Reverie

Chapter 1

Blasius Chocolate Factory.

As soon as the clock struck 3 PM, footsteps stomped down the hallway toward the exit, clocking out in their respective departments. It was another day, another dollar. Most of them were going home to loving families that would listen to complaints regarding work while others went straight for the booze. It was Friday, so most of them didn't have to be back to work until Monday morning at 6 AM bright and early.

Not all had that luxury, however.

Must be nice, she thought bitterly, lighting up a cigarette as soon as she stepped out of the building and let the nicotine filter through her system.

"Bar again tonight?"

Amber eyes slid over to the man standing beside her, a fellow coworker who had a crush. "When am I not working at that dump, Brandon?"

"Yikes. Sorry, that was a dumb question, Keyla." Brandon mumbled, scuffing his sneaker covered feet on the ground and acted like a scolded 5 year old.

"You're forgiven."

Brandon wasn't bad looking, the standard dark hair and eyes with a heart of gold. He stood around 5'9 or so, too short for her taste. Hell, when did she have time for a man in her life anyway? Never. He'd asked her out for coffee one day while they were working the line at work and Keyla declined, flat out telling him she wasn't interested in a relationship. Surprisingly, he respected Keyla's wishes and they became friends – of sorts. Sometimes he annoyed her to the point where she wanted to pluck his eyes out with a fork. Other times, he was the perfect person to vent her frustrations out on, a good listener if anything. One day, Brandon would make a woman very happy and he would worship the ground she walked on, but that wasn't Keyla. Finishing her cigarette, she glanced down at the watch around her wrist and sighed, knowing she had to go home to change for her second job of the day.

"Gotta jet, talk to you on Monday."

"M-Maybe I'll stop by for a drink tonight!" Brandon called out, stammering and mentally cursed for always being tongue-tied when it came to Keyla Jensen.

Shaking her head, Keyla didn't know what it was about her that attracted Brandon so much. They were polar opposites. She had shoulder length dark hair that looked black, but once under lights the blue came out in it. Friends called it midnight blue, but Keyla didn't have a preference or name for it, enjoying the color of her hair. The interesting part was Keyla never once dyed her hair and always thought it was black. Blue did not occur naturally in human hair pigmentation, but for some reason everyone saw it that color instead of black. Keyla went with it, though she was asked countless times how she kept the blue in her hair from fading from coworkers. They laughed it off when she replied with the standard 'never dyed it', thinking she was lying. She didn't let it bother her and the same went for her citrine colored eyes. If people didn't believe she was 100% natured, dye and contact free, that was their problem, not hers.

Sliding behind the wheel of her 1979 AMC pacer, Keyla fired up the ignition and rolled the window down manually, pulling out of the parking lot heading home. It was unbelievable this little beater vehicle had lasted as long as it had. She bought it at 175,000 miles and it now had over 200,000, reaching closer to 205,000 now. She bought a few years ago for $500 from a small car lot, all she could afford, and her insurance was low at $30 a month. The owner warned her the vehicle wouldn't last her much longer, but so far Keyla only had one problem with it and that was the radio going out. Since it had a tape player instead of CD like normal in the 21st century did, she bought an MP3 car adapter off EBay for $20. It worked like a charm and the speakers weren't bad in her beater either. Blasting 30 Seconds to Mars, Keyla sped down the road heading into the city part of Philadelphia.

20 minutes later, Keyla pulled into the driveway of her 3 bedroom house she could barely afford. Working 2 jobs, one being full-time at the candy factory, Keyla somehow couldn't keep up with all the bills she had and spotted another notice hanging outside of her screen door. Great. Who the hell wanted her money now? It seemed like every time Keyla thought she was ahead in bills, more came piling in. Shaking her head with a sigh, she shut the beater off and stepped out, reluctantly moving up the stairs to her house to grab the mail along with notices.

