[ Gartersbee, June 27, Year 1403 ]
The sun's bright rays of light shone through the window of the apartment room, and the autumn gale screamed through the air. Constant "clacks" came from outside, as the citizenry made their daily commute and routine trip to the shops and stores.
As the morning began, and the people arose, windows and doors swang open with people rushing out. However, not everybody can get up so easily, for the slumber keeps them asleep with wonderful dreams. In particular, a girl remains slumbering calmly in her room, completely disconnected from the rest of the world, perhaps even having a blissful dream. She lay there motionless, even with the chatter from outside the apartment block and the sound of cars driving by. The sound of footsteps approaching gets louder and louder, until somebody knocks on the door. She remains asleep, ignoring the knocking, but then the second round approaches, and they knock on the door again.
"Wake up, it's morning."
No response, she remains asleep.
"Marie, wake up."
A groan could be heard in the room, and then rustling, the person outside the room grew impatient. She enters her room, already annoyed that she has to wake up somebody who should already know how to wake up on their own.
"Marie."
"Ten more minutes—"
"No, get up now."
No response again. Her patience reaches its climax and limit. She shakes her awake, not too violently, but not gently either, but just enough to wake her up.
"Marie."
"Hannah?"
"Yes it's me, wake up."
"I'm up, I'm up."
The girl whose name was Marie sat up from the bed, still sleepy and tired from her rest. Her short pastel blue hair was an absolute mess after sitting up, with locks of hair flowing out in every direction possible. Marie's room was no different, her bookshelf was unorganized, and her books were all over the floor around it, there were even books on her desk and on her bed. Also disorganized was her desk and closet, with her desk full of paperwork, and her wardrobe in disarray.
"Goodness grief, you really need to clean your room sometime y'know?
"Sorry, sorry."
"Put up your books before you go to bed too, what were you even reading?"
"A history book."
"This isn't the Academy you know, anyways, get out here already, I already made breakfast while you were snoozing away."
"You did?"
"What else was I supposed to do? Wait around for an hour and starve?"
"My apologies."
Hannah, with her officer attire and somewhat long dark-brown hair, stepped outside of Marie's room and into the main room of their two-person apartment, shutting the door behind her. When she left the room, Marie got up and changed out of her nightwear and donned her work attire; a button-up blouse, skirt, stockings, and boots, sparing the trench coat and brassard for later. After changing, she entered the main living room of their small apartment.
The living room was small, but cozy, with two small couches and a coffee table, with various shelves and decor around the rest of the room. Connected to it was the kitchen where Hannah had cooked their breakfast earlier in the morning. A few steps away was a small wooden table and two chairs serving as their dining table, Hannah had already sat down and began eating her breakfast.
"I made us some scrambled eggs Marie, take a seat and have a bite."
Marie sat down, a plate of golden scrambled eggs and a slice of toast was before her eyes. If there was one thing Marie knew about Hannah, she knew that Hannah was a decent chef, unlike her who always either overcooked and burnt the food or put the wrong ingredients together to make a horrendously horrible dish. In fact, the last time she tried cooking, she mistook salt for sugar while baking cookies. The worst part was that the cookies actually looked edible on the outside, but when she asked Hannah to try some, she immediately spat it out. The only thing Marie could somewhat cook was an omelet, and even then they were ok at best. Hannah on the other hand was quite decent at cooking, being taught to do so from childhood, she knew how to cook many dishes like stews and pastries. She could even make a simple plate of scrambled eggs quite posh. So when Hannah said she cooked up a meal, Marie was quite excited internally.
Scooping up a spoonful of scrambled eggs, she inspected them a bit, they looked quite a little different, with specks of green and red cubes and shreds. Growing hungrier by the second, she chomped down on the spoonful of eggs and chewed. They tasted amazing, the eggs themselves were wonderfully soft and pillowy, while being light at the same time. Not to mention, there were not only eggs she tasted too, but also vegetables like tomatoes and onions. In addition, there was also cheese present in the eggs, giving it a milky and wonderful taste. Tasting this, Marie made a surprised expression, which Hannah took note of.
"Well? Is it good?"
"Yeah! It's Delicious!"
"That's good to hear, I didn't think tomatoes would work well but it looks like you're enjoying it."
Marie continued eating her breakfast of scrambled eggs. Hannah reached over to the countertop nearby and turned on the radio to hear the daily broadcast.
.
