Don't Even Try

Julie Hall was always one to dream big. She has many ambitions, though she has yet to act on them. She has boring brown eyes and boring brown hair and ever since she was a teenager, she wanted to be a therapist. Something about helping those in need and guiding them through their thoughts and feelings seemed so intriguing to her. Important too (although Julie herself has never been to therapy). In reality, Julie worked as a server at a small local restaurant. When she first started working there she told herself it was just a temporary job, only until she found something she was actually interested in. but that was 5 years ago and Julie still works at that very same restaurant at the age of 24. Right now, Julie was at the lowest point she had ever been in: lying on the sidewalk in front of her house, blood pouring out of her nose and eyes, her limbs kicking around while she is grasping for air. Julie was certain this was where her life had come to an end and the only thing she could think about was how much of a waste of time her life had been. It was very clear to her that her mother agreed too. Julie’s mom, Stella Hall, was a pop musician who was famous all around town. People there considered her a household name. Stella wanted her daughter to be a musician, just like her. Or at least something famous. She wasn’t satisfied with how Julie chose to live her life (especially since she was still living under her roof) and she sure wasn’t afraid to show it. Every day when Julie came home from work she would hear her mother mutter something about how Julie should quit her job at the restaurant and start following in her footsteps. “I can even get you in touch with my agent if you’d like” felt to Julie like it was her mom’s catchphrase at a certain point. And yet Julie keeps going to that restaurant every single day, despite the fact that she hates her job as well, perhaps even more than her mother does. On the outside, the two may have seemed like any other family living together in Nevada, but the two of them both knew they had their issues, even if they never spoke about them to each other.

Fortunately for Julie, her story does not end there. Her neighbor Mark, a divorced middle-aged man living with his golden labrador, came home from the grocery store just in time to find Julie lying on the ground. At this point she was already unconscious. Mark dropped all the grocery bags that were in his hands and ran to check Julie’s pulse. When he felt that Julie’s pulse was still beating (very rapidly, but still beating) he immediately pulled out his cell phone from his back pocket and called the emergency contacts. “I need an ambulance for 1374 Lincoln St. ASAP. My neighbor fainted outside her house and her face is bleeding.” Martin, Mark’s dog, could hear his owner’s voice from outside and managed to pick up on the pressure in his words despite not being able to understand a single word in English. Martin started barking from inside the house while Mark was sat on his kness next to Julie’s unconscious body and prayed for her life until the ambulance came. Some neighbors came outside to see what was happening, though no one came to help.

Julie woke up the next day in a hospital bed with her mother sitting in a chair next to her and a doctor standing on the other side of the bed. As Julie was looking around her, trying to understand the situation she was in, her mother stood up and leaned in to hug her. “My baby, I’m so glad you’re okay. Who did this to you?” she asked

“What happened to me?”

“We found large amounts of an unknown toxic substance in your body. Someone may have tried to poison you. But don’t worry, the toxins didn’t seem to have a strong effect on your body. You will be fine.” the doctor said.

Julie looked at the doctor. He was a short ginger man with graying hair and thick glasses. His name tag read ’Andrew Lambert’ and below it, the word ’Doctor’ was written.

“The police were here about an hour ago and said they want to interview you for the case” Dr. Lambert continued.

Stella looked like she was on the verge of crying. “Who would want to hurt Julie? My daughter doesn’t have any enemies, it must’ve been some accident, right?”

“It’s hard to say for certain now but it sure doesn’t look like it was unintentional,” Lambert said right before exiting the room to check on another patient.

Julie continued to look around the room, still trying to piece things together. “Why would anyone want to hurt me?” She thought and began going in her head over all the people in her life who may have been angry at her. “Maybe it was Marshall, he never seemed to like me at all. But he doesn’t like any of his employees so it’s not like he has any reason to try to kill me specifically. What about Ian Denver? When we were around 15 he used to bully me like hell, not that that’s enough to suspect him for attempted murder. Maybe it was Kenny Quinn from 5th grade. He asked me if I wanted to go see a movie with him after school and I said no because I wanted to catch up on the newest Spongebob episode. At the time I didn’t realise it but he was asking me out on a date. But he couldn’t still be angry over that, could he?”.

It was right about then that she noticed the clock on the wall displaying 7:53 and realized she might be late for work. She knew she had enough of a reason not to show up but she didn’t know if her boss, Marshall, would care at all. She hurriedly got out of the hospital bed, said goodbye to her mother (who didn’t like the fact that even in the current circumstances all her daughter cares about is what her boss would think), and took a cab to work. During the ride, she kept thinking about what has happened to her and who could’ve caused it, but the closer she got to work, the more her mind shifted from that towards what she’d tell her boss when she got to work. When she finally arrived at work she paid the cab driver, thanked him, and headed inside.