Chapter 1 | Rhea

"Ugh what am I doing here" Rhea admitted to herself standing as still and vacant as a cardboard cut-out, in fact she wouldn't be surprised if someone walked straight past her. In this situation Rhea felt paramount to that speck of dust she saw one of the businessmen lightly dust off from their suit, the funniest thing about the situation was she didn't even know why she was there.

From pursuing art her whole life, to graduating and then to this internship, Rhea couldn't give a definitive answer to herself.

Why was she, not even sitting, but standing up in this meeting room with all these high managing executives- holding five coasters in one hand and three fancy cup holders with a handle in another. Unamused by her predicament Rhea simply tuned everything out, standing next to the CEO's Assistant sitting sent a taste worse than death down her mouth and may God help her if Rhea decided to say whatever she was thinking out loud.

Jagged movements of Rhea's eyes kept her mind conscious, although she was preoccupied with the entertainment, she created in her head with how unsettled she was with the woman sitting next to her- any sign of the meeting ending meant the sooner she could leave. So, when her pupils grazed over the sight of their company's CEO shaking hands with a man dressed similarly, Rhea snapped back to real life. Stumbling into consciousness she watched as all the older people got up and started to talk, prudently walking out after the time talking became more uncomfortably intimate.

With the CEO and his assistant leaving as the last two in the room- besides herself, she knew it was okay to finally leave, with a hectic rhythm in her step Rhea left the room only to stumble upon the CEO and assistant inches away from one another. The masculine hand that had reached up to the assistant's long feminine locks had almost put Rhea off balance- but she continued on- and as she had passed by he immediately stopped his pursuit, much like Rhea before, waking up from whatever trance he was in and looking to his right. Virtually tracing her sent with his eyes as Rhea disappeared behind the corner.

Exhausted from fighting tooth and nail to get into the lift and it taking ages to get to her floor- Rhea was finally back to her home on the 8th floor, with the dull sound of her flats slapping against the floor Rhea found herself to her desk wobbling to a halt as she sat down for the first time in 4hrs.

"Rhea. . .? Where were you all day? - I swear to you. . . You. . . " A colleague started to say suddenly turning inquisitive about Rhea "Wait when did I even last see you?-"

"Lunch. It was lunch linda. . . ." Rhea says matter-of-factly, taking a small rectangular box from her desk.

"Right! Where did you disappear too? -"

"Pissy Paige called, took her to some meeting?" Another voice added, from behind Linda another colleague walked up to Rhea's desk, their frame much wider than Lindas "Don't worry, all of us down here hate her, just come in early tomorrow and get the work done, not gonna scold you for her shortcomings" He reassured Rhea smiling warmly.

"Thank you Bob, but I think I'll just get in some overtime." As her once jittery eyes settled on the light of her phone a small sigh escaped Rhea's lips as the time read 6:28PM.

"That's such a shame, the department was having dinner tonight, I'm sure a lot of people were looking forward to the new intern being there." Linda said, trying to console the young intern.

"Well. . . It sucks, but unlike Pissy Paige I'm not trying to put my tongue down the CEO's throat, I'm pretty con-"

"WAIT WHAT!?" Linda shouted to the almost empty office.

Rhea looked around confused, confused, hesitant and slightly scared "I said it sucks?"

"No, after that!!"

"That 'unlike Pissy Paige I'm not trying to put my tongue down the CEO's Throat'?"

"OH MY GOD YES THAT!!" Linda squealed getting closer to Rhea "What dirt do you have? Oh MY GOD, girl you HAVE to come to dinner now, this is juicy information you need to tell EVERYONE." In the matter of a moment Linda turned from a sweet airhead into a hollering bimbo, alarming Rhea so much that she was lost for words.

"Well we can't keep the rest waiting Linda darling, I'm sure they've already ordered- don't want our food to get cold." Luckily Bob's intervention helped calm Lindas incessant questions.

"I guess you're right Bob, but RHEA~ you have to promise to tell me everything you know tomorrow." Nodding a bit Linda stopped being so persistent and with that began to wave Rhea off, with Bob following suit he made sure to show Rhea how apologetic he was for Linda's actions, so wearing a face of worry as he passed both Linda and Bob left the building to go to their dinner.

Taking a deep breath in and out Rhea tried to rest her thoughts, getting into a different head space to take on the choke load of work she had to do.

Accompanying the loss of the setting sun came the beauty of the moons royal blue against the black canvas of night, with the silence made by the lack of stirring during the night even the air was still- the only thing that could be heard was the 'tick. . .tick. . .tick. . .' of the minute hand within Rhea's office, the blaring blue light of her pc shining on her tired face stole her attention from the clock. Minutes turn into hours and hours move on even faster at that point, the next time Rhea checks the time "nine forty-eight??- Where did the time go?" startled, she stands up, hurrying to get her things together to leave the office.

Pit pat went her shoes as she scaled down the city tiles, with Rheas headphones resting comfortably on her head and a few taps from her index finger to her phone her flats settled to a slower pace, Rheas music mirroring the calming quiet atmosphere of night that had crept up on her.

Swiftly putting her phone in her bag she made sure to pay attention to her surroundings, unlike most people Rhea enjoyed the scene- no matter how bleak the infrastructure, architecture, cleanliness or population of each area or place she experienced Rhea could always find interest in what others thought were mundane. Enjoying the thrill of looking into people's lives without being directly involved made her feel. . . powerful, this gave Rhea the sense of control she needed in her life that wasn't quite present in her day to day and although inferences are only what you believe the situation to be, Rhea took what she saw and felt as fact as her gut instincts and supreme intellect had never lead her astray before.

Glancing at a billboard on top of quite a tall building, Rhea briefly displayed an ad for a book series seeming to be new "Hmm, 'Her Kingdom'? Looks kinda good. . . or at least the cover does." Rhea thought stopping in the middle of the street to look at the greater details.

Yet upon looking further Rhea could only focus on how inconveniently the graffiti was placed on said billboard, right in front of where she could have bought said book "damn it." Rhea whispered under her breath slightly annoyed.

Fishing her phone back out of her bag and pointing the camera at the advert Rhea began to press the power button on her cellular device-

"Ugh-" Rhea let out confusion as to what force had pushed her forward, turning around she started to open her mouth "What the? -" And with one look behind her Rhea stopped.

A symbol displayed itself on the back of the stranger's leather jacket, the black leather acting as a contrasting base layer to the white spray-on symbol that had been put on jaggedly, considering the inconsistent flow of the dripping spray paint that coated the back of the stranger's jacket. Feet rooted in the ground Rhea could only stare at the symbol, almost as if taking in every inch of the design before she had the unfortunate fate of it disappearing from view. Turning the corner, Rhea took the opportunity to give her lungs the much-needed O-two it yearned for, taking another deep breath out she couldn't imagine what the hell had just happened.

A storming churn started in her stomach, an unease settled with her- uninvited and unwanted Rhea started to become fearful, an irritatingly unwelcomed feeling washed over her causing Rhea to almost lose herself in the adrenaline that arose inside. Kicking off her feet into high gear, she tried her best to leave the notion of such things behind her, letting the sweet night breeze wash over her as she continued home.

Rhea opened her door with a Click. A waft of glade exotic tropical blossom hit Rhea's nose like a punch to the face, stepping into her house and making sure to close the door carefully behind her, she took her shoes off letting the clean inside air of the Exotic blend cover all her senses, welcoming it with open arms and settling her keys on the small table Rhea trudges to her room. Taking off her coat to lay on her chair Rhea flops onto her bed- a wave of dizziness mixed with exhaustion breaking into her as soon as her skin touches the blankets. Glancing at the clock on the wall Rhea could only make out the hour hand on 11 before her consciousness started fading in and out.