Kylie Parker woke up with a start. The batteries to her alarm clock had died some time during the night, and she had worked a double shift the night before and slept very deeply. That meant that she was late to work. She groaned in frustration and dressed as quickly as she possibly could, imagining the unfriendly face of her boss, who seemed to be looking for any excuse to chew her out. The woman was awful, and Kylie groaned as she grabbed her car keys. It would take a miracle to avoid being reprimanded and she was worried that she was all out of luck.
She finally made it to work and ran to her cubicle. She had a well-paying job, and didn't know what she would do if she were to lose it. Unfortunately, as soon as she arrived, she was summoned into her boss's office. When she sat down in front of Nancy's desk, Nancy scowled at her. She had a feeling that she knew what was coming, but she held her breath and waited to hear for sure.
“This is a crucial time for the company, we are experiencing an opportunity for growth. And as I'm sure you know, you are only as strong as your weakest link. I can't have anybody screwing that up for us right now, I'm afraid I'm going to have to let you go. Your performance has been lackluster, and punctuality is extremely critical. I'm sure you understand. Have your desk cleared out by noon today.”
Kylie opened her mouth to protest, but the words seemed stuck behind a barrier. There was nothing more she could say to this woman, and anything else out of her mouth would just seem vile. It was better to leave with dignity than to throw a fit, so Kylie stood and walked away. Nancy would have a hard time finding anybody else to work double shifts when she needed it, and that wasn't something that Kylie needed to deal with anymore.
Losing her job had many consequences. She thought them all over as she packed her desk up. Her mortgage was coming up, and due quickly, and if she wasn't careful her payments would quickly pile up. She could lose everything. She figured with her savings she should be set for the first couple of months, but after that there was nothing that she could do except sell the summer home that she had inherited to make ends meet. If nothing else, she could live there and give up the mortgage on her house. It would give her a small safety net until she was able to find something better for herself. She closed her eyes and sighed, wishing that she worked for anybody else, and angry that Nancy would overlook all of her hard work over some obscure personal grudge against her.
On the way home from work, she decided that she would go visit her boyfriend Carl. They had been seeing each other for a few months, and she thought that maybe one of his quirky jokes and a hug would help her to feel better about the possibility of losing everything that she cared about materially in the world. She impulsively took the exit to his house instead of continuing down the highway and taking her own exit. She had a spare set of house keys for his apartment and let herself in, hoping that he would be happy to see her. She set the keys down on the counter and looked around. He was nowhere to be seen. She heard a small noise coming from the bedroom and she walked toward it.
“Carl?" She called, pushing open his bedroom door.
The sight that met her eyes made her immediately feel sick. She closed the door quickly, her face contorting in fury. Carl was in bed with another woman. She couldn't believe the nerve of that man. He shuffled to the door wrapped in a sheet.
“Who is that woman?” the blonde in his bed was calling out. “How did she get in here? I thought you said you stopped fooling around on me!”
Anger filled Kylie's heart.
“How long have you been with her?” she cried.
Carl opened his mouth to reply but she gritted her teeth in defiance.
“That actually doesn't matter – I'm not dealing with this from you.”
Kylie rushed through the apartment and grabbed the few belongings that she had left there, before hopping into her vehicle and speeding away. She had never felt more humiliated in her entire life, and she could hot tears brimmed against her eyes as she drove. She thought she was going back to her own apartment, but she sped past the exit and found herself on the way toward her summer home. She had some thinking to do, and she did not want to do that in her stuffy home, where she knew she would just end up drowning in her own sorrows. She would come collect some clothes later, as she needed them, but until then she was just going to do her best to keep her head above water.
The day had taken many unexpected twists and turns, and she was feeling worse than she could ever remember feeling before. It would do her some good to get away from the rest of the world, and not have to face any of the mundane problems that she was used to dealing with in her everyday life.