Chapter 1 (Part C)

•••

Maria stepped out of the elevator on the 18th floor. She walked over to her cubicle and set her bag down on the desk.

Sitting down, she turned on her computer and waited as the screen loaded.

Just then, someone walked by and then stopped at her cubicle. The woman had Auburn hair and bright green eyes.

"Well hello, how've you been?" she asked as she looked at Maria with contempt.

"Good, how were your holidays?" Maria asked nonchalantly as she started opening all of the files and documents that she was supposed to read through and correct for the day.

"Oh, it was fine. Me and my husband were visiting Germany. It was so wonderful and nice, well you wouldn't know about it. Anyway, I have to get to work or Betty'll be mad. Bye." she said and then walked off.

The person in the neighboring cubicle looked over at Maria with a small chuckle.

"Amusing, isn't she?" Maria asked with a small laugh as she started clicking on her computer.

"Hoho, very. I always wonder, does Sasha have a screw loose or something?" she asked as she waved her hand in a circle close to her head.

"Who knows, maybe she fell on her head as a baby and lost a few, eh Abigail?" Maria said with a laugh.

"Haha, maybe. Now let's get back to work before Betty finds out we were slacking." Abigail said with a chuckle and then turned back to her computer.

Maria just hummed in response and continued working.

•••

It had been about four hours, maybe five. Maria stood up with a groan and stretched her arms.

She walked out of her cubicle and joined Abigail a little way ahead. They walked over to the cafeteria and chatted as they walked.

As they walked in, Maria went to get their food while Abigail left to get a table for them.

Sitting down at the table a couple of minutes later, Maria slid the food tray to Abigail and started munching on her food.

Just then, Sasha came over to their table with a smug look on her face.

"Guess what!" she said with a big grin as she stood there with her hands on her hips.

"What?" Abigail asked looking up at her as she stuffed her mouth with noodles.

"I've been promoted," Sasha said with a huge smile. "I'm changing floors."

"Oh, which floor are you getting changed to?" Maria asked as she looked up with a mellow look.

"The seventeenth," Sasha answered with a big grin.

"Nice," Abigail said as she gave Sasha a thumbs up.

"Cool!" Maria said as she went back to eating her noodles.

"Anyway, I gotta go, I have to call my husband and tell him about it," Sasha said and then walked off with a slight hop in her step.

Maria and Abigail sat and are in silence for some time. Maria finally broke off the silence a couple of minutes later.

"I'm guessing we won't have to see her again from now on then?" Maria asked looking up at Abigail who had finished her food and was now on her phone.

"Most likely," Abigail answered as she turned off her phone and put it upside down on the table.

They stood up and took their food trays over to the lunch lady. They walked back to their cubicles and got back to work.

About an hour later, Maria got a call from Ariel. Picking it up, she put the phone to her ear.

{Hey.} Avery said over the phone.

"Hey, what's up?" Maria asked as she kept clicking and typing on her computer.

{I just dropped the quadruplets off.} Ariel answered. {I'm gonna pick up the twins and then call you back.}

"Ok, keep me updated," Maria said as she opened a new file and started reading through it.

{Will do. Bye.} Ariel said and cut the call.

Maria turned her phone off and put it down on the table. Leaning back, she stretched her arms with a small groan.

Turning back to her computer, she continued reading the file and corrected all the mistakes.

•••

"Bye, I'll see you tomorrow, " Maria said with a tired yawn as she waved at Abigail.

"Bye," Abigail waved and then turned back to her table which was in a mess.

Maria walked over to the elevator. It took a couple of minutes but she finally got down to the garage.

She walked up to her car and opened the back seat door. She put her bag in and closed the door then sat down in the driver's seat.

Starting the car, she drove onto the highway. She was driving toward the apartment duplex again to pick up Marianne.

It had been a couple of minutes on the main road when a car that was driving the wrong way crashed into her car.

•••

Maria sat in her seat unmoving as blood dripped down her forehead from where the glass shards had hit.

She opened her eyes a little and heard some yelling from god knows where because her head wouldn't stop ringing.

Someone broke the window and took hold of her hand. He said something but Maria didn't understand a word because of the ringing in her head.

The guy pulled her out of the car and then she was surrounded by nurses. They took her straight to the hospital and she was hospitalized immediately.

All the while, Maria fought hard to stay conscious but as they settled her down and cleaned up her wounds, she found herself getting tired and more tired till she fell unconscious...

But she wasn't completely unconscious as she could still hear the doctors and nurses complaining about how she wouldn't stop bleeding and that if she lost more blood she would die and all that.

She just lay there, almost unconscious, feeling numb and lifeless with her eyes open. Just then, her breathing started to slow and her eyes started to close on their own.

Maria gave in without a second thought and succumbed to the dark unconscious realm...