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Chapter 8- First Day Jitters

India ran around her apartment with her toothbrush held in her mouth and her shirt halfway on. She still didn't see how she had woken up so late. She had made sure to set an alarm. Seven of them!! She must have been really tired because she slept through five and silenced one. When her last alarm went off at 7:20 she didn't have near enough time to get ready.

She blamed that on the fact she had went to sleep two hours late last night. She had set herself a strict bedtime, determined to be early. If there was one thing she had remembered her mother saying to her was "Your first day on a job, you should be the first one in and the last one out." Her face fell thinking about her mother, but then she immediately sobered when she passed by her bedroom clock. 7:48. She groaned as she ran into the restroom. She only had an hour and twelve minutes to finished getting dressed, grab breakfast and coffee, and get to Thomas and Jefferson.

She rinsed out her mouth and ran back out into her room. Grabbing her pants from the bed she wiggled into them and threw on her shoes. She pulled the rubber band from her wrist and pulled her hair back into a puff ponytail. Rushing to the door, she grabbed her purse, wallet, and brand new phone. Making it down to the first floor, she threw a "Hey" to the desk clerk, Bridget, and flew out the door to hail a cab. When she had plopped herself into the seat of the cab she finally relaxed. It was only 8:15, and she had fourty-five minutes to eat and get coffee before she had to be in the office. Just enough. Giving the driver directions to Jules Café, the little shop next to T&J, she melted into the seat, and thought about the week she had had.

After Monday and the incident with the man in the hoodie, India had, obviously, been on the paranoid side. Everywhere she went, she saw him. Or his hoodie. Even the slightest bit of black clothing scared her senseless. She hadn't even wanted to leave the house at one point. She would have killed to see his face. Because her nightmares were horrible because he never took off his hoodie. One of her dreams of him was just him standing in darkness, unmoving, hood over his head, just looking. That was the worst one.

She had actually achieved her goal of never leaving the house for about two days. Brian had come by, and even Bridget, but she had acted as if she weren't home. She felt horrible for it but every time someone knocked on the door she completely shut down and pushed herself into the farthest corner of her apartment.

By Thursday she was a bundle of nerves. She had about two days left of willful solitary confinement before she would be forced to leave the four walls of her safe haven. Then a quick trip to her mailbox changed her entire perspective. Her new card and check book had been sent in the mail. She decided she was being crazy. What happened with that man was just a coincidence. And even if it wasn't she couldn't let some crazy person run her life. She had gotten enough of that at Light Strokes.

She went to T-mobile and signed up for their services and ordered a new phone, then she went to the furniture store. She picked out every piece of furniture she wanted for her living room and decided the rest could wait until she got her first paycheck. The furniture was to be delivered the following Tuesday and she'd get her phone as early as Monday.

She spent her entire weekend getting to know Bridget. They went shopping and to the movies Saturday and some nut even had a party Sunday night. In hindsight, it probably wasn't the best idea to go to a party the day before your first day. Whenever a sensitive subject involving India's past came up she just subtly changed the topic. She had almost been found out when Bridget started to talk about her family life.

Bridget herself was the baby of the family and had three other siblings. Everyone was two years apart and they were all poster children for good looks. With their smooth porcelain skin, blonde hair, and pristine baby blue eyes. India was almost jealous.