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5: Nothing like a little case of Denial.

Jasmine

I woke up to the feeling of soft duvet sheets wrapped up around my body and the warm feeling of the little peaks of sunlight touching gently against my face. My alarm clock rang loudly next to me. It was probably the reason I was even waking up. I opened my eyes, stretched and sat on my bed for a while with a small smile on my face. However, in the back of my mind I felt as though there was something I had forgotten. It was almost like an irritating itch at the back of my head which I couldn’t quite reach. Nonetheless, I brushed the feeling off and got out of the bed with a few hums here and there and then made my way to the bathroom, ready to brush my teeth and get ready for work. I grabbed my toothbrush, smeared on some minty toothpaste and lifted it up to my mouth. The toothbrush, however, never made its way to my teeth. Instead, it fell right back into the basin once I’d caught a glance of my reflection. For a moment, I could do nothing but stare at myself in absolute horror.

A large, deep, bright red bite mark was visible right on the side of my neck, glaring back at me mockingly.

"No, th- this has to be all in my head." I gasped touching the mark and then winced as a sharp pain shot through my neck. It was at that moment that everything came rushing back into my mind and I realised I was not feeling as normal as I had made myself feel. Instead, I physically felt drained and sick to my stomach. My skin was on fire underneath the fabric of my... pyjamas? But I didn't recall ever putting my pyjamas on. In fact, the only thing I did remember about last night were... red eyes, sharp teeth and... the pain. I winced again as the memories continued to swarm through my head. It could not have been real, could it? My boss could not have been that beast... could he? I dismissed the bizarre notion and concluded that my neck was most probably just covered in some sort of rare, nasty flesh-eating rash and that after work I'd just have to go to the doctor. As for the "memories" from last night, they were all just probably another part of another series of my recurring nightmares.

I arrived at work at exactly half past seven with heavy pants and a neck itching and burning from the cheap "silk" scarf covering my "rash". Everything was going quite well until I neared the bio-metrics system to scan my fingerprint and card so I could gain access to the building. It was then that I realised... it was seven-thirty. Now, this would not have been a problem any other day. In fact, I would have even considered myself punctual. However, on this faithful day, I had forgotten about something rather important-

"Shit! The damn coffee."

And with that I raced to the coffee shop, placed an order, almost on the brink of tears- someone better have had 9-1-1 on speed dial- as I waited not-so-patiently, tapping my feet and tugging at my black hair.

"Your order!" Kevin yelled.

I basically grabbed it from him and left the store hurriedly and wordlessly. It was at this auspicious moment that my phone began to ring in my handbag. I fiddled with a free hand in the bag and managed to retrieve my phone almost dropping it in the process. As soon as I read the caller ID, my heart sank... no, in actual fact, it stopped beating for a total twenty-nine seconds. I, however, did not let this stop me from walking. Even if I died on this spot, my corpse would still be expected to carry on its journey and deliver the coffee to Mr Michaels.

"Kill me now." I muttered before swiping the green call button across my screen.

"Hello, my little Vixen." His deep, husky voice greeted from the other end of the line. In all honesty, I hated calls from him.

"Lucien, hi... this isn't really a good time right now can I-"

"Call me back?"

I nodded at the phone, forgetting that he could not actually see me.

"Hello?"

Stupid.

I apologised and then replied with a curt, “yes”. He, however, did not put the phone down and insisted that he only needed five minutes of my time. So, unable to ever really say no to Lucien, I obliged. Apparently, Lucien wanted to meet with me for a routine check-up, which was odd, considering I had met up with him a few weeks ago. Once again, no was not really an option in this game of "single choice" and so I agreed. After a curt greeting, he put the phone down and by then, I found myself alone in the elevator which was on its way up to Mr Michaels' office. It was then that I gave in and let the tears flow down my face, their wetness staining my pale skin and falling onto my white button up shirt. This was not part of my scheduled cry sessions at all, and I was quite shocked. It was not like me to get so over-emotional so quickly and suddenly. My tears were, however, cut short when the elevator door opened revealing Mrs Connor, who entered the lift with a nasty scowl. I wiped my tears away quickly and stared wordlessly at the elevator doors, completely ignoring her. It was sort of a "if you don't move, she won't attack" kind of tactic. It failed miserably though, and instead she turned to me and said, "You really could not do one simple thing for me."

Excuse her? This bitch was not seriously daring to let those words leave her lips!

"I asked you to be quick about the coffee, but no. I had to be reprimanded by him. Do you know how stressful it is being me..."

And she continued to rant and ramble while I just stared at her in disbelief and growing annoyance. My annoyance grew so profound that, when the elevator door opened at my floor, I sighed and, contrary to my role as "Jasmine 'Floormat' Spectra" I said, loudly and in front of the whole office watching through the opening cracks of the door, "Oh fuck you, Lily. Why don't you take your complaints and shove it up your ass, because I really could not even bring myself to care about your fucking lousy life when I have my own Goddamn shit to deal with you sad, nagging bitch."

And with that I stormed out of the elevator, practically running past shocked, gaping mouths.

"Fuck my life right now." I whispered under my breath. I really let a little Vixen slip out there.

As soon as I reached the door to Mr Michaels' office I froze. What if last night's events were not hallucinations? What if my boss really was a beast? I kept questioning myself over and over again for such a long time that ten minutes had passed by before, with shaky hands, a tight chest and tears threatening to fall, I opened the door.

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