Blood, Dust and Honey

1. September Sun

First days, familiar and not-so-familiar faces, and tasty treats. Also, the sky is nice.

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The September sun streaked through the half open curtains, the weak light bringing in a sparse warmth and indicating a good day ahead. I exited my wardrobe in triumph, previously missing bag in hand as my gaze wandered over the messy room before me. My bed was unmade, piles of folded clothes were placed randomly around the room and my laundry basket had tipped over, dirty clothes spilling out of its limited confinement. I grimaced at the sight and debated how mad future self would be if I left it for the night.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of one of my alarms going off, indicating I had about an hour left before I had to be at work.

I sighed as I placed the phone on my bedside table as I decided to clean up my room. I cleared away the table, dumping anything unnecessary into its drawer before starting to make the bed, tossing the blankets on the floor to dust and straighten out the sheets underneath.

Humming as I worked, I made the bed before putting the folded clothes back where they belonged then moving to the fallen laundry basket. As I tossed the clothes back in, I wondered when next I could do my laundry. Surveying the room, I nodded in satisfaction before moving into the kitchen with the recently retrieved bag in hand.

I carefully packed my bag for the day; container of sandwiches I had the common sense of making the night before, bottle of water and-

I grumbled as I went back to my room to get a change of clothes for the evening. I had to rummage through the wardrobe again and decided that I'd just clean it up when I got back. Clothes in hand, I stuffed them into the bag and checked the time on my phone. I grimaced at the time on the screen. If I didn't hurry up, I would miss the bus, and then I would definitely be late.

Before I left the room, I did a quick check of myself in the mirror, smoothing down my cornrows and flyaway strands of hair. I should probably get them redone this weekend. I sighed and gave myself a reassuring smile as my eyes drifted down to the printed logo of the Ebott City Police Department on the white golf shirt. I had been ecstatic when I had received it in the mail; an indicator of my acceptance into their Academy Recruit Programme and the culmination of all my hard work at the Ebott City Police Academy. I smiled softly at the memory of the congratulatory texts I got from my brother and parents.

My eyes snapped back upwards and I quickly took a picture of myself to send to the family group chat later, sure that at least one of them would appreciate some kind of update on what I was getting up to. I scanned the room before rushing out of my apartment, trying to catch the bus before it left. I called an apology to the apartment owner as I rushed past them. Breathless, I only had a moment to catch it before the bus arrived, grateful that I had managed to reach it in time at all.

The bus driver greeted me warmly and I returned the greeting as I paid for the fare. I navigated past more commuters—monsters and humans alike—before finding taking an empty seat by the window. I gazed out at the looming skyscrapers and colourful buildings as they passed, significantly improved since monsterkind's arrival.

When they had arrived a couple of years ago, nobody had expected the drastic changes the city would undergo because of them. At the time, I had been at the Academy and only felt a fraction of them with some of the food options getting insanely better. By the time the monsters had equal rights, the city was thriving in a way that sounded almost utopian. Granted, there were still the occasional protests as the mayor tries to pass a bill that will give them free roam over the entire globe, and a few blog posts and store fronts that vehemently deny the existence of monsters, but overall? Their reappearance had been beneficial to everyone, even if some people refused to see it.