The Unexpected

Chapter One

Elle nodded at the doorman as she fumbled with her coat, her teeth firmly clutching her pocket notebook when he tipped his hat to her while she passed through the door he held open. She burst onto the street and her dark hair immediately began to swirl around her in the cold December wind. Elle walked briskly down the busy street as she flipped through her notebook and reached into her coat pocket when her cell phone rang.

"Elle Ryan."

"Elle, it's Portia. When are you getting in this morning?"

"I'll be there in about 20 minutes. Is there something you need me to cover?" Her editor usually only called her when there was some breaking story and everyone else was already off covering other events.

"No, nothing pressing, just come to my office when you get here. I've got an idea for a series."

"Sure, I'll ..." Portia had already hung up. She wasn't a woman for formalities, like saying good-bye.

Elle dropped her phone back into her pocket as she skipped down the steps to the subway.  She turned to squeeze past a man in an expensive suit that was standing in the doorway of the train, and she grew uneasy. Her editor at The Star rarely offered story ideas to her; it was usually her pitching to the editor. The last time Portia had asked her to cover one of her suggested stories for the lifestyle column, she had to dress up as a video game character and mingle with the other die hards at comic-con.  It had not been an enjoyable weekend for her at all. Apparently when you dress as a character at comic-con others actually expect you to be somewhat of an expert on that game; which she was definitely not. She had actually been ostracized as the weekend went on while word spread that she was nothing more than a "wannabe". Elle had found the whole thing to be incredibly ironic as it appeared that the geeks had finally turned the tables and created a segment of society where it was cool to be a dork. Her subsequent column on just that observation did nothing to endear her further to this trendy group and as a result she received hate mail for weeks from geeks the world over.

Elle swayed as the train left the station and she steadied herself with the help of one of the hand straps. She was soon lost in her thoughts, which was a common occurrence with her, and visions of herself auditioning for Canadian Idol began to form in her mind. The show was due to stop in Toronto next week, and the more Elle thought of it, the more she became convinced that this was her next assignment. Her feelings on the subject must have been evident on her face as she was jolted back to reality when an elderly woman, who had obviously seen better days, barked at her.

"Have you got a problem bitch?!" The woman's missing teeth caused her to lisp slightly as she spat out the words.

Elle quickly snapped back to reality and replied with a look of shock, "Uhm...no."

"Well you've been giving me dirty looks since you got on the train! Fuck off!"

Elle felt her face flush and she squeezed herself between the others on the train until the woman disappeared from view. As she glanced around sheepishly to see if anyone had witnessed her embarrassing dressing down by the filthy old woman, she noticed, that in typical Toronto fashion, no one had even bothered to look up from their papers or BlackBerrys.

"Just my luck" she thought, "the only person who even bothered to acknowledge my existence on this train is the crazy, toothless lady. She'd have to jump up and murder me before anyone in this town would bat an eye, and even then it would only be to record the whole thing to post on YouTube! "

The train came to a stop and people sprang to life as they jostled to make their way through the door and up towards the cool Toronto morning. It wasn't far up the crowded sidewalk along Younge Street to her desk at The Star, and she navigated the route like a pro.