I knew I was late as soon as my eyes fluttered open but I still waited, rebooting slowly, bringing myself from the subconscious that was filled with the usual weirdness of my dreams. I chuckled as the last bits of my dream faded away.
Coffee cups in the shape of unicorns indeed.
Dreams were weird everywhere but whoever was the devisor of mine was unapologetically delulu. He or she took my dreams to the next level. I unconsciously glanced at the alarm clock at my bedside.
Shit.
I jumped out of bed like my body was on fire. My new supervisor was going to have a field day with this one. It was no secret that the old hag didn’t like me. But that was because she didn’t even attempt to hide it. Antagonizing me with every step I went. I could have taken it up with HR but of course, the head of HR had to be her freaking fiancee. Just my luck.
Like it or not, I was out of the house in twenty minutes. Don’t ask me how. And I grumbled as I stormed into my favourite café. I knew I was wasting more time but I’d be damned if I went to the company without my fix of coffee. At least, a little strength to face the resident office witch.
Zaya, the barista had an unusually charming smile as she handed my cup of coffee to me. I got it without questions, though and sprinted out. I’ll ask her later what the charm was all about since she was known for miles for having an arctic smile on her face.
Stopping in front of the building, I gulped my coffee down. Best to get the booster kicking before stepping in. Out of habit, I absentmindedly shook my coffee cup to make sure there were no underlying residues but was surprised to hear a clink.
What the –
Oh Gina, you’re dead! I said to myself. Really I wasn’t going to let this slide. Putting an object in my coffee crossed all ethical lines, talk more of hygiene. I picked the offending object with a scowl on my face and instead of throwing it away like I should’ve, I opened it curiously.
YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED.
What did that even mean? I turned the note for more information but I saw nothing. On a sudden douse of enlightenment, I poured the remnants of the coffee and gazed into it the cup.
“Aha!” I exclaimed. There was an address at the bottom and it turned out to be the closed café building that had been out of business for months and it was just behind my apartment. Were they expecting me to leave work for this?
I threw the note away and walked into the office’s building. I didn’t have the time for impulsohe wanderings. As the elevator opened to the floor my office was, I looked straight into the eye of the new supervisor a few meters away, who had her usual evil scowl that promised retribution. I didn’t know what got into me but I just knew that I couldn’t deal with her today. So, I promptly pressed the elevator button and ignored her yells as it closed just as she sprinted to it.
I ran out of the office building and began my way back home. I was already going to be queried for lateness anyways, so better to just take the whole day off instead of letting the witch spoil my mood.
I got to the unsused café and was surprised to find the huge padlock that was usually holding the doors in place absent. I pushed open the café door and stepped in. The doors promptly closed behind me with a resounding click. I banged on it frantically, cursing myself eternally for this wild goose chase I ventured on.
I got to my knees and started begging the empty air in front of me. “Please, I’m not cut out for this. What do you want?” I sounded ridiculous to my ears but nothing was beyond me at this point. I honestly didn’t want to be some sorry victim of a horror story. I had not even begun to live yet.
A sound to my left brought a yelp from me. I moved to inspect it and was suddenly blinded by lights and yells of “Happy Birthday Diane!!”
I cleaned my eyes to find some of my colleagues from work, my best friends from college and Zaya, who held a medium-sized cake in front of her.
“You all are incredibly insane,” I screamed at them as they erupted into laughter, fighting the smile that was sweeping my face and most of all, the tears that threatened to flow.
“Really guys, you just had to find the creepiest surprise in the book.”
“You should have seen your face,” Zaya started. “I swear Megan had to pinch me twice to stop me from laughing out loud.”
Megan, my best friend since college held my hands. “You don’t turn thirty every day Diane and something told me you’ll probably forget your birthday as usual. Enjoy it this once.”
I smiled as we started partying in the little café, stuffing ourselves with the birthday cake and more caffeine instead of mine since a lot of them had to return to work( I was commanded not to think of doing so by the way). It was only eleven in the morning after all.
Zaya waltzed to me as the little party winded down and said with a mischievous smirk.
“Hey, Diane. Guess what?”
“What is it Zaya? Aren’t you tired of your ceaseless pranks?”
She grinned, undeterred and waved her phone in front of me. “Guess who got all that begging on camera?”
“Why you little…”