Emily

"Finally, home." I breathe, releasing my aching feet from the trainers.

Darth Vader's theme tune belts out in the hallway from within my cargo bottoms, and my heartbeat skyrockets to another level before I scramble for the device. Mum's picture from the time when she had her blonde hair in a cute bob appears across the screen, and through my frustration and fatigue, I'm still able to smile.

"Hey, mum."

I can imagine the grin on her face by the squeal she emits. "Emily! I'm so glad I caught you!" She yells. "Your dad has planned a big surprise for my birthday, and I need you to help me figure out what it is!"

Leaning on the banister, I place the phone in the crook of my neck to pull off my socks. "You know that's something I can't help you with," I laugh, and she whines down the line.

"It was worth a try; you know I get it from you," she mumbles childishly.

A disbelieving noise comes from me as I take the phone again. "I think it's meant to be the other way around, mum."

There's a silent pause. "Tomato, tomato."

Rolling my eyes, I trek up to my bedroom while shedding my work top. "Whatever you say."

There's shuffling on her end, and a few muffled voices before there's a shut of a door. If my guess is correct, she will be at her girl's night book club. "How was work honey? I know when we last spoke it was on the tender side."

I snort while dropping my shirt and socks on the carpet.

Tender my ass, the boss is a complete jerk who needs a reality check.

"Gerald brought in some cargos for me because the black jogging bottoms I've been wearing for a month isn't good enough anymore." I shake my head as I kick off the bottoms a little harder than intended. "That's not even the worst part. The worst part is that he had the audacity to give me a size twenty-four. A twenty-four!"

"When did you put on weight?"

I frown. "Mum."

Mum's laughter echoes on the other end before she chuckles and eventually calms down by the time I've managed to slip on my pyjama shorts and the cute night shirt she got me last Christmas. "I'm only joking, sweetheart; I know you haven't. He gave you the right size in the end, right?" As if sensing my frustrated nod, she continues. "Honey, all I can say is keep doing what you're doing and report him if he doesn't let up because you can't be treated like that. If you would like, I can help you file a report on Monday?"

I shake my head. "Thanks mum, but I think I'll be alright. I'll see how it goes next week, and if there's no change I'll do as you said. Does that drink shop still want people?"

"Do you want me to put in a word for you?"

Her voice is soft, and I'm so glad that I've been lucky to have her as a mum growing up. And I wouldn't change her for anything in the world.

Running my hand through my hair, I say, "Only if that's OK? I've just got a feeling Gerald's going to be a pain, and I'd rather do something different. The drink shop looks like a nicer place, and the colleagues don't have any problems by what I could see, so I'd rather do more hours there than what I'm trying to work for in his business," I reply, hopping on the bed with a light bounce.

"Alright, I'll do that first thing tomorrow morning."

Reclining onto the mattress, my fingers fiddle with the alarm icon before I scroll through the digits until they land on 8:00 a.m. and I double check it's been set before making sure my volume bars are at their max.

"Honey?"

"Sorry, what was that?" I ask, sheepish.

She sighs deeply before repeating. "Brendan has been calling for you."

My grip on the device tightens. "What did you say to him?"

Becoming restless, I flop onto my front as she clears her throat. "That you need time. He looks genuine, like he needs to get through to you."

This time, my disbelief isn't playful or faked. "Yeah, I bet he was. Like I bet he seemed genuine with all those other women he's been with. I'm not interested."

After messing up so bad, you would think a man would take his pride and leave everything as it is, but not Brendan. No, he has to try to work his way in just to mess with you all over again. I'm not paying that asshole any more attention, he's had his chance and now he can do this with Cheryl.

"OK, darling. . . anyway, it's getting late, I'll let you head off," mum murmurs.

I chuckle. "Mum, it's only just gone nine o'clock, that's not late." But I'm thankful for the change of topic.

"It is if you have work tomorrow. If you get tired, you won't be able to leave early," she reminds, and I cringe.

"Alright, I'll head to bed soon."

"And don't forget to stay off your phone," she warns.

Turning onto my side, I playfully huff. "I'm twenty-two now, mum; you can't be saying that anymore," I chastise.

Mum doesn't say anything for what feels like a few minutes, and when she does, I don't miss the worry in her voice. "I'm just concerned. . . for your eyes. You have lovely eyes."

My fingers absentmindedly brush across my left eyelid, knowing a slightly darker version of mum's blue irises lay underneath both. She's always loved my eyes, and I've always been happy to get them from her because ever since I was little, I'd always wanted to be her miniature copy.

A smile plays on my lips. "Alright, I won't stay up late—not that I normally do, and I hardly have time to use my phone now. I'll be asleep by half past, OK?"

There's a relieved exhale, and I know I've won. "Deal. OK, good night, Emily, sleep well."

Grinning, I say, "You too, and don't forget to say good night to your club from me."

"Oh! You herd Candice in the background," she laughs. "That woman has had too much wine."

After saying another good night to each other, the call dies, and my body doesn't want to move right away. The fact Brendan's trying to get in with my parents has riled me up, and I'm a click away from our messages to say that he needs to do one. Only, I don't. And I leave his last message unopened like a coward, even though I should be the one hounding him for everything and take control.

