Revenge Upon the World

Chapter 1 - From Weak to Strong

Lyra was a hard worker. She always had been. She'd put in a staggering amount of effort to get through her education with the highest grades possible. Throughout her time in school, she was constantly bullied and mocked for being the 'nerd' of their grade, but she had no choice but to put up with it. Retaliation could have meant being thrown out of school and ruining her chances at a future. It got to her, but it was nothing she couldn't handle.

Even then, Lyra barely managed to get a place in college despite the work she was putting in. This was almost certainly due to the passing of her mother, who had been killed in a car crash half-way through her education. It was a drunk driver who caused it, striking the side of the car in a head-on collision. Because of the absence of her mother, Lyra was working during what little free time she had to support her father.

Lyra's job was the definition of bottom of the barrel. She worked as a cashier at some random discount store nobody had ever heard of. The pay was horrible, hence the large number of hours she was working. On top of that, the manager of the business treated her like shit. He treated all of his employees with no respect, but she seemed to get the worst of it. Perhaps it was due to her being an easy target? Perhaps that was why those bullies targeted her too.

She was weak.

"I'm so weak..." Lyra said to herself, locked in the bathroom of her workplace. She couldn't stand up for herself. Those bullies would have left her alone in school if she had only fought back. Instead, she was too focused on getting into college. What good that did.

She dropped out of her subject after only a year due to a lack of skill brought on by mental strain. It simply wasn't possible for her to focus on a full-time college course and earn enough money to keep her and her dad afloat at the same time. Now, she was here working a dead end job with no clear future.

Lyra looked up at the mirror. She could see her blue eyes glistening with tears that threatened to overflow. Hell, some already had. Small patches of damp caused by fallen tears were dotted sporadically across her white cropped hoodie. Most would call such clothing inappropriate for work, however it wasn't like she had anything else. The manager wouldn't provide a uniform as he deemed it an 'unnecessary expense', however he was willing to accept her working in regular clothes as Lyra simply couldn't afford to buy the uniform.

The definition of greed, having a uniform for employees but not providing it to them.

Wiping away the tears that had been forming in her eyes, Lyra cautiously made her way out the stall and into the store.

"Lyra!" an angry voice bellowed from across the building. Barely a step out of the toilets, a man in a professional looking suit approached her. He was dressed in unnaturally formal attire for such a store and wore a name tag stating his name: Stephen, "You were told to restock aisle three ten minutes ago! Get on it, would you? I don't pay you to loathe in your self-pity in the bathrooms."

Stephen was of course the manager. Lyra despised him, but it was the only job she could find.

"Y-yeah... On it..." she answered, clearly unmotivated. Stephen faintly tutted, shaking his head as he marched away into an office at the side of the building. She knew she should stick up for herself in a situation like that, but she just couldn't bring herself to.

Her mind elsewhere, Lyra slowly made her way over to aisle three where a stock trolley was already waiting for her. Whilst this may first seem like an act of kindness from another person, it was in fact not. Lyra had already brought the trolley out prior to entering the toilets. Nobody in this store was kind enough to do anything for someone else.

Absentmindedly, she began placing the stock out on the shelves. The task was mind-numbingly boring. Simply placing objects in the required space on the shelves for the next hour or so while Stephen yelled at other employees in the background. All the typical grocery shopping went on aisles one and two, whilst all the stationery went on aisle three.