I don't know

09:23 AM

13th October, 2022

Gothenburg, Sweden

Yamika Peterson

The black colored fumes quickly raced to the sky as the large machinery began to whir to life, bringing the familiar rumbling and squeaky noises back to the old factory.

I stepped into the back door of the factory in my usual casual attire, a pair of jeans, a red Manchester united jersey and a pair of Yeezy sneakers. I never found myself fond of dressing to impress anyone or to catch the gaze of the occasional man around the factory.

As soon as I walked in, much to my surprise the manager was sleeping head first on the floor looking as though he had spent his night exhausting more fumes than the factory we worked in.

I inspected the ground around him, which was littered with bottles of expensive-looking Vodka, and several dozens of burnt out cigarette heads.

I for one did not want to be the one to wake him up and make him his hangover coffee, I had learnt from the first twenty times I did have to do it , that it only ended up with him eventually puking on my clothes.

I turned to the most logical way to go about the situation.I quietly walked around the husk of his body and ran to the changing rooms where I would hopefully be granted asylum from the manager's furious howls and drunked curses when he woke up in half of his clothes again.

I ran down the corridor at such speed and grace, that I may have been mistaken for an olympic runner on the run from a pack of balleting wolves(yes that would be very awesome to watch until the olympic runner is caught by the wolves and eaten to their miserable death).

I found the door to the changing room already open with half of the female staff already changing into their work overalls.

I quickly walked to my locker and undressed, revealing my tattoos that lay across my back in a sort of cool rebel way that gave me nostalgia of my days back in my highschool band as the lead guitarist.

Well my days as a lead guitarist and a highschool student were way past me at this point in my life.

One of the other women changing around me, came over and tapped me on the butt with a smile plastered on her face that revealed her beautifully kept teeth.

This of course was no stranger, but my friend Rachel Meyers. Rachel had worked at the factory for ten years, which eclipsed my current year's work.

She had grown up in the city of Chicago, before moving to Sweden when she married her husband who had a job here, however he passed away a few years later ,leaving Rachel with no choice but to work in the ice cold temperatures of a Swedish factory on the top of a mountain.

Rachel's life was sort of a way of the universe telling me that there could be more complicated and weird lives than my own in this damned city.

" What has got you in such a good mood Rachel, new boyfriend i assume?"

" I wish, just heard the good news"

" What good news, silly?"

" Were getting a new shipment of parts"

" And so?"

" An increase in production will result in an increase in profits, which will lead to an increase in pay"

" Do you only care about getting paid?"

" Who wouldn't when i have three hungry kids back home"

" How are the kids anyway, are they missing their aunt Yamika yet?"

" Of Course they are, though you spoil them way too much, are you trying to steal them away from me, or what?", she replied jokingly

" Maybe I am", I replied as I walked out of the room, with my overalls on and my long afro now tied in a triplet of rolls on my head.

I walked to the elevator which went at least a floor above the ground level. The building was five stories high, which was much larger than any of the buildings in Gothenburg.

I waited patiently as the numbers that were displayed on the top of the elevator frame slowly reduced until they reached the first floor, which was the level that I was standing on.

The elevator doors opened slowly, revealing two figures standing in the middle of it, looking as though they were in a heated argument about something.

The two figures were my supervisors, Penelope and Thomas, they were both adorned in high fashion clothing brands with the latest collections being a staple for their never ending fashion hunger.

Penelope Liechmist, was the daughter of the company's owner, as well as being the supervisor to almost half of the operations within the factory, she was also a certified douchebag.

Her counterpart, Thomas Banda, was exactly the opposite of Penelope.

Thomas was a graduate from Yale in bioengineering, he had once had a very bright career instore for him until he accidentally blew up a city block in italy after mixing two substances in a hybrid engine, that actually caused a spark to enter the fuel tank of the car, after his whole scandal in italy, he was effectively relegated to working as a supervisor in this factory.

Despite his harrowing past, Thomas was the most cheerful person in the building on any given day, he remembered all our birthdays, he bought us coffee in winter, he even bought the manager a set of drums for his birthday(maybe the dreams of a lead guitarist in a band were not so lost)

To top off his list of undeniably good attributes, one was undoubtedly his most prominent feature, this was of course his face, James was handsome. Not handsome in a man's way, but in a sort of young and mature way.

I had grown to find I had feelings for him, especially after a dinner date we had together. To be honest that was the first and only date I had ever been on, so you don't have to guess how happy I was when it happened.

He looked up from his tablet that he was staring at, and turned his head in my direction, he then walked out the elevator and came to give me a high five.

" How are you Yamika, except the hangovers ofcourse?"

" Im fine Thomas, though you know i don't drink alcohol"

" Never too late to try, is it"

" Then you must certainly include, never too early"

" Oh, you got me there, didnt you?"

" I believe i did, mr handsome", i said as he locked his arms around my waist staring at me with his blue eyes, that were sometimes hidden behind his sand colored locks of hair.

He began to lean in as if for a kiss, when Penelope decided to butt in.

" No romantic relations within work grounds, rule number 122 of the company's rules".

" Rule number 1 gazillion, get out of our business Penelope", Thomas replied.

" Are you sure you want to test my power and influence over your life in this company, Thomas?"

" No", he replied in defeat.

" I thought so, now get to work losers, I've had enough stupidity for the day.", she said as she walked away with a smile on her face.

Yes you're right, Penelope was a sad and very lonely person.

Thomas and I locked eyes one last time before I decided to go on my way to the factory.

I went down the elevator, which took me straight to the entrance of the car assembly.

I went to my tiny office in the corner of the factory where my desktop and collection of manga, decorated with ebony cutouts.

I quickly went to work, starting by designing a new headlight for a car that came in with a faulty system, followed by having a meeting with some Japanese man that complained about the left wheel drive.

Seconds went by, followed by minutes and finally hours.

It was night time and I was practically alone in the building, watching some new anime on the flix. I sat there and I felt a sense of loneliness, which was all too usual for me.

I was half asleep when a notification arrived on my phone, which was weird because I rarely texted anyone in this entire universe.

It was a text from someone named 'sunboy', on instagram.

It said;

" Hi Yamika, happy birthday btw, hope your having a very terrific day and life"

"What, who the heck are you?", i replied

" you will find out soon"

"What do you mean?", i replied

But I received no response as the contact suddenly went offline.

It would be weird that it's my birthday and no single person had even remembered it was my birthday.

I turned 18 years old today, a special year.

I then pulled out a notebook and began writing some lyrics as I listened to random beats on youtube. I am a strong believer in the power of music therapy.

After a while i came up with some depressing and sad ballad about murder and stuff i hate, it went somethin like;

My heart was turned to stone at dusk,

I begged my love to hold me close,

But i cut his hands and slit his throat,

I fall in love everytime, the molly keep me up,

Took a sip of my cold wine, and i watched my town burn in flames,

And the desert sun took me away,

To live and love another day.

I closed my eyes and went to sleep like always, alone.

07:22 AM

14th October 2022

Kalahari desert, South Africa

Yamika

I woke up to the sound of Thomas shouting my name, I stood up, clearly in shock and looked around me expecting to see a messy office.

Instead I saw sand, sand and ooooh, more sand all around me as the sun scorched my skin.

I was in my office clothes from the previous day, and Thomas was there too, except he was naked and had his hair extremely short now.

Did I mention he had a golden metallic arm where his normal hand was?

" Where are we Yamika?", he asked clearly as confused as me

I quickly handed him my coat to clothe himself and started to look around.

I saw a card hidden in the sand with a smiley face on it, it had two words smeared right across the face of it, 'Sun boy'.

" I dont know", i shouted.