"—With the cool breeze today, it'll be much easier to deal with that scorching summer heat. Enough with the weather, let's talk about what's happening around town in Gartersbee. Bell's Bakery is currently selling their summer special right now, their one and only 'Bell Lemon Bread' which is absolutely amazing if I do say so myself. Make sure to drop on by and by a loaf, you won't regret it! Down on 29th Street, the street markets are also—"
.
"Maybe we should go stop by Bell's later today when our shift is over."
"Sure thing."
"I wonder what the street vendors are going to do."
"What do you mean Hannah?"
"Well word has it, last year, when Bell started selling his lemon bread, all the other vendors and stores were barren and empty, while Bell's shop didn't have enough lemon bread or employees to keep up."
"You mean it?" said Marie, surprised and disgusted at the same time.
"Well it's only a rumor, I never saw myself, but if it's true, those vendors better do something or else Bell will run them out of business!"
"I'm going to miss those guys, I always loved the food down there."
"Goodness grief Marie you're such an airhead. Sometimes I wonder how you did so well in officer training back at the Academy."
"All I did was spend a lot of my time studying, I didn't really do that much."
"You were always late for class because you were always studying late at night, even now you stay up late doing who knows what. In fact, what do you do late at night nowadays? There's no point in studying anymore if there's no more written tests."
"Well I just read a little bit at night."
"A little bit?! You call that massive history book a little bit?!" Hannah said, surprised Marie could even consider it a little bit.
"Yes…?"
Hannah sighed, "You really are an oddball Marie."
The two of them had a rather odd relationship, and only met by coincidence at the Officer Academy. They had met each other when the two of them had a small squabble over if lemons or limes were better. When Marie went to check in at an apartment, she chose to have a roommate, and her roommate turned out to be Hannah, and when she found out, they immediately went back to having their argument. Overtime, they generally got used to each other after living under the same roof despite being polar opposites, but they still couldn't get over if lemons or limes were superior.
"It's about 7:31 Marie, we should get to the station or we'll be late."
"Oh right, let's start heading over."
The two of them got up, both grabbing two pills of the vitamins and consuming them. A mandatory practice that had been a part of their lives for years.
After taking the vitamins, Marie put on her grey trench coat and blue brassard, then at last her crush cap, signifying her duty as an officer.
"Do we have to wear our coats in this heat?" Marie asked.
"Do you want to get yelled at by Mr. Hayes?"
"Fine, I'll wear it." she said reluctantly.
"My my Marie, weren't you supposed to be the role model?"
"I never said I wanted to be the role model!"
"Sure, sure, whatever you say Marie." Hannah said, chuckling while saying so.
As they walked out, Marie donned her crush cap. Both of them left their apartment and locked the door with a key and headed downstairs, through the main lobby, and then through the front door and into the street, where they began their walk.
The two of them walked down the crowded and lively street, which was full of people from all sorts of backgrounds and ages; young and old, tall and short, red armband and green armband. As they made their way to the station, they stopped at a stop light that had turned green and watched as the cars rolled on by. While waiting, they also made sure to keep an eye out, making sure the people were doing as they were supposed to and that they had their armbands.
Armbands were mandatory in the Gaudian Federation, and represented your role or duty in society. Usually they were branded with the symbol of the Gaudian Federation, a star, and colored differently depending on what you do. For instance law enforcement officers or workers like Marie or Hannah wore a blue armband which signified they worked with the law enforcement or public safety branch of the city. Everyday citizens typically wore a green armband, signifying that they were civilians and everyday people and workers, it's usually the most common armband but depending on what sector of the city you are in or what city it is, other colored armbands might be more common.
"Marie."
Marie was startled for a second, but then realized it was just Hannah. She had zoned out and Hannah, looking out for her fellow officer, decided to intervene.
"Are you alright? You look like you were thinking about something for a while."
"Oh, I'm alright, I was just thinking of something random."
"Well, save your thinking for later, the light turned red while you were thinking about who knows what. Better get moving or it'll turn green again and you'll have to wait."
"You're right, let's move."
They continued their stroll down the street and through the road, and after a few more steps and a left turn on the corner of the street, they were finally in front of the police station.
The station itself was a large brick building, rivaling their apartment in size alone, although it was only around six stories tall compared to their apartment buildings ten stories. From the surface, it looked like an ordinary building like all the others around it, apart from the coat of arms and sign spelling out "Gartersbee Police Department", one could easily mistake it for another building, but thankfully due to those two features, it was a rather recognizable sight.
