that meant, I unhooked a key from my belt and handed him the key to the pantry. "Go nuts!" I said, still walking towards the usual meeting spot in the middle of the floor. about six to seven members per team were already waiting for me.
"Your coffee." Jeyk handed me my purple tumbler and joined the team.
"Thanks, Jeyk." I said as I clutched the thermos with both hands. "Let's start! Good morning everyone! First item on our agenda: cleaning Mr. Aurelion's office. Since he's here this morning, we'll wait for Henri's go signal. Beth, either you or one of your team members should do this one. I'll be there of course..." The meeting continued for a good 30 minutes.
Early Mondays are set for making sure the CEO's office is kept squeaky clean since he usually stays and works there on Saturdays and Sundays. That's done by an assigned person in the janitorial team, or Beth the team leader. I always go with whoever cleans. This is how it's always been. Beth said she's the one on rotation this Monday so we're on our way up as Henri already called.
The Aurelion Office has full double doors which I suspect could've been heavy to open, if not for the mechanism that assists it. Beth went right to work. And as always, I stood in the middle of the room to oversee everything. I don't really do any cleaning but just go through Henri's checklist as the cleaner would work on what's needed. 15 minutes later, we were out of there. Beth and I were on our way to the service elevator when Henri called out, "Ms. Ophelia, a moment please?"
"Henri, any problems?" I turned.
"Yes, actually. Mr. Aurelion's espresso machine... Well, I don't know what's wrong with it, but it's not working." He said with his hands in his pockets.
I motioned for Beth to go ahead. I'm a bit of a gear head myself so I just went with Henri towards the CEO's personal pantry.
To my surprise, the CEO occupied one of the chairs with his hands crossed in front of him. On the table is an empty coffee cup and a newspaper.
Since the espresso machine was near the door, I just did a quick nod, "Sir," then turned towards the machine. I examined the machine and the led screen was flickering. I checked the sides, the top, and the scent of burnt coffee beans filled my nostrils. "Oh, no." Realizing what was happening I shoved Henri out of the way and quickly pulled the plug from the wall. Then it happened. Everything went quiet, except for that high pitch noise. Darkness.