1 Prologue

~Beep~

~Beep~

"urghhhhhhhh-" Groaning into the world, a slender arm stretched out of a baige comforter before pressing down intently on the blinking button of an accursed alarm that blares reality into bliss relentlessly every morning.

~Click~

The shifting sheets went still for a minute or two before being pulled aside as a woman in her early twenties with the shadows of bags under her eyes sat up, her slender legs falling to the side of the bed. Rubbing her eyes with the tips of her fingers she searched her nightstand slowly for a pair of glasses.

'Okay... no work today, just gotta make sure I stay in shape and catch up on the new releases this weekend, those are my only goals today' She pondered and nodded her head.

Stretching her arms she got up in quick manner having put on her custom glasses for the precious gift of sight before heading into her closet barely a few seconds later the parts of a haphazard outfit were thrown through the doorway connecting the two spaces before landing on the bed; a tank top, jacket and sweatpants.

About as quickly as she had entered the closet the same lady was already bum rushing the bathroom with a sports bra, panties and socks in hand.

After a quick shower and last minute outfit alteration she was out the door jogging. With her earphones in and having ditched the jacket and pants for shorts and a purse that wouldn't dangle from her arm constantly, she cleared the 15 minute walking distance to her local gym in no time. Entering smoothly the brief chill of the AC prickled her exposed skin, though as uncomfortable as it felt now so early in the morning she knew her body would be begging for less heat in a little while so she didn't put too much attention on it.

"Good Morning Ms. Angela" A female receptionist greeted her out of courtesy before fumbling for a diet recommendation she had received for her the day before. Angela nodded in response having paused her music for this chore of an interaction, choosing instead to pay attention to the T.V hanging in the corner.

"And in other news, we have updates regarding the recent killing spree that happened last week as of today, police are still unsure of any motive for the murders nor any concrete connection between the victims. What they are aware of is that the criminal is definitely male, 6ft tall in height as analyzed by professionals in the department's crime lab from a shoe imprint left in the mud at one of the crime scenes." Flickering through the songs on her phone Angela was putting together an on the fly playlist for this morning's workout since she has hundreds of songs and she was growing bored of the tracks she made weeks prior.

'They said it'd be ready when I get here next, what's the point of promising something like that when I still have to wait, hell they even have my email for sh*t like thi-'

"Oh hi Ange!" Angela went tense for a moment as a wellspring of annoyance washed over her body before settling as the seed for a headache was planted in the forefront of her mind.

Turning around with a crooked smile she pinned her tongue between the rest of her obscured teeth to stop herself from hurling obscenities.

The proverbial planter of said seed was a very attractive specimen of what Angela likes to call the Jojo looking fuck heads. A subspecies of the usual dumbass jerks that come to the gym just to slay pootang with muscles and athletic appeal to make up for their lacking personalities and lives.

'He's supposed to have the evening shift today'

"Hey Jordan, I just got in what's up? I thought you didn't usually come in this early?" Try as she might a bit of her annoyance leaked through.

Sensing her bad mood Jordan waved his hands in an effort to placate her while spewing some bullshit about another trainer testing positive so he had to cover his shift on the grounds for the morning. Using her unique take on the Small Talk no Jutsu Angela managed to wriggle out of any arduous topics regarding things Jordan thought she needed explained to her and anything having to do with the last time they hooked up. After receiving her info card she had immediately hit the treadmill, music of course back on to ignore anymore conversation with the deflated guy obviously not looking to leave the area with direct line of sight of her.

'Do I seriously have to switch gyms? Why the fuck can't some guys take the hint that someone just isn't into them ugh...whatever'

Switching gears Angela focused on why she was there in in first place and began working up an actual sweat, between running, upper body exercises and some quick lunges and squats to make sure she still has an ass in a couple years she moved on to the only thing at the gym she actually enjoys. T-ing up a boxing pose Angela struck out againt a hanging sandbag, her strikes were driven through with enough force to knock the object back by quite a distance while the imprint of her fists faded after a few seconds.

As it was the most enjoyable exercise out of her routine Angela lost herself in the movements. She had grown up with older 2 brothers making her rather disgruntled at the thought of someone protecting her since it's all their father would ever cram into their heads growing up. But between all the hijinks, t.v shows and anime they watched together it was the memories of them going to Taekwando Classes and Boxing matches that she found the fondest not the cataclysmic throw downs they'd force on the boys who got too friendly with her.

Adjusting her breathing Angela practiced striking with her legs, they usually got less attention as she quite enjoys the pain on her knuckles after a good punch but she's no slouch in technique. Between all three siblings she was the only one who worked herself to the bone for a Red Belt in Taekwondo. Sitting down on a bench Angela let the overpowered AC unit do it's thing while she measured her breathing and focused on getting her heart to calm down. She makes it a rule to not meditate anywhere else besides home as she very often falls asleep when her sessions inevitably drag on but doing some light breathing exercises to get her eratic heart stable after a few minutes of ins and outs with the sounds of ocean tides for extra comfort swishing in her ears hardly counted as meditation.