Multiple officers and other workers were already around the building, talking and discussing about life and where they should go after their shifts were done. Marie and Hannah both went inside of the building, which by itself was already a beehive of activity with officers and staff rushing about delivering reports or handing a cup of coffee to their boss superiors. The two of them walked up to the receptionist to greet her and check in.
"Good morning you two."
"Good morning Ms. Martin."
"Checking in I suppose?"
"Yes Ms. Martin, me and Hannah would like to check in and get to work."
"Alright then, put your names, ID numbers and time entered."
Ms. Martin handed them a clipboard with a sheet of paper on it. The paper had the names of various people's check-in times, ID's, names, and other information. Hannah went first, and flipped it to the second page where there were blank spaces unlike the first page which was already full. From there, she signed her name, time, and everything else she was asked to. Marie did the same underneath hers, signing her name, time, and ID. When the two of them were completed with the check in, Marie handed the clipboard over to Ms. Martin, who was doing some paperwork.
"Here you go Ms. Martin."
"Thank you. Anyhow, Mr. Hayes is about to start assigning duties in a few minutes over in the meeting room near Mr. Aubert's office."
"Thank you Ms. Martin, have a great day!" said Marie.
"You too, now get over there before you're late."
Hannah and Marie hurried over and made their way through the long and crowded hallways of the police department. The meeting room by Mr. Aubert's was not too far, and they both made it there in time with a minute to spare. When they entered, there were about twenty or so other officers and staff in the meeting room conversing. The room itself was rather organized and clean, with a few papers here and there on the table in the middle of the room. Noticing some chairs to their left, Hannah sat down and invited Marie to sit down as well, who accepted the offer. Sitting down, she felt a sudden headache hit her, and buried her right hand onto her forehead.
"Marie? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, it's fine, I probably just didn't get enough rest."
"You really need to get more sleep. I wonder where they're gonna assign us to today."
"Does it really matter?" said Marie.
"Yeah it does, if we get assigned at the marketplace today, we can stop by and try some of the vendors or even pick up something from Bell's."
"That does sound good."
"But that's just a hope, they always assign us to the residential area. Why can't they just switch it up every now and then?"
"Well it's fine I guess, we can always stop by the marketplace sometime afterwards."
"Are you two thinking of trying out Bell's special too?" said a voice.
"Oh, good morning Mr. Munroe." said Marie.
"Yes sir, we were planning on trying it out." replied Hannah.
Mr. Munroe was a middle-aged man who had served in the police force for about six years or so. He usually didn't take things too seriously, and was usually quite happy all the time.
"Well you better get there now or else it'll sell out. You should have seen Bell's place last year."
"So the rumors were true?" replied Hannah.
"Of course! Were you not there to try some?!"
"Well I was a bit busy that day, so I couldn't try some out."
"Welp, you're in for quite the treat then, last year the line stretched all the way down to Mr Watson's store."
"All the way down there?!"
"Yes! Trust me, it's worth the wait, but that lemon bread of his is to die for!"
"It's only lemon bread." mumbled Marie.
"Blasphemy! How could you say that Marie? Have you even tried it yourself?"
"She's a little biased towards limes instead of lemons." said Hannah.
"Well of course, since limes are the superior fruit."
"Oh? So would you rather eat lime bread instead?
"Of course! That actually sounds quite tasty!"
"You call that concoction tasty!?"
"You two can never stop bickering over that same topic can you?" said Munroe.
"Never!" the two said simultaneously before going back to their argument.
Munroe shook his head in disapproval, he had heard this same argument far too many times in the past few months alone. Around then, the door burst open with a man with greying hair, and an insignia on his sleeve equivalent to that of a captain walking into the room.
"Mr. Hayes!" a voice called in the room.
In an instant, everybody stood at attention as they heard that name.
"Settle down now, let's get straight down to business." said Hayes. "Today you're all getting patrol duty, same sectors as yesterday, apart from some of you."
Hearing that, Hannah and Marie's eyes widened, thinking if today was the day they would finally get a new post.
"Jordan and Locke, you both will now be assigned to the recreational district. Plosky and Jann will be assigned to the marketplace. Any objections?"
The room was silent, no objections came out, or at least, they could not be heard. Secretly, Hannah and Marie felt an invisible yet powerful punch to the gut as they heard someone else taking the marketplace assignment which they so desperately yearned for.
"Very well. Get moving people, your shifts end at six o' clock."
"Yes sir!" replied everyone in the room, before quickly heading off to their duties.
"Well, looks like you both ran out of luck today." chuckled Munroe, heading off to his post.
