Sarah's alarm clock buzzed loudly, shattering the silence of her small, dimly lit bedroom. She groaned and slapped the snooze button, pulling the blankets tighter around her. Another day had begun, and it felt no different from the last.
"Sarah, you're going to be late for work again!" her inner voice scolded her, but it was a familiar nagging she'd grown used to.
Rolling out of bed, Sarah shuffled to the bathroom, her feet cold on the worn-out carpet. She looked at herself in the mirror, sighing at the sight of her tired eyes and messy hair.
Downstairs, the coffee machine gurgled to life, filling the kitchen with the comforting aroma of freshly brewed coffee. Sarah's phone buzzed with a text message.
"Morning, Sarah! Don't forget to grab your lunch from the fridge. Love, Mom."
She couldn't help but smile at her mother's sweet reminders. Her lunch, neatly packed in a brown bag, was waiting for her next to the fridge. A ham and cheese sandwich, an apple, and a note that read, "Have a great day, sweetheart."
After a quick breakfast and a hurried shower, Sarah grabbed her bag and headed out the door. The streets were bustling with people rushing to work, but nobody seemed to notice her. It was as if she were invisible, just another face in the crowd.
On the subway, she squeezed into a packed car, sandwiched between a man in a suit engrossed in his newspaper and a woman with earbuds in, nodding along to her music. Sarah pulled out her book, hoping to lose herself in its pages and forget about the monotony of her daily commute.
At work, Sarah's desk was buried under a mountain of paperwork. Her co-workers chatted about weekend plans and shared funny stories, but she was always on the outskirts of their conversations, never quite part of the group.
"Sarah, can you make those copies for the meeting later?" her boss called from across the room, barely looking up from his computer.
"Sure," she mumbled, her voice lost in the office's constant hum of activity.
The day dragged on, filled with the usual routine of emails, meetings, and more paperwork. At lunchtime, she sat alone in the break room, savoring her sandwich and thinking about the high school reunion invitation that had arrived in the mail.
As the workday came to a close, Sarah returned home, the apartment just as silent and lonely as she'd left it. She reheated some leftovers for dinner and settled in front of the TV, scrolling through social media to see what her old classmates were up to.
It seemed like everyone was living exciting lives, full of laughter and adventures, while she was stuck in a rut. A sense of melancholy settled over her, and she wondered if she should attend the reunion if only to relive some of those long-forgotten moments of laughter and joy.
With that thought, she drifted off to sleep, hoping that maybe, just maybe, life had something unexpected in store for her.
Chapter 1 ended with Sarah's thoughts of attending the high school reunion, a glimmer of hope in her otherwise mundane life.
VOCÊ ESTÁ LENDO
Secrets in the Silence: A Thriller Short Story
Mistério / SuspenseIn a small town, four friends-Sarah, Lisa, Emily, and Jennifer-are haunted by a dark and enigmatic past from their high school years. Their lives were forever altered by the mysterious disappearance of Jennifer during their high school prom. The e...
