A woman with sandy blond hair calmly tapped a screen in front of her with her free hand, flicking through data files and moving them around. Her other arm was squeezing a pile of papers and electronic clip boards against her chest, like they were a life raft and she was expecting a flood. She frowned at the screen, biting a pen that she had placed in her mouth when she had realized she couldn’t spare a finger for holding it. There was something wrong with the file she was looking at. No, there was nothing wrong, it was just that it was due five minutes ago and she had not even started on it. Uttering out a long chain of strongest curses she knew, she dropped her papers and clip boards and started frantically typing on the keyboard displayed on the screen. After a few minutes she was done, even though she had had hard time remembering the names of all the candidates she had mentioned. Collette leaned back on her chair with her lips curling from satisfaction. She hunched down to collect her things. She couldn’t stop smiling. She had gotten something done, she could cross off something from her list. It was a euphoric feeling. “Collette!” Someone yelped from the hallway. The voice was muffled by the closed office door. “In a minute! I’ll just sign some papers!” She replied, removing the pen from her mouth, starting to sign the papers and clip boards as she picked them up. “Col!” The person called again persistently. “In a minute! I need to sign these!” Her voice now had a hint of annoyance in it.
BLOP
Blop? That’s a funny sound, Collette thought for a fraction of a second. Everything was dark. She felt dizzy and confused. “I need to sign…” She muttered desperately. Her eyelids felt so heavy it was like they had been made of fortified steel. It was simply an impossible task to open them. But that was when she felt a strong nudge hit her arm. Her eyes flung open as she raised her head and grabbed the counter to keep herself from falling off her stool. Her heart pounding, she stared at the counter in front of her in shock. Everything came back to her in a flash. She was no longer confused. She was at a bar, not in her office, and she had fallen asleep. There was grime on her cheek from the somewhat dirty counter she had laid her head on upon nodding off. A small nut that had gotten caught in the grime fell off her cheek as Collette swung her head, directing her eyes at the person who had nudged her, still looking somewhat baffled about the situation. “…Hi.” She uttered. “I…uh…” There were no words for this situation. She had fallen asleep while waiting for her drink, and dreamed about working.
