The alarm blaring woke Emily up.
The alarm woke her, not a nightmare.
Blinking up at the ceiling, she let that little fact sink in. She had woken up exactly seven hours after going to sleep. The pills had done their job, that was good.
Despite her alarm having already gone off, Emily stayed in bed for a while longer, taking slow, deep breaths. Her blinks came with the speed of a sloth, her eyelids feeling weighed down. But she finally managed to not only keep her eyes open for longer, but to finally get out of bed.
She had slept through the night, that was huge, monumental. She should have been feeling…something. But as she got herself ready for work, whatever that hidden feeling was supposed to be, it did not surface, and tired of waiting for her brain to come up with something, she finally gave up, and went to greet her mom.
"Good morning, mom," She called, opening the door to her mother's room a crack. The older woman, encased in a cocoon of blankets, wriggled about, unintelligible sounds coming from her.
That…that was what good, restful sleep was supposed to look like. Emily thought, but she could not hold onto the idea, it disappeared as quickly as it had come, and she did not have the energy to try and find it again.
Closing the door, she let her mom enjoy her lie in. She would only be going into work later in the day, a rare treat, and in Emily's opinion, her mom was using the time wisely.
The trip to work was…strange. It was muted in a way the city never was. The lights a little bit dim, the noises distant, as though they were echoes. And when Emily finally made it to work, she was a bit dumbfounded to find other people there as well.
She was not late, but she had not come in at her usual time either.
Huh?
Where had the time gone? Had she really been that slow when walking the last few blocks?
She looked to the stairs, her favourite way to get to the top, but they suddenly felt endless. So Emily took the elevator, and instantly regretted it. She ended up wedged in a small box with too many people all of them talking too loudly into their phones, and being far too close for her liking.
So preoccupied with surviving the ordeal, she did not notice when the doors opened and everyone filed out. She ended up riding it all the way down and then back up again. The torture the second time around was even worse, but she at least made it out.
Lucas was in the second elevator, and when he gave her a faux cheerful smile, all she could do was blink, too tired to come up with the correct response. His brow was furrowing in confusion when the doors opened, and Emily left before he could figure out whatever it was that he was thinking.
Once at her desk, simple every day things felt like herculean tasks. It took her thirty minutes to type a memo, and even longer to send it. But she was slow and steady, her work done correctly, even if not as fast as usual. Another saving grace was the silence from the boss' office. He had not asked to see her, or send her any errands. So she spent the majority of the day seated, working in world that seemed to have lost all of its spark.
When it came time to knock off, she grabbed her bag and headed for the elevator. Not seeing Derek until the two of them collided. She fell against solid muscle, and had he not grabbed her, she was certain that she would have been thrown back.
"Are you alright?" He asked and she nodded, but she did not move, and he did not let her go either.
The two of them just stood there, blinking at each other. When they finally untangled, it was slow and deliberate, the two of them matching each other's slow paces.
It almost felt as though the two of them were in the same boat, moving slow while the rest of the world was going at supersonic speeds.
"See you tomorrow, Emily," He rumbled, and the moment shattered.
"See you tomorrow, Derek," She answered, and they took the elevator down together. Staring out at the outside world in silence.