PAST DUE

OVERDUE

LATE NOTICE

PAY NOW

It was never-ending. Unlocking her door, Keyla tossed everything on the table by the door and took her hooded sweatshirt off, the closest thing she had to a winter coat. She couldn't afford one. Keyla had tried downsizing to an apartment, but most of them cost more than the house she had, so it was pointless to move. It made her wonder how the hell apartments could be more expensive than houses, but in this day and age with the screwed economy, nothing surprised her. Even in Philadelphia, jobs were scarce and hard to come by, so having 2 was a godsend. She just wished both of them kept her head above water since she was starting to drown in bills. Kicking the door shut, Keyla flipped the lock on it and undressed on her way to the bathroom, leaving clothes strewn behind her. She didn't care, desperately needing a shower to get the smell of burnt chocolate off of her before going to the bar later that night.

While showering, Keyla started contemplating if maybe she should try to find some roommates to share the burden. This was a big city after all, a simple ad in the paper couldn't cost that much, right? She loved living alone, but making ends meet had become extremely stressful for her. Keyla was losing sleep at night and had nightmares about being kicked out on the streets, even sleeping in her beater. No, she couldn't let that happen. Maybe she could find 2 people who were struggling as much as her and band together with them to tell the government to go screw themselves. Snorting, Keyla washed her body and hair, rinsing the soap out before stepping out wrapping herself in a towel. Work started at 9 PM, so she had 6 hours to dress, eat something, take a small nap and jet out the door to continue her already long day. Before she decided to put an ad in the paper for roommates, Keyla would talk to her best friend, Lennox, and see what she thought of the idea. Maybe Lennox would have a better idea. Keyla doubted it though.

Leftover spaghetti warmed in the microwave while Keyla sat at the kitchen table writing out an ad. Quick, simple and to the point. "Hmm…I really don't need any druggies coming to my door…" She mumbled, scrubbing a hand down her face and heard the microwave ding, standing to retrieve her dinner for the evening. It would be the only time she could eat until 1 AM, when Keyla left the bar to come home, get 4 hours of sleep and be up at 5 AM to get back to work by 6 AM. Then she suddenly remembered it was Friday, so she had all of tomorrow to catch up on sleep until 9 PM when she had to go work at the bar again. Sunday was her only day off from both jobs.

ROOMMATES WANTED

3 bedroom, 2 bath spacious house

Located in Philadelphia

Kitchen, washer & dryer, 2 car garage

MUST BE CLEAN – NO DRUGS!

$700/month – Includes Utilities, Wireless Internet and Cable!

$700 deposit – NO CREDIT CHECK

NO LEASE – Month to month payments only!

AVAILABLE IMMEDIATELY!

Call 215-576-2357 to schedule interview if interested!

"That's about as good as it'll get."

Folding the piece of paper she wrote the ad on, Keyla shoved it in her back jean pocket and ate dinner, glancing out the window watching a little girl fly out of the door to stop her father from leaving. They were her neighbors, Ed and Vicky, and he worked 3rd shift, hardly seeing his family. She overheard a few of their arguments about how he works too much and she had to give up her job or find another one that's the same shift as his. Keyla felt for Vicky, though she didn't know what it was like having someone to care about and love. Not many relationships were in her past or future, just a few one night stands here and there whenever the craving came up. She never slept with anyone from the bar though since most of them were either drunks or cheaters. Finishing her dinner, Keyla crashed on the couch and was out minutes later, already having the alarm set on her cell phone to wake up at 8 PM.

Nicky's was a local bar across the way from The Arena, as most people called it these days. Some kind of pro-wrestling event was held there once or twice a month, depending on bookings. Most of the wrestlers came to Nicky's on a nightly basis, especially after a show. Tonight apparently there'd been a show because cars were lined up outside of the bar, filling the sides of the street and parking lot up. Wonderful, Keyla thought, rolling her eyes and reluctantly walked through the door, her blackish blue hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. She had cut angled bangs, thanks to Lennox, that somewhat fell over her eyes, but they weren't long enough to bother her yet. Otherwise she would've cut them already.

"Key!" Nicky, the bar owner, crowed her name and a few of the customers turned their gaze on her, making her shoot a cool golden glare at him.

"I'm not late."

"I know, just greeting you. Geez, lighten up, kid."

"Sorry, long day." Keyla smiled apologetically, patting Nicky on the shoulder and bypassed him to start her job.