Not wanting to get scolded by Mr. Hayes, the two reluctantly headed off to the residential area where they were always stationed.
By the time they walked over there, it was around nine o' clock. The patrol was carried out as usual by the two of them, and was rather boring. Only some people can walk around aimlessly for hours on end looking at people passing by, making sure they were doing the right thing. Marie envied the people who always got the interesting jobs like investigations or going out to sea on a ship. But a job was a job, and she was well aware that she was playing a somewhat important part in the city, despite there being nearly no crimes whatsoever.
They spent most of their patrol walking around apartment blocks and houses, having friendly chatter with people and giving directions out, for the most part, it felt more like being a tour guide than an officer of the law.
"Hello miss, do you happen to know where the nearest entrance to the subway is?" asked an elderly woman.
"Why yes," Marie replied, "there should be an entry way to the subway system if you take a right down the street over there." she said, pointing to her left.
"Why thank you dear!"
"No problem! Have a great day ma'am!"
As the woman walked off, Hannah came forth to Marie.
"Anything interesting today?"
"Not much." replied Marie.
"Same thing?"
"Yeah. Directions to the subway system or to Bell's."
Hannah sighed. "If only we were nearby."
At that moment, Marie's stomach growled, it was nearing lunchtime. Looking over, Hannah looked at Marie, then back at her watch, 12:39.
"It's about that time."
"Should we go down to the shop down the street over there and buy something?"
"Actually I want to switch it up a bit Marie."
"How so?" Marie asked.
"Here." Hannah said, chucking a sandwich her way.
"If only we could have gotten that marketplace assignment instead of those two." Hannah mumbled.
"Don't worry Hannah, we can head over after duty." Marie said, going for a bite on her sandwich.
"But I don't want to wait!" Hannah replied. "What did they do that we didn't?"
Marie stared at Hannah, sure Bell had tasty pastries, but was she really that desperate for the new product? She pondered about it, all the while Hannah continued ranting.
At last, their shift was over, and the two of them rushed quickly down to the marketplace to get to Bell's Bakery before it sold out on its speciality. Despite the streets being crowded, they made it there in record speed, at around three minutes, compared to the usual five on a normal day.
"Hurry up Marie! They'll sell out if we don't hurry!"
"Right, right, I'm coming." she said reluctantly.
The two of them entered the bakery, now rather empty and devoid of people, but Hannah paid no mind to the detail and ran straight to Bell. He was around the same age as Munroe, but a little less youthful. Bell was always busy with baking, so he didn't have too much time to enjoy himself.
"Bell!"
"Hannah? What is it?"
"Can we get a loaf of lemon bread?"
He chuckled at what she said. "Well sorry Hannah, we sold out ten minutes ago." he said while smiling.
Hannah, still recovering from the run to the bakery, felt another invisible punch to the gut, similar to the one she felt that morning, only this time, it was more painful.
"You can always come by the next day."
She stood there with a dead look in her eyes, paralyzed by what he had just said. After all the waiting and anticipation, she ultimately didn't make it in time, her spirit truly died then.
"Oh Bell, can I get just one baguette?" asked Marie.
"Sure thing Marie, I'll go bag it up for you."
Bell grabbed a freshly cooked baguette from the oven nearby. It was golden and crisp, and was also piping hot as it came straight out the oven. Effortlessly, he slid the hot baguette into the paper bag, not even flinching or showing a sign of pain from burns or the heat.
"Three marks and thirty pieces in tax."
"Here you go." said Marie as she handed him the payment.
"Thank you, make sure to come by earlier for your lemon bread next time."
"We will!" said Marie. "You should also try making lime bread sometime!"
Bell chuckled, "Yes yes, of course, of course!"
Marie and Hannah went back to their apartment, by now it was around seven o' clock. They could've stayed outside for an hour or so before curfew approached and they had to head back, but seeing Hannah in her unhappy and blank state, Marie thought it was best to just bring her back home.
When they reached their apartment, Hannah went straight to her room, likely still a little angry that she couldn't try out the new specialty item.
Marie on the other hand went to take a shower in the small bathroom before changing into her nightwear and heading off to her own room a few minutes later. She herself wasn't feeling too hungry after snacking on some of the baguette she bought on their way back, and she didn't want to burden Hannah with cooking supper, so she decided to let her be and retreat to her own room. For the rest of the evening, Marie continued reading literature and history books, until she eventually retired for the night and slumbered an hour or two after when the curfew at nine had passed.