Secret Admirer

Pilot/Chapter 1

My eyes open slowly as I recognize the noise of the city and the loud beeping of my alarm clock. I push myself up with my right hand and slide my feet on the hardwood floor. A shiver climbs up my back and my body shakes.

"Gotta turn that heat up." I speak to myself. I stand up and pivot on my feet so I am facing the double bed. I pull the sheet up towards my pillow, then the comforter. My head turns to look at the clock and the bright green numbers flash 7:30am. I hit the snooze button then unplug the clock from the wall. I have my internship in two hours at Advanced Pet Care, the local vet. I'm studying to become a Veterinarian at the University of California. I walk across the room into my small walk-in closet and move the clothes hangers over on the bar, trying to find the perfect outfit. Finally, I chose my grey Starbucks tank, very pale light blue ripped jeans and my black Converse. Once my clothes are on I walk to the bathroom in the tiny studio apartment and open my makeup case. I put on my concealer, powder, mascara, eyeliner and quickly rub my vanilla Eos on my lips.

Once my makeup is finished I throw my long brown hair into a loose side fishtail braid. I stop for a second and look in the mirror. My hair looks quite nice, better than usual. The eyeliner compliments my dark green eyes and makes them look very sparkly. Smiling at myself, I turn around and walk slowly into the kitchen. I get to the kitchen, open the fridge door and look for the strawberries I bought to make smoothies. I search the fridge then grab the milk, vanilla yogurt, fresh strawberries and one banana. I close the door and squat down towards the cupboard with the tupperware and cutting boards. I pull out my favourite cutting board and toss it onto the island counter. I push myself back up then open another drawer, the one with the cutlery. I rummage through the dividers for a knife. My hand come across a sharp object so I pull it out and discover that it's a knife. I rip open the banana and chop it into small pieces. After throwing those into the cup of my Nutri-Bullet, I walk over to the sink and wash the strawberries in my hands. The cold water flows into my hands the down the drain. It reminds me of the time my mother, my father and me went to Niagara Falls, before my father's death. He died while mining at work, according to some of the people who survived, a group of of ten or fifteen, including my father were going into the mine in an elevator when one of the new employees lit some dynamite, thinking that the group wasn't going down yet. He killed eight men in total, including himself and injured the rest. I was five at the time, my mother and me where anxiously waiting for him to get home because he was two hours late. We heard a knock on the door and our stomachs jumped into our throats. My mother walked over towards the door and slowly turned the handle. I shuffled over to the door and payed close attention.

"Hello, are you Mrs. Johnson?" asked a man with dark brown hair and a beard. He was about 5'7 and he appeared to be in his late thirties.

"Yes, and you are?" My mother asked him, glancing over to me.

"I am Officer James, from the California City Police Department." The man responded, I could hear the fear and sadness in his voice.

"Mr. Johnson has perished in a accident at the mine." said Officer James, looking at the welcome mat just outside the door.

"Mommy, is daddy okay?" I asked, not knowing what the word perished meant.

"Paige, honey, your father, um, he, he died at the mine. But he is in a better place now, it's called heaven." My mother said, tears streaming down her face.

"Daddy is dead?" I asked, beginning to cry as I hugged my mother.

"Yes Paige." My mother replied quietly, her voice muffled by my shirt. We cried together for about an hour, talking about the fun times that we had had together.

I snapped out of the daydream and shut off the water. I cut the strawberries and added them to the milk, vanilla yogurt and banana.

"Okay, I've got one hour until work starts." I say to myself, while plugging the Nutri-Bullet into the plugin on the wall. I screw on the top and begin blending my smoothie. It makes a loud whirring noise, as it mixes the ingredients together. Once it is completely blended, I take the cup off and unplug the Nutri-Bullet. I stride over to the straw container that is sitting beside the sink and I grab a green straw then shove it into my drink. I stroll over to my small couch and sit down. I grab the black remote and aim it at the TV. It turns on and I open the guide to pick what show to watch. I press the up and down buttons, trying to find TLC. Finally I find it on channel 195, so I press okay and my TV changes to TLC.