She spotted Lennox at the end of the bar with her boyfriend of 3 years, Danny Havoc, and headed over there. He was a professional wrestler for the company who took over The Arena once a month – Combat something or rather. Keyla couldn't remember until she saw the CZW t-shirt Danny wore and flashed a smile at them, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. Combat Zone Wrestling – why she couldn't remember that was beyond Keyla's comprehension, but it was a good thing Danny wore a reminder so she didn't look idiotic whenever they talked about it. Danny was handsome in his own way, but definitely not Keyla's type. He definitely belonged with Lennox though with all the piercings he had, including the bridge of his nose, on either side of his hazel eyes –They were mostly brown with green specks- ears and other places Keyla was sure couldn't be seen. Danny had dark brown curly hair with a soul patch connected to a small beard hanging from his chin. Most of the time, his hair was covered by a hat on backwards.

Lennox looked up and smiled brightly at her best friend, violet eyes sparkling. They were technically blue, but had a shade of purple to them. Another biological mystery. She had waist length dishwater blonde hair that had purple streaks throughout it –Dyed of course-, matching her eyes. Her left eyebrow was pierced along with her tongue, ears lined in piercings as well with a chain one dangling. Owning her own tattoo/piercing shop called Insanity, Lennox didn't have a lot of tattoos or piercings like she probably should've. Nonetheless, her beauty was flawless and the best part was she didn't let her looks go to her brain like 90% of women in today's world. Very rarely did she wear makeup besides black liner under her eyes and gloss on her lips to keep them from getting chapped. No foundation, no eye shadow, no color whatsoever. Keyla admired her for letting her natural beauty show and wished she was half as beautiful as Lennox.

"I was wondering when you'd get here." Lennox's smile instantly disappeared from her face, noticing the tension in Keyla's expression. "What's wrong, sweetie?"

"Nothing, just tired. Long day." Keyla gave her the same excuse as Nicky, not in the mood to discuss her problems with people pouring into the bar. "I take it there was a show tonight?"

Danny nodded, wrapping an arm around Lennox's waist. "Yeah, might be a late night for you. You should try coming to a show sometime, might enjoy the ultraviolence of it all." He grunted when Lennox plucked at his nipple piercing through his CZW t-shirt and growled against her neck, nipping it with his teeth. "Tease."

"Behave." Lennox warned, turning her violet gaze back on her troubled friend. "And try again, Key. I know you better than anyone and something is bothering you."

"Don't worry about it." Keyla walked away after retrieving beers for them to go serve other customers and spotted another wrestler walk inside the bar.

Nick Gage. Or as they called him Nick 'Fuckin'' Gage, another wrestler that made advances toward Keyla every chance he got. He was disturbing and gave Keyla the creeps, but she never treated him with anything except kindness. She couldn't afford to lose this job and knew the wrestlers gave Nicky the business he needed to keep the bar up and running. Keyla ignored him to the best of her ability, not interested and tried avoiding him at all costs. Naturally, he came up to the bar and requested a beer, his beady eyes giving her a slow scan that made her skin crawl.

"Thanks, doll."

"You're welcome. Next!" She called out a little louder than needed, but Nick got the message and vacated from the bar.

2 AM rolled around and Nicky finally sent Keyla home so she could get some sleep, assuring her he'd clean up the bar. Keyla thanked him and promised to stay later tomorrow since it'd be busy. Saturdays always were. Before she went home, Keyla decided to drop the ad off at the local newspaper before she changed her mind. They had a slot for ads and she'd snatched an envelope from the bar to put it in with her address along with a check to cover the cost to publish it. All Keyla could do was try and if worse came to worse, she'd have to find a cheaper place to live, even if that meant moving out of Philadelphia. She couldn't handle the stress of bills anymore and trying to live in a place that wasn't affordable. Trudging up the stairs to her house 20 minutes later, Keyla managed to unlock the door and stumbled inside, yawning loudly. Even with a 4 hour nap before going to the bar, she felt rundown and drained, all of her energy gone. She was out cold before her head hit the pillow, collapsing on her bed with her shoes still on as darkness overtook her body.