Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

A hand comes from under the cover and slams on the table. It misses the phone where the alarm was ringing and instead hits on the hard surface. A groan escapes in pain as that hand then finally finds the phone. A girl's head then comes out, eyes narrowing at the phone's screen. She presses the snooze button and goes back to sleep. After a few seconds, another alarm starts beeping. This time the sound was coming from the opposite direction. The girl again groans in pain because she had yet to go back to sleep. She glares at the alarm clock on the side table next to her. At this moment, she felt like throwing the device out the window but alas, she could not do that. When she reaches her hand to turn it off, she notices the time and quickly springs up, cursing loudly, "Oh Shit! I'm late!"

She quickly throws her alarm clock on her bed and runs to the bathroom. After a moment, she comes out without changing her clothes, she again lays down on her bed and says to herself, "I'm so stupid. My part-time starts at 12 p.m. and it's only 7 a.m." And soon she goes back to sleep.

Around 12, Dawn reaches the old house where she works as a part-time arts instructor, teaching the elderly how to paint for two hours. The pay wasn't that good because of the old house own funds being not that much, but the people were nice and she liked helping them and her pay was just enough for all her bills. The rest she would cover up by selling live sketches which she would do at the main market place after her job at the old house ended.

When leaving for the market place, she gets called out by a girl around her age.

"Dawn, wait!"

She turns around and pauses to wait for the girl running to catch up to her. Panting the girl adds,

"Sir replied. Did you check your email?"

Dawn excitedly brings out her phone and starts checking her latest mails.

"No, I forgot to check it this morning. What did he say? Will we finally get a chance this time?"

The girl joyfully nods her head, her eyes were sparkling.

"He accepted and gave me a theme to work on. I need to make 5 paintings based on the theme 'Solitude'. He says he will tell the date of the exhibition soon and these paintings need to be ready within two weeks!"

"Oh my god, that is so great! You will finally get to display your paintings!"

"I know, right!"

They both scream, and jump with anticipation. They couldn't control their happiness.

"What about you?"

The girl looked at Dawn who kept refreshing the page, hoping that by some miracle an email would appear but it did not.

"I did not get an email...."

Disappointment hid behind her voice.

"How could that be? We both applied at the same time. There are going to be other candidates and Sir did say that this time for sure we will get a chance. I did and you will too. Should we try messaging him?"

The girl felt sorry for Dawn. Both of them started talking to each other because of their same job and dreams. They had tried to get an exhibition via a small art institution for two years now. But each time they would get rejected and the excuse they would get was, 'Maybe next time.'

"No, there's no point in talking to him. He is going to say the same thing as before."

"Don't be disheartened. You know what, I feel that you are going to get an email soon. Maybe they are sending out emails to everyone and it takes time so that's why you haven't gotten one right now."

Dawn looks at the girl who was trying hard to cheer her up. She didn't want to worry her so she gave a half-smile and softly replied,

"I think so too. Thank you. For now, we should definitely go out for celebration."

"Totally. Are you free tonight?"

"Yeah. Are you treating?"

"Of course. Drinks on me!"

"Sure then. See you tonight."

"Okay, I'll text you the details later on. Good luck. And don't worry, you will get your chance. I know it!"

Dawn waves and starts walking to the nearby bus station. My chance? She wondered when that would happen. How long has she been trying? She can't even get a proper job. Her stubborn self won't let her quit, otherwise she would have done something else by now and would probably have made more money than she does now. Sighing, she gets on the bus. She was tired. The only thing that kept her going was her love for drawing and painting.
As the bus came to its stop, she then walked for another fifteen minutes to her designated place. She greeted the usual people around her and started setting up her things. While waiting for a costumer she observed the people around her. First, a family passed by. The children were nagging about something, the mother was scolding them for it. They went to the father to complain, he lovingly patted them and agreed to their requests, the mother smiles and gives in to their requirements. Seeing the family, made Dawn's corner of her lips curl up. She missed her parents terribly and often pondered about how her life would be if they were still here. She never really knew her mother and since she never knew her, she never missed the typical mother's touch. Her father on the other hand, she felt his absence a lot. It's different when someone you know goes away rather than someone who wasn't here in the first place. Her father died when she was in college due to heart failure. Those days were the darkest times of her life and she would never have gotten through them if it weren't for her friends who were with her. Thinking about her friends made her smile disappear. Life is strange, they all always thought that they would stay together forever but who knew that they would end up scattering away. She hears laughing noises from nearby and turns to look at a group of high school students having fun, talking and eating. She remembers about the time when she and her friends were also like that. They were all so innocent and full of passion back then. Oh, how she missed those times! Today was the day where she was sighing a lot. Suddenly a couple approaches her and she gets into her work mode.

