Chapter 1
It was again, a usual day in the Monroe Laboratory. In one specific lab, fifteen or so workers were busy mixing different substances, looking through microscopes, reading files, and walking here and there to grab something they needed. The atmosphere of the lab was quiet, apart from the noises of them mixing the liquids and occasionally getting up to grab something.
No one seemed to be bothered with one another and none of them seemed interested in talking to each other. The majority of the people there were men and just a few women to be seen. In fact, there were more women employed than men, although most of them hadn’t come to work that day.
One of the few women working there, Constance Madden knew that the reason was because of “Women Week” which was a random thing that they invented to make excuses for not coming to work.
Constance, despite being a quiet person, had a bad reputation within the office. She was known as the “pick-me girl” which she clearly wasn’t. But the other women working there found it amusing as well as annoying that she never considered shopping, makeup, and dressing.
Of course, she would be said to be ”not like other girls”. Constance was a sensitive person, and she cared about and was hurt by her reputation in the lab.
Constance wasn’t young, beautiful, or rich. She was thirty-nine, divorced with two kids she had custody of, and barely had enough money to raise her children. Her husband didn’t pay child support, which was fine. As long as there were no luxuries bought, she could afford them.
Monroe Laboratory did not pay well, which made a lot of employees resign, leaving the remaining employees to work overtime instead. Constance regularly worked overtime and some other people worked overtime with her. It was undoubtedly going to be one of those unpopular overtime days at the lab. No one was too happy about it.
Apart from Deja Bailey. Deja, twenty-six years of age, was one of those “Women’s Week” girls. However, she, along with a few other “Women’s Week” women were not allowed to take the day off. It did make them angry and miserable but it gave Deja a chance to fool around with Constance, which was one of her favorite hobbies.
“Hey,” she came up to Constance who was busy doing something on her computer. Deja leaned to the wall behind her and folded her arms, staring at Constance, not even blinking until Constance raised her head and stared at her as if she was something inhuman.
“Why so busy?” She asked and Constance sighed quietly.
I am not going to fight a twenty-six-year-old, with the mental age of a teenager, not today, Constance thought and tried to ignore Deja.
“Hey?” Deja called out, a little loudly, and everyone in the room looked at her. She smiled and waved her hand to tell them to continue with their work.
“You’re so rude.” Deja hissed to Constance, who didn’t look up. “Maybe that’s why your husband divorced you.”
Constance froze. Slowly, she raised her head to look at Deja who smiled slightly, before strolling away back to her work area.
She did it again, Constance thought, furiously. She accomplished her task, once again. She made me angry and irritable, and she was all smiling and happy.
The flat Constance lived in wasn’t the best place, but it was affordable and it had all the necessities needed to live a comfortable life.
Constance had two fraternal twin daughters. The older by three minutes was Celeste and the younger one was Melody. If you looked at them at first sight, you wouldn’t be able to guess in a billion years that they were twin sisters.
Celeste took after her mother’s sister, Jolene. She, like Jolene, was far more attractive than any of her family members. Melody took after her mother, and she was rather shy and quiet, like her mother. Both the girls got along fairly well but had a huge difference in personalities.
Melody was introverted and quiet and kept herself to herself. She had assumed that marriages only led to disaster, and they always ended, by watching her parents split when she was very young.
Celeste, on the other hand, wasn’t much of an introvert. She enjoyed talking to people. On the other hand, she learned from her parents’ broken marriage that if marriages were strong enough, they could last. Therefore, she enjoyed dating people, and having an attractive face was very useful.
Celeste was known for being the class topper, and Melody was the class president. Celeste was likable and lovable, Melody was unknown.
As soon as Constance got home, the first thing she saw was Celeste, reading some textbook, sitting on the dining table.
“You’re home,” Celeste spoke, quietly. Both girls didn’t have a very good relationship with their mother. The main reason was that she stayed out of home for most of the time and came home very late at night when Melody was usually asleep and Celeste was studying.
Celeste had comparatively a better relationship with her mother than Melody. At least she got to talk to her, meanwhile, Melody was mostly asleep.
“I made the dinner today. If you want some, it’s in the fridge.” Celeste told her mother who was putting her bags down on the couch.
“What did you make? And please be a sweetheart and take the grocery out and put it in the fridge.” Constance sighed.
“Chicken sandwiches,” Celeste replied, grabbing the bags and proceeding to do what her mother told her.
That night, when going to bed, Constance recapped her entire life.
It was hard, she thought. But don’t worry, tomorrow will be a very good day.
Little did she know that the next day would be the worst day of her entire life.