Rolling over on the mattress with a loud huff, I throw my head back into the pillows. Twirling my device in my fingers for a moment, my thumb hovers over each icon until I eventually click on one of my comfort sources: Wattpad.

The cute white and orange logo brightens up my screen, and the first thing I see is all the suggested books I could simmer through. But none of them pick my fancy. I hesitate on pressing the Write icon where I know my barely began story resides. Instead, my thumb connects with the search button where I can scour the categories. Closing my eyes, I hit a random genre before the Adventure tab opens and I'm offered a lengthy list of all the treasures it has at its disposal.

Beaming at the screen, I avoid anything with romance in for now, and finally settle on a Sci-Fi Adventure I've never seen before. There's a considerable number of chapters, it's complete, and that's my type of book.

I'll read three, and then I'll go to bed.

. . . "There's no way out, what are we going to do?"

Gritting his teeth, Tristan eyes the crack in the wall where they had come from before, he pinches the bridge of his nose. "There's only one thing we can do." He turns to Helina, gripping her upper arms to gain her focus. "We have to go back the way we came and face it."

Leaning against the headboard with my face inches from the screen, there's fifteen minutes to eleven. The urge to see Tristan and Helina at least get past this creature is too hard to pass up. If they end up in another nook conjuring a plan, I'll wait until tomorrow to carry it on.

I can squeeze in another chapter before I turn in.

. . . "Helina, I will find you!"

"Tristan!"

Yawning with a sluggish stretch, I rub my eyes and set my phone down on the bedside cabinet after plugging in the charger. Eight hours will be enough sleep, and thankfully Tamsin will be in, so I can share this story with her if she hasn't read it already.

My phone vibrates against the wooden cabinet, and a groan passes my lips. Tossing over, I pick it up and stare at the notification bar with hooded eyes. Tamsin.

From Tamsin: Hey, Girl. Nicki said to have a late start today because we have a shortage of staff. Once Clair has sorted out her affairs, she's going to come down and give us a hand. Starting will be at 12:00 a.m. I'll see you then!

Hearing that is a relief. I'll never turn down a lay in, but that means it will cut it close to my after-hours cleaning—unless Nicki is a saint and lets us finish regular time instead of running us into the night shifter's time.

To Tamsin: Thank you for the heads up, also, I have a book on Wattpad I want to show you! See you tomorrow :)

I'm about to lock my phone when two messages pop up, and they're not Tamsin.

From Brendan: Baby, I want to talk. Please, just give me a chance to explain.

From Brendan: If you weren't like this, I wouldn't have been distracted. Please, you owe me some time to explain. I'm sorry, you know I love you.

Gritting my teeth, I swipe them away like I do with him to the back of my mind. Scrolling down to W, I click the Wattpad icon and continue from where I left off with Tristan and his promise to find Helina.

I'm not sure how long I've been reading for, but I know my phone is fully charged. Brendan's messages keep coming through, and I know the best way to drown it out is to switch on music, turn off the world, and read one more chapter before I hit the hay. Curling up under the covers, with another yawn and a stretch, I press on and relax with Seven by Jungkook whilst flicking to the next chapter.

Everything is in darkness. There's nothing to be seen for as far as the eye can see, not even the faintest flicker of light. I'm about to call out when faint clicking and buzzing comes from the distance. Spinning around on the balls of my feet, the faintest blue dot greets me in the beyond, and the noise grows louder as it crosses the void. It's frantic, and before I know it, all these letters and numbers are whizzing around me, painting most of the nothingness in a neon blue.

It rushes past me after a while, and what remains is shapes, like circuits until they bleed into a brilliant white at the end. The lines begin to pulse, and I can feel myself being pulled toward its centre, and a part of me knows I shouldn't let it tug me in, but I can't stop it. Nothing is solid, and when it looks to be in reach, my fingers grab air. I want to scream, but nothing comes out. I'm spiralling out of control, and I want to do nothing more than just wake up and feel reality—even if it's me lying in bed and hearing Brendan's messages ping into my notification bar.

Once I'm surrounded by the blinding light, it vanishes in a blink of an eye. I'm left in a grey space for the quickest amount of time, and then I'm being dropped from the sky. When I look up, it's not the sky; it reminds me of fog but not as thick, but when my view turns down, I'm greeted by a white canvas with black lines scribbled across it.

Throwing my arms in front of my face to shield it from a deadly impact, I'm jolted back by the last second and then I'm dropped by an invisible force onto the ground. Groaning, my hands fly to my neck to keep it stable, and they soon fly to my stomach as it churns from the abrupt change in direction. When nothing comes out, a small whimper comes from me.

My skin pulses with vibrations shortly before it tingles. Running my hand along my bare arm, my eyes widen while my mouth gapes at the pixelated space where my limbs should be. It doesn't take long for the miniature rectangles to knit together until they compact and turn neon pink. Shaking my arm, trying to bat at the electric shocks radiating through my body, the cyber glow begins to fade, and leaves my fair complexion in its place.

What's going on?

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