After sketching for two to three hours, Dawn's mood was visibly better than the morning because a lot of customers came today and she managed to save extra money through which she can now finally buy new paints which she had wanted to buy for a while now. Smiling and humming to herself she starts packing her things.

"Closing up early today?"

Hearing the familiar deep voice, her face beams with excitement and she quickly looks up to see her friend, Axel. Axel was the only one who she was in regular contact with out of their whole group of seven. Though they wouldn't meet that often due to their schedules but sometimes they would make time for each other. Last week they had made plans for lunch but it got cancelled because Dawn's art class had postponed to that time, which is why they had decided to meet today.

"Yeah, I'm just done. We can go now."

"Where do you want to go?"

"Oh, I found this coffee place we can go there but you're already drinking coffee....."

She adds after noticing how Axel was holding a cup of coffee in his hand. He drinks the last sip and throws it in the nearby dustbin.

"It's fine. I will drink some more."

"You sure?"

"You know how much I love coffee."

"Right, I forgot. You're a forever coffee lover."

Axel nods while grinning. Dawn also chuckles and puts her things in her bag.

"Why haven't you made a sketch of me before?"

"I don't know. You have never asked. Though I will say that I charge depending on the type of medium I use."

"Right.....no friend discount?"

"hmm....will think about it. Now come on, let's go."

At the café, they both drink their coffees while catching up.

"Oh! By the way, guess who I ran into the book store yesterday?"

"Who?"

Axel answers her with a question

"Guess."

"Some art related dude or girl?"

"No, and it's someone we both know. Come on, it's really easy."

"Well unless it's Asher who came back from abroad, I'm guessing it's Dylan?"

He looks at her waiting for her response to see if his guess was right or wrong. She nods excitedly.

"Yup! It was Dylan. He was buying some reference books. We didn't talk much but he said that he was working at SFD magazines."

"Wow, isn't that a really famous magazine? That's so great!"

"Yeah. I invited him to come hangout with us today but he said he was busy and maybe later. Though he did agree to meet up with us two days later the day where I am meeting up with Ezra."

"That's good. Though I am not free that day."

"Yeah, Ezra told me that she invited you as well but you said you have some meeting."

"Yeah...sorry...."

"It's no problem. We all will meet up some other day on the day you're free."

"Yeah. You also talked to Ezra?"

"Yesterday night, we messaged each other. She told me she is at the training program to become an anchor."

"Do anchors have to go through any training?"

"I don't know. This is the first I am hearing of it."

"Yeah. You know, I saw Ethan about three days ago."

"Oh, where? Damn, Ethan and I have not talked for a long time now."

"He was exiting the building next to the one where I was going in for a meeting. We briefly talked and decided to meet up for coffee."

"Ethan is a really busy man. I was thinking, out of all of us, isn't Ethan the only one who managed to fulfil his dream?"

"I don't know. What was his dream anyway?"

"Wasn't it to take over his father's company?"

"No...I think it was more like getting his father's approval."

"Yeah but they both are the same thing, right?"

"No, they're not."

"You sure? Lets ask Ethan about it the next time we meet or talk."

"What about Kara though? Have you talked to her? Guessing how you both were always sticking together you must talk to her daily, right?"

Axel asked after a short silence. They both had already finished their drinks and Dawn was now eating the piece of cake she had ordered a few minutes ago.

"No."

She replied with her mouth full. Her expression went dull and she started staring off into the distance, her mind filled with memories of her best friend Kara whom she had known since elementary school but for a long time now, she had not seen her.

"That's shocking. Though it's not that surprising. A week ago I messaged her seeing how despite everyone else was active in the group chat in some way or another, she was totally invisible. She said everything was fine and that was about it. She didn't reply to any of my messages after that, in fact my messages weren't even seen."

