Cheryl walked through the main door of the apartment. She was dead tired from her job as a caterer. She had just dealt with the most frustrating customer ever. They had asked her to achieve the impossible: 10,000 units within 24 hours. Of course, the customer was a Bridezilla and expected her to be like The Flash with lightning speed. She was not quick and in no way could she do all those in the time frame.

She could still hear the woman screeching and cursing her out when she broke the news to her. All of Cheryl's workers stared at them both with looks of concern and annoyance. If the lady could slam that door any harder, it would have come right off the hinges.

Cheryl climbed the third flight of stairs. She lived on the top floor, which was the fifth one. The staircase seemed to get taller and longer within each flight she had to climb. She yawned, adjusted her backpack, and continued to walk up.

"Why didn't these people create windows for this hallway? It's so stuffy," Cheryl said to herself as she climbed on the last flight.

The only light was from the lights hanging on the ceiling. The place smelt of rotten fish and Cheryl hated every second of it. She walked down the hallway until she reached the seventh door on the right. She quickly fished her keys out of her bag and opened the door to her unit.

Once she had stepped inside and closed the door, she let out a sigh of relief. She was quite happy about relaxing and unwinding after her long day. Today was the first day in a long while that she didn't have any more clients and finished quite early.

Cheryl hung her bag on the hook behind the door and darted straight to her room. Her unit wasn't as big as it would look on the outside, but it was just the right size for her. She had been living in this apartment since her parents kicked her out of their house when she was seventeen. She still remembered the look of disappointment on her mother's face and the anger in her father's eyes. She remembered the tears that she shed when she left the house.

"Was this a game to you? Why would you do this?" her mother pleaded, tears rolled down her face.

Cheryl shook her head and stared at herself in the mirror. She looked exhausted, dark bags under her eyes, her posture slumped slightly and her once smile was now a dull neutral line. She slipped out of her black uniform and into the bright pink bathroom to shower.

She let out a sigh of relief as the warm water hit her skin, releasing the tension that she had held all day. Slowly, she sat on the bathroom floor, the water ran down her back and she closed her eyes. Her mind had wandered to what her life would have been like if she didn't choose catering, what she would have done and what she her life would have been like.

She probably wouldn't have been as successful as she was now, probably wouldn't be earning hundreds of thousands each day. She thought of all the amazing clients she met day in, day out and how happy they were to see her creations on their tables, at their weddings, birthdays, engagements, and special events. It brought her joy to see how excited her clients were.

The sudden cold water jolted Cheryl away from her thoughts.

"Damn water timers!" she cursed under her breath and turned the water off.

As she climbed out of the shower, she realised she forgot her towel on her bed.

"Crap nuggets!" she cursed herself again.

She quickly rushed out of the bathroom and into her bedroom. Cheryl's room was decorated in dull colours but that's what she loved. She adored dark colours like blacks and greys, pops of white here and there to add a touch of colour. She couldn't say the same about her shop as it was quite the opposite. Very bright, very eye-catching.

Cheryl pulled out her Zebra printed pyjamas from her wardrobe and immediately put them on. It was freezing cold, but she didn't mind the cold all that much. She had never seen snow a day in her life but she wished one day she could.

She walked out of her room and into the living room. She didn't feel too hungry, but she really wanted to watch a movie. Upon standing at the cabinet for a while, she finally picked out her favourite horror movie. The Nun. She put the movie on and jumped onto the sofa.

--

Cheryl woke up with pins and needles in her neck and her back.

"What the hell happened to me?" she mumbled.

It dawned on her that she had fallen asleep on the sofa midway into the movie. She cursed herself and looked at the clock across from the sofa.

"Damn it! I need to go now if I'm going to make it in time for opening the shop!"

She didn't care all that much about eating, she usually skipped breakfast every day anyway. Once she got her keys and bag, she was out the door again. Thankfully, she didn't have to walk far from the building to her car but she did curse the people who parked too close to her from the front and back. She never understood why people didn't leave her enough room to get her car out but she would have to try. Even if it meant her going back and forth a million times like a Ping-Pong ball.

After she had gotten her car out of her parking spot, she made the thirty minute drive downtown to her shop. As she pulled up to the shop, she could see her employees waiting for her. They were always early but she loved them. She stared down the road at the alleyway. She had heard a lot of rumours about a shop with no sign and barely any customers. She had a bad feeling about it but she instantly shook it off. 

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A/N:

Thank you for reading the first chapter!

Wordcount this chapter: 1026