I'm Ava.

Rays of sunlight seeped through the opening of the curtain, hitting Ava directly on the face. She tossed over, stretched, and gave a slight moan of pleasure. Opening her eyes, she was greeted by her dog Mimi, who laid on top of her, looking straight at her face. She chuckled, and ruffled her hair, loving the cute sight.

"Good morning Mimi".

Mimi responded with a bark.

"How was your night? Were you waiting for me to wake up"? She said using a goofy voice.

She responded again by barking.

Ava dragged the blanket over her body and stood up holding Mimi with her hands.

"C'mon let's get you breakfast".

Mimi wagged her tail to express her joy. Ava poured in her food in her bowl and she wasted no time rushing over to munch on it.

"You must be really hungry".

She squatted down and patted her head.

Ava sighed knowing what awaited her at work. Ava works in a prestigious brand called Luxe, known for it's consistent fashion trends and raking in lots of sales. They've always taken the number one spot in the fashion industry but were recently overshadowed by a rival brand called Mac.

"Mimi, I'll probably be scolded at.....at work right"?

"Well not just me, we'll all probably be scolded".

Mimi looked up at her for a second, and continued munching her food, pretending not to hear her.

"Ugh, Never mind, You won't understand. Continue eating".

She took her time to prepare for work as she wasn't really looking forward to be there. Taking her precious time, she eventually got prepared, kissed Mimi goodbye, and drove off in her car......

Ava peeked her head slightly into the office, scanning to see if the manager was in sight. Not getting a sight of him, she stepped in and rushed over to her desk.

"You're late Ava" a colleague of hers said.

"I know. I was hoping Mr Murphy would have done the scolding before I got here. Has he"?

"Unfortunately for you, he hasn't" she replied laughing.

Giving a sigh of distress, she gently peeked over her desk, only to meet the manager eyes staring right at her. Ava gasped and lowered her head down.

"Everyone, my office this minute. We're having a meeting now" The manager shouted.

"Oh God, I don't like what's gonna happen".

"We all can probably guess what's he's gonna say right"?.

They all nodded their heads in unison agreeing to the question.

Ava sighed once again, stood up, and headed straight to his office.

"Well, well, well, I guess everyone's slacking off and having a rest due to our high rate in performance.You feel like you don't have to put in much effort again right"?.

"Won't you give me an answer"?

"NO SIR".

"What do you mean by no? Then how do you explain our recent situation"? How do you explain our drop in rank, huh"?.

"No response. Fine then, I'll explain it for you..... You all didn't put in much effort as expected of our team both in the designing and runaway of our latest editions of wears. Your teamwork is trash, and you're all just a bunch of wasted effort and money".

"I expected our result to be massive and have a great impact, I expected that from you guys, but instead Mac did that. Our brand is on a whole different and higher level than theirs but what?, they're taking the shine, and taking our number one spot? Why let that happen"?.

"What are the higher-ups gonna say? Cause I'm the one that's gonna be questioned not you guys. What am I even gonna tell them? I'm so disappointed in you and this should be the last time something like this happens, cause If it does, you all can kiss your job goodbye, Understood"?.

"YES SIR".

"Good, you're all dismissed. Ava, stay back".

"Me sir"?.

"Yes, you".

The rest of team all stepped out, except Ava who sat where she was.

"I'm pretty sure you can guess why I told you to stay back".

"Yes sir". she said lowering her head.

"Ava, I told you to remain here, because you play an important role in our designs. You're the market researcher of our team, and you're expected to bring in fresh new ideas or find out ideas, trends and fashion styles that appeals to the market and audience, am I right"?.

"Yes, you are sir".

"Good, now our latest runaway fashion styles, were created based on what you said was in market and trend, but unfortunately Mac's designs had a better performance than us".

"I'm really sorry about that sir, I guess I didn't do my research thoroughly".

"Obviously, cause Mac's designs weren't that much different from ours, but they added some little touch and tweaks which we didn't, to stand out more, and it paid off for them. They're in the number one spot now, which was always our thing".

"I'm not trying to condemn or belittle your efforts, cause you're one of our best staffs. Our high sales and performance have always been thanks to you, we couldn't have done it without your assistance..... But I'm not telling you not to take what I'm saying to heart.... you should... I'll still always point out where you did wrong. Next time, I expect you to find out, research properly and bring out styles that'll take us back to our number one spot and have us remain there, alright"?.

"Yes sir, I will".

"Good, I'm glad you understood my point. You can go back to your desk".

"Thank you sir".

She stood up and went back to her desk. Immediately sitting down, her colleague next to her bombarded her with questions, wanting to know what else the manager had told. She told her what he had said to her.

"Oh really, he said that"?.

"Yeah, he did".

"Wow, I'm surprised. Normally if it was me, he would have raided me with insults first before he compliments me..... Anyways, we're all going out for some drinks to cool off, are you coming too"?.

"Definitely, I really need some drinking, to get some things off my mind".

"Honestly, we all do".

Ava looked at big clock hunged in the office. Five minutes left to six o'clock and they'll all be out of here.... The minutes hand eventually reached six, and everyone was so excited they could get out of here. They decided on a bar to go and went there together. They all ordered their drinks and chatted along.

"Sometimes Mr Murphy can be harsh. What is we're all just a bunch of wasted effort and money? Like he's way better than us?

"I know right. He just sits down and give the orders, and when things doesn't go as planned, he snaps. He's behaving like we didn't put in our best into this project. We all did, everyone can speak for himself or herself".

"That's true, we all did try our best".

"Miss Ava, I hope he didn't say more cruel things to you this morning, since you were the only one told to stay back"?.

"Oh no, he didn't. I was actually surprised. Thought he was gonna scream his lungs out and cut my head off".

They all laughed at her statement..

"In case he didn't tell you this, you did an amazing. Your ideas and designs were spectacular. None of us could have done it like you did".

"Yeah, but not spectacular enough for Mr Murphy, and to keep us on the top spot".

"Look Ava, Mr Murphy is another kind of breed. He just doesn't understand that our performance can fluctuate. We aren't God, are we? We're not perfect".

"Yeah, and sometimes others can do better than us. It all depends on the market, who they choose as their fave for that season".

"Yeah, I understand, but still....."

"Oh c'mon Ava, don't beat yourself up, you did well. We're all in awe at your capability, isn't that right guys"?.

"YES IT IS".

"Look, enough talks of Mr Murphy, let's not ruin the vibe here. We're all here to cool off our work stress, so let's do. Cheers to more better and fruitful days ahead, and also cheers to our hardwork".

"CHEERS" they said clinking their glasses together.

They all drank and drank, drinking themselves to stupor. They were all so drunk that most of them couldn't get up.

Ava sat on a sofa, eyes closed, head bent backwards, facing the ceiling. She also was mad drunk.

After several hours, she opened her eyes and blinked severally, hoping to get her sight properly by doing so. Looking around, there weren't much people left. Most of her colleagues had gone. Only few remained, sleeping soundly. Feeling nauseous, she ran to the toilet, and threw up quarter of the content she had drank.

"Ugh, my head. I really should pipe down my drinking...... Ah, Mimi must be feeling lonely. I should get home and feed her, she must be hungry".

She stood up and staggered her way out of the bar.

"Taxi, taxi" She said waving her hand to stop one.

She boarded one and immediately almost dozed off.

"Where to ma'am"?.

"Oh sorry, Daisy Street please".

She tried keeping herself awake but couldn't. At one moment she did open her eyes, but that was the last time she was gonna see the day of light.

A car appeared suddenly in front of the taxi with full speed. In an attempt not to hit it, the driver swerved and collided with a truck. Due to the size of the truck, the taxi suffered more damages than the truck. It tumbled and tumbled severally making a leakage happen. Ava was barely conscious.

'Wow, so am i really gonna die?..... I can't die like this' she thought.

'If I'd known I was gonna die this early, I would have done all the things I was restraining myself from doing....... Oh, who's gonna take care of Mimi now and my mom?'.

"I really want a second chance" she said before loosing all consciousness....

And an explosion happened.....