Against the Odds

Chapter 1

Some idiot at work told me to change my alarm to 'natural', the setting where the sound gradually gets louder as to wake you from your sleep 'peacefully' and 'to reduce stress'.

Well, guess what? Doesn't work!

I feel around my covers, trying to follow the muffled vibrations. The alarm chirps are getting louder and louder as I pat my duvet frantically. Argh!

This is ridiculous. I jerk up and aggressively fling my covers to one side. In the corner of my eye my phone soars through the air. 

Shit. Shit. Shit. 

Hurling my body forward I try to catch it mid-air. But I'm not Neo, and this isn't the Matrix. My phone lands on the floor with a thump.

Mentally crossing my fingers that my laminate hardwood floors didn't crack my screen, I gingerly pick it up. Peeking with one eye, instant relief washes over my body as I trace the original 3 cracks, and no new additions. Oh, thank God!

I scroll past three missed calls, to the voicemail from Kimmy.

"Lilah! Are you there? Pick up pick up pick up! I will keep calling! LILAH! Ok, fine, don't answer but remember you're meeting me for a quick lunch before the event today. You promised! Ok, I'll see you at Paladino's? OK? Ok."

For as long as I've known Kimmy, her messages have always been the same. It's like she doesn't understand that once the phone goes to voicemail, the line stops ringing and I can't pick up. And yet, it's always "pick up pick up pick up". I like that though, her consistency; she has a way of making me feel grounded, I like knowing that if the whole world goes to shit, she'll still be there, asking me to pick up.

The sound of the door buzzer forces me to finally get out of bed. I really need to put a 'No Soliciting' sticker by my name. I don't even know how people find my apartment. The front door is hidden just off the side of Min E Mart, the bodega I live above. There are only three names listed on the door phone, mine, Johnny who lives above me, and Mr. Sanders the owner of the store. I really lucked out with this apartment, the rent was cheaper than the dorms at Columbia and only a five minute walk. I thought I would have moved to a bigger place after finishing school but life happened or halted.

I listlessly press the intercom. "Hello?" Please don't be a Jehovah's Witness. I'm not in the mood to be preached to right now. Any other day I'd welcome it with open arms. But not today.

"Hi. Lilah? It's Andrew. I've got your mom's mail here."

Why is he bringing it today? I thought we agreed every two weeks. I hope he doesn't back out of our arrangement. I don't want to have to drive to upstate New York every two weeks.

"I'll be down in a minute."

I make my way downstairs and find Andrew peering through the holes in the frosting of the front entrance. Why is this rickety door always so hard to open?! I swear my hip is going to have bruises.

"Hi Andrew."

Andrew hands me a thin stack of envelopes. "Sorry for coming by without calling. Marcy and I are going out of town for a few weeks so I thought I'd drop these off before we left." A few weeks? Great. That means I will have to drive up there.

"Thanks Andrew, I appreciate it. You and Marcy have a good trip, ok?"

Andrew's head turns just as I'm closing the door. "How's she doing?"

"The same," I mutter as the door slams shut. She's been the same for almost five months, at this point I don't even bother asking the doctors for updates.