"Same! Last I talked to her she told me she was living with that stupid, annoying boyfriend of hers, yes I still hate that guy, and she didn't study further or get a proper job which really surprised and angered me because you also know how many dreams Kara had, right? She wanted to do so many thing and knowing how she is living right now, I get the feeling she is not happy."

"Yeah, it is weird. Though we can't speak for her, maybe she is happy. Who knows."

"I know but with the way she isn't even seeing our messages is making me really worried. I'm scared that something might have happened to her."

"Should we go look for her then?"

"Do you know where she lives?"

"No, but it's not hard to find someone's address."

"True. I'll talk with Ezra and Dylan and we will go find her that day."

"Yeah, that's a good idea. I'll also ask around to find out where she is. Tell me if you guys need any help that day, I might be able to squeeze some time out of the meeting."

"It's fine. Thanks though."

Dawn smiles. Suddenly remembering something she looks at Axel and adds,

"What about Asher? Did you talk to him? That idiot never replies. Seriously, he should at least message once in a while to say hey, I am alive."

"I talked to him though the other night."

"Of course he replies to you. You're his best friend. Tell him it wouldn't hurt to reply to others once in a while, you know."

Axel chuckles at her remarks. Dawn then asks,

"So, how is he?"

"He says he is doing fine. We actually talked about our old times and then it was getting late for me, because I had to sleep and then wake up early for office."

"Oh it's good to know he's doing well. He had always dreamt of going abroad and now he finally is there."

"Yeah...though....."

Axel mumbles but Dawn is still able to catch on. She repeats his word while raising her brow,

"Though?"

"I don't know....I just felt something was weird with him."

"Weird? Like what?"

"Who knows. Must be my imagination."

"Hmm...it could be because you guys aren't that close like you used to be."

"I guess so."

Axel replies, taking out his wallet and paying for their bill.

"Hey! What are you doing? We decided to pay for our own, didn't we?"

"No. We never said that."

"Then why did you pay?"

"It's my treat."

Axel smirks while getting up to leave. Dawn also reflexively gets up and grabs her purse.

"Treat? Without any occasion?"

"There is an occasion. I got promoted today."

"Oh my god! Why didn't you tell me this before?"

Dawn exclaims with excitement. Axel in turn just shrugs which makes Dawn hits his shoulder lightly.

"Why aren't you happy? It's a huge deal!"

"I am happy."

He smiles widely.

"You don't look happy."

"What else do you want me to do? I am truly happy and grateful which is why I also gave you a treat."

"True, anyhow I have to go. See you some other day."

Dawn quickly checks the time and notices how she has to go to her house put her stuff back and then meet up with her colleague for drinks which is going to take more than two hours.

"Same. Let's catch up again, soon? Take care."

Dawn starts looking at the bus station across the road. She starts searching for the bus timings online. Axel notices this and offers,

"Hey, do you want me to drop you off?"

"Oh...you sure? Don't you have some stuff to do?"

"Nah, I was just gonna go home and sleep."

"If that's so then thank you."

After Axel drops her off, she also requests him to drop her at the place where she was going for drinks. Axel jokes about how she's making him her driver and she laughs in return though she does thank him again and again to which Axel says it's no problem and that he can help her when she wants. She invites him to join them but Axel refuses saying how he just wants to go home and sleep.

Dawn and her colleague celebrate her good news and while she goes to get more drinks, Dawn checks her email once again. She had done that all day today after every few minutes, hoping that her mail would come and she would finally get her dream fulfilled. She imagined what kind of theme would she get. If she were to get solitude like her colleague, she pondered over what type of paintings she would paint. She also reminded herself about all the art supplies she will need to buy. Overall, she couldn't hold it in any longer and just wanted the email to be here. And finally came the mail. Without blinking, she opened it. Her expressions while reading the said email went from excitement to nervousness to complete blank.

"What's wrong? Oh! Did you get the email? What's your theme?"

"....it says next time....."

Dawn mumbles sadly. Her eyes were glossy and if she were not at a public place, she would've bursted out in tears. Her colleague tried to console her but right now, Dawn felt like being alone. But she did not say anything because she didn't want to destroy her colleague's big night. After clearing her throat, she quickly changes the topic as her mind still lingered at the thought of why her and when would she finally get her chance.