Insomniac

Chapter One

Where she lived was closer to the hotel so she took a little exercise that morning. The security booth was still closed, an indication that they were sleeping. But she knew better than to question it, it wasn’t her compound. Sure, she lived there but if anything happened because the old men that they hired had no idea what the word security meant—she knew how to defend herself.  A headache began as soon as she stepped outside of the compound, partly because of the relentless sunshine glaring down on everything. Her phone, safely tucked away in her bag, began to vibrate. 

When she checked it, her walking slowed and she closed her eyes briefly, in an effort to invoke calm. Her hands began to shake involuntarily and she clenched them at her sides, inhaling and exhaling slowly. It wasn’t going to bother her, not today. The day broke well, and she was going to make sure that it continued that way.

She trudged on and reached the hotel in a few minutes and entered through the back gate, marvelling at its beauty as it loomed over her head. The brownstone walls and tainted windows made the place feel at home every time she visited. It wasn’t massive, but the sheer size of it was accommodating enough. She had to tilt her head to see the top, but the sunlight blinded her momentarily. Kaldi’s Koffee, the coffee shop next door, she was a regular at. It was in the same yard as the hotel, more like an extension. And it attended to her needs well.

Jimmy, the barista, spotted her walking up the entranceway of the hotel and waved her over. She guessed that he was just arriving at work. She just smiled and shook her head before going inside.

Her stomach cursed at her for denying it the goodness of coffee, and the calmness that it provided. But she pushed on and ignored it, reaching the doors of the hotel. 

Today is not the day to be a coffee junkie.

The revolving doors always put her on edge for some reason. She thought that it reminded her of the rough playing that she and her brother did at her mother’s shop when they were kids. The door was a swinging one with a tight spring at the top that would bring it back swinging, no matter how hard it was pulled. They hurt each other a lot with the door, and even to today’s date—she could still feel the pain whenever she saw one of them. She chose to use the normal door over to the side, and stepped into the welcoming air conditioning of the lobby. It was mostly empty, except for the lobbyist behind her desk that she waved to before continuing down the hallway, and a pastry chef who was setting up his little work station on the other side.

Zelah found the office that she was interviewed in quickly, and knocked before opening. Balil, the man who interviewed her, was on the phone behind his desk, and he beckoned at her in a ‘come’ motion. The cold office enveloped her and she shivered involuntarily. She had had enough cold to last her the entire morning, and Balil’s office felt like the inside of a freezer. 

“Good morning, Miss Cooper, please sit down.” He had ended the call and now gestured at the seat across from him. “I trust that you are ready to start today?” 

“Yes, I’m ready. If that’s okay.” She bit her lower lip in nervousness when he averted his gaze from her face to check something on his phone. He was a beautiful man. His height was attractive, even the way his clothes held to him—she found mesmerizing. He was generous with his smiles, and his pearly white teeth never failed to get a response from her lips. There was almost no flaw on the man—except the fact that for a man his age, he was balding too soon. But she put it off to a generational curse—something he probably inherited from his father. This morning, he had on black jeans and a red tee shirt.