Willow woke up to the sound of the little dog alarm clock on her bedside table, playing, ‘Its My Life,’ by ‘Bon Jovi.’ Groaning slightly, she reached out for her phone to check the time, hoping her alarm was mistaken; but when was she ever that lucky? The phone flashed a steady 8:15. When had she after all been so lucky that she might actually get a few more hours of sleep? She HAD been sleeping for the past fifteen hours as soon as she reached home at 4:30 in the evening, but that didn’t seem enough anymore. Her social life had pretty much become stagnant, all she did was sleep and robotic-ally wake up in the morning to go to work.
Grumbling to herself about having work so early in the morning, Willow got up from her bed and slogged across the room to the bathroom where she studied her reflection. Her usual cheery face had lost its sparkle and though still uniquely beautiful, she looked much older for her age. She slightly touched her rather well rounded cheek, feeling quite old as well. The past month had been incessantly tough for her, she had withdrawn from everything except work and all her friends had at this point stopped trying to bring her out of her shell. Even going to work felt like more energy than she had left to give, but a girl’s got to work, right?
She quickly brushed her teeth and washed up, before dressing in a pair of old faded blue jeans and a white tee which did justice to her frame. Willow was not short for her age, she was curvy with perfect glowing skin. Her hair was tied back into a pony tail, her chocolate brown eyes giving herself the once over before grabbing her keys and kit. She was ready to go to work, to another monotonous day, another day where it took her all the effort she had to keep going.
She did not dislike her work, she was a photographer to the Cyprus Mirror and though she had always wanted to be an independent wildlife photographer, this wasn’t so bad either. The pay was good and she got to do what she loved doing, how many people could say that? Though sometimes being the youngest in her department in the office meant she always got the stupidest cases and she was constantly chided at by her boss who loved flaunting the authority she had. That’s why Willow usually hated staying in the office, if she was out and about clicking pictures it was fine but sitting in the office was torture. She was usually sitting in her cubicle praying for lunch hour to come faster.
Thinking of lunch hour reminded her once again of her main source of hurt; something which was much worse than working in the Mirror and having to listen to Mrs. Alvin cluck like a hen. She was reