Chapter 1: A Day Like Any Other

Author's note: Well... I know I asked about whether or not I should continue this, but oh well, might as well keep going.

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The blue sky clouded over,By grey clouds amassing.The grey walls that surround her,Monotony incarnate.She'd rather be elsewhere,Enveloped in marble arms.

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Elster's POV

I looked up to the poster on the wall of the cubicle.

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The poster in question ----> https://twitter.com/theMaarika/status/1626729713208008707?s=20

I mean, obviously she'd have something like that at her desk if she could get away with it

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"If you could put half the time and effort you spend daydreaming," a monotone voice spoke from behind, "perhaps we would-"

I turned to see Adler standing behind me, "How long have you been there?"

"Just now... though I must say, I've been running around and all I've seen you do is stare at that photo," he pointed to the poster, "Just focus on your work or you'll be stuck here till late into the night."

I turned back around and fixed it to my screen as Adler droned on and on about something or the other as i kept working. I managed to ignore it. The sooner I got home, the better.

Eventually he left and after an hour at most at my desk, I decided to get up. A break was easily long overdue.

Just as I did, someone else got up as well, almost at the same time. That person, however, went in different directions so I didn't think about it too much.

I got myself a short cake and made my way back to my cubicle. As I did, I realised that the others who had left with me, hadn't returned. I felt the pull of curiosity to go past the cubicle of one of my co-workers.

A poster, just like the one I had at my own cubicle. Part of me was amused by the fact that someone else found it funny enough to have on at their own place... the other, larger part of me was peeved by the fact that my own wife's face was on another person's cubicle.

Not wanting to overstay my welcome, I made my way back to my own cubicle. As I did, I noticed someone walking from there over to the cubicle I just came from.

No time for that. I sat back down and took a bite of the short cake...

"Mmmph... tashts like rashun barsh," I muffled to myself quietly.

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The blue sky clouded over,By grey clouds amassing.The grey walls that surround her,Monotony incarnate,Open into the downpour,Her, protected in marble arms.

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I walked out the door of the building, passing by more of my co-workers, a sea of them among whom I saw white sticking out like a sore thumb.

Ariane stood in front of me, "Took you long enough to get here..."

She was a little wet from walking in the rain.

"What are you doing here?" I cried out in reply, "you're sick... what if getting wet makes it worse?!"

"It's just a little water... I'll be fine."

I sighed and went along with her back home, after which I insisted that she took a bath.

In the mean time, I decided to work on some dinner... while I did so, however, I couldn't shake off the feeling of someone, somewhere was watching me. I tried to shake it off, but I kept feeling the stare bore into the back of my head.

Soon enough, Ariane was back out but the feeling got worse. There was someone there...

I rushed to the window and pulled the curtains blocking out the large main window in our living room facing east, to the sunrise.

"Is something wrong?" Ariane asked, concern in her voice.

"Nothing major," I replied, "Just... we should get back to dinner."

It was just a small ready made meal that we had gotten from our last trip to the ration shop, but it was delicious. We were both exactly where we were supposed to be. Where we wanted to be.

We sat there and chatted together for hours until Ariane found herself unable to keep her eyes open. Eventually, she had dozed off and I carried her back to our room.

I decided to listen to her this one time and walked off the the next room and laid down in the bed. I pulled the sheets over my shoulders. The cold surge that came with the action carried me off to sleep.

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Author's note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I put... more than a little thought into this chapter. I hope I wasn't too obvious, or too vague.