After a few more exercises and unlikely cramps she was getting ready to leave the gym and head home when the previous seedling tingled as the shadow of Mr. 8 seconds fleets out of the receptionist office near the entrance.

"Ange wait up! I wanted to talk to you about our last date, I feel really shitty about how thing-" Vomiting insecurities Jordan looked so small despite his olympian physique something which Angela would quite normally find cute but she just wasn't in the mood to play fiddle with this particular jackass.

"Look Jordy, we had a great run, you were great, honestly we were both great!" Waving her hands she focused most of her attention on the door rather than his face. "But we were just having fun, I'm really not looking for anything long term and as 'Intresting' as you are, I'd rather not so.... see you later" Ducking under his outstretched hand she quickly vanished through the door before walking down the stairs towards the main road.

Of all the things in the world, a 'relationship' was the last thing on Angela's mind. Besides her family of four she didn't really bother much with other people, she has a cozy job managing a library but it was just something she thought would be convenient since between exercising and partying she didn't do much of anything other than reading.

On the way home she made a detour to a liquor store, she wasn't much of a drinker but this was the only place in a mile that actually sold THC carts for her old model pen.

"Hey Barny, could I get umm~" Kneeling down infront of the display case she chewed on a finger nail out of pre-buyers remorse.

There were like 3 new flavors she'd never heard of, between the colors of their packaging the sleek black and green of 'Poisoned Lung' spoke to her, she chose it after another half minute of inner turmoil.

"Hows Josh been Angela? I haven't heard anything from either of the boys since your old man passed away." As he was taking the money, he noticed her posture look a bit more sickly than when she had entered.

"They... ya they're not really speaking to anyone right now. I thought it was just me but I guess everyone's getting their duet of silence." She wrinkled a smile at the end to make it seem like she was ok. Barny noticed, but she was already out the door, he's just left with $15 of change, looking down at the money he just sighed.

"Ugh... Knew I should've given her at the very least more time but.... it's been 4 months already, someone from that family has to say something" Scrunching up the money in his hand, he caught sight of his trembling arm and put the money to the side for her next visit and went back to serving any working man's favorite beverage to the masses.

Weaving through a few different alleyways for a quicker route home, Angela's mind was too chaotic not bringing her jacket as the chilly late morning air started making her skin look alien. Pulling out the small purse tucked between her underwear and waist she retrieved her pen from the inner pouch. Having stopped by a garbage can she removed and discarded the packaging without much thought before fitting and taking a puff from her newly loaded pen.

Releasing a plume of thin vapor Angela proceeded to take another hit but stopped short when she felt something wet on her face quickly getting colder, swiping it up with her finger she noticed it was a collection of tears. Wiping her eyes with her now clenched hand the woman speed walked the rest of the way home, no doubt to shut the world out of sight, atleast until she needs to get up for work tomorrow.

Approaching the door of her apartment she noticed that it was already unlocked, in any other circumstances she'd likely call horror movie foreshadowing and back the fuck up all the way to the nearest police station but Angela really doesn't want to run into anyone right this minute and honestly couldnt remember if she locked the door after leaving in such a hurry. The logical part of her mind that did pop in for a moment, simply made a time table of when she left and when she returned, in the span of just a little under two hours she can't imagine anyone breaking in, not in her apartment at least. Walking in she simply closed the door behind her and locked it stiff, kicking off her shoes she walked into the kitchen to make a quick sandwich, 5 minutes later she was leaving the kitchen and heading upstairs to her room plate in hand. Satisfied with her quick and easy basic ham sandwich comprised of pre cut tomatoe slices, cheese and lettuce the creation and creator just flew into her room for what she was hoping was the rest of her life but alarms have a funny way of denying that.

In all of her commotion Angela didn't notice the silhouette of a man simply sitting in a guest chair of her living room, leering at her as she made her way up the stairs.

Falling into bed with the last half of her sandwich in her mouth Angela didn't bother talking a shower and instead picked off the rest of her sweat soaked clothes before getting under her beloved warm blanket. Taking another hit from her pen she submerged herself in the world beneath the comforter, taking out her phone she swiped through photos of a younger version of herself and two young boys. Appearance wise they all shared the same black hair they received from their father, her brothers were endowed with their mother's stunning blue eyes while Angela got her figure. Although most people would pine for the same dynamic match-up of genes that her siblings received, she found her own light brown eyes beautiful in their own way, plus most guys are usually looking at everything besides her eyes so she doesn't see much of a downside atleast from an asthetic perspective.

Swiping through photos quickly she stopped on one of her in boxing gloves smiling so wide she herself was surprised her grin could stretch so far, in the corner of the photo a middle aged Asian man could be seen squeezing his way through the protecting bands of the ring with ice in his hand likely for the black eye that Angela was flaunting like a trophy in subsequent photographed memories.

After multiple puffs and memories of how comfortable she was in bed a few hours prior Angela slowly fell asleep, minutes or perhaps just an hour later her door cracked open the only thing peering through the thin passage were a set of excited eyes staring directly at the reflection in her dressers mirror where a lump of sheets clumped together in an ugly structure in the center of the bed.