The Four Brides Of Hades

Heat radiated on every inch of bare skin visible to the light streaming through the open blinds, I must have forgotten to close them again after getting home last night.

Another late night at the office.

I knew It was just a matter of minutes until my alarm would start to ring. What did it matter anyway, I hadn't slept that night or the last three nights. How long is it that a human can go without sleep before they are officially classed as crazy?

Beep Beep Beeeeeeppp.

I reached under my pillow, pulling out my phone, sliding my thump lightly across the screen, letting the room fall silent once again.

I lay there almost motionless, staring up at the smooth ceiling, if it weren't for the subtle rise and fall of my chest I could of passed for a corpse, left to be found after the smell of decay no longer stayed contained in apartment 14A. Neighbours may start to complain to the landlord, some may even venture down the long hall to locate the smell themselves.

I huffed, laying my arm roughly over my eyes, no neighbours would need to complain nor come investigating today, I had made it through another night.

I knew I had to get up soon, or I would be late for work again. I could already hear Randel's nasally voice lecturing me on how I need to improve my work ethnic, and how inconsiderate it is for the rest of the team who manages to get themselves into the office on time each morning, so why couldn't I?

I tossled with the light weight sheet covering the lower half of my body for a minute, before finally allowing my bare feet to touch the lightly warmed wooden floor boards besides my bed. I took a moment to stare out of the five story high apartment window, my view being nothing more than dark red bricks.

"Beautiful as ever." My voice came out low and bored.

I padded towards my bedroom door, seriously debating just turning back around and letting my body slump back onto the bed and never getting up again. It was the soft prickle of warmed fur that stopped that thought and made me turn my attention to the small puddle of fur rolling around playfully on her back.

A smile rose on my lips as I kneeled down to pet summers soft white fur on her exposed belly, letting her fur tickle my fingers as I neared her neck, moving to lightly scratch under her chin as I knew she loved.

"Hungry?" I sometimes wondered if Summer really could understand me, the way she stared right into my eyes giving a short meow, before standing back on her padded paws making her way over to the kitchen island where her two bowls are located.

I rose to my feet myself following after my confident tabby her glowing green eyes following my every move all the way to the cupboard she knows I keep her wet food in. Reaching in my hand comes into contact with that familiar cold metal I touch each morning, pulling it out I read the label.

"Looks like we are having chicken today sums, your favourite"

Summers delicate sharp ears twitched at the sound of her favourite food, followed by a series of excited meows and low purring.

I reached down retrieving summers food bowl, placing it onto the island in front of me, Summer not far behind it as she used the island stools as stepping stones stopping once she was perfectly positioned in front of the empty plastic bowl.

Cracking the canned cat food open, I scooped half of its contents into the bowl, covering that small blue skellington fish design printed on the bottom of the plastic food dish.

Summer sat patiently waiting till I had finished smoothing the brown chunky meat and gravy mix evenly covering the plastic bottom. Once Summer was satisfied that I had completely finished serving her first meal of the day, she happily dug in.

I stood, taking a moment to appreciate the small grateful purrs Summer emitted with each mouthful, making me laugh lightly to myself.

"Time to sort myself out then."

It was already 7:00AM and I needed to be in the office for 8:00AM sharp. I cursed lowly under my breath knowing there was no time for breakfast this morning.

I turned heading straight for my bedroom turning sharply into the small attached bathroom, even with the sun burning through the frosted glass of the bathroom window, the room still felt cold. My arms found themselves wrapping around my exposed shoulders, the thin straps of the tank top I was wearing doing very little to protect me from the chill.

I wasted no time in getting the shower turned on, making sure to turn up the heat in an effort to bring back the warmth I had been feeling in the rest of the apartment.

Whilst the shower adjusted to the temperature request, I took this time to remove the few articles of clothing I had gone to bed in last night, which just consisted of a light weight black tank top, and a pair of baggy jogging shorts that now thinking about it seemed like a pretty stupid purchase since I have never gone jogging in my life.

I stepped over the ledge of the bath letting the warm water flow down every inch of my body, allowing it to reach every area warming me right to the core. My eyes shut in pure bliss at the comfort and warmth the water flow brought, forgetting the tight time crunch I was currently on. In this moment nothing else existed, the office, Randle, my silent one bedroom apartment, all of it vanished the longer the water flowed over my head drowning out any and all thoughts.

I probably would of stayed there all morning if it hadn't been for the sudden temperature change, the warm comforting flow of water suddenly turned to an icy cold stream, cold enough to make a snowman shiver.

"For fuck sake!" I screamed loudly, trying quickly to get out of the showers violently cold spray almost slipping on the bathtubs smooth surface in the process.

That would just have to do for the day, this was a regular occurrence, I had been asking my landlord for months to send maintenance down to check the boiler down in the basement.

Clearly she was still yet to get round to that.

I reached out grabbing the soft white towel I left hanging over the towel rack from yesterday mornings shower, not having had the energy to change it out for a fresh one.

I began my short walk back into my attached bedroom, taking the time to look in on Summer still happily cleaning out her food bowl; I turned towards my colourless wardrobe that consisted of mainly office attire with the odd pair of black or grey sweats thrown in.

Stretching a still damp arm out towards one of the many pencil skirts I owned not really taking any real care in actually looking through the choices and just going with the first piece of material to touch my outstretched hand.

I carelessly threw the long black pencil skirt over my shoulder towards my unmade bed, with eyes still scanning over the few plain white and cream shirts I owned. I huffed dipping my hand into the sea of white and cream like a lucky dip, pulling my hand back along with my 'prize'.

I dropped the white shirt onto the bed alongside my now creased skirt. Patting effortlessly at the wet surface of my skin knowing full well this was a pointless task since my hair was still dripping down my back creating a small puddle under my feet.

I let my towel pool lazily over my feet, stepping out of its small centre reaching out towards my now crumpled work attire for the day. Just like everyday before this one I slipped each article of clothing onto the designated area of my body, starting with my underwear, a plain white bra I swore I have had since high school, followed by the matching underpants.

I shimmied the pencil skirt up my pale legs, letting the hem come to a rest just below my knees, leaving the waist unbuttoned ready for my white shirt to be carelessly tucked into its waists band.

I slipped the lightweight cotten shirt over my head, feeling my wet hair starting to dampen the back of the clothing item, sending a chill up my spine.

Scraping back the wet strands of hair and securing them with a large claw clip, all that was left was to pull on my designated office heels and leave, if I was lucky I'd make it to the office with a few minutes to spare.

With one last look at my dull apartment space, I wished Summer a final farewell before leaving through 14As chipped red door as I'd done countless times before, unaware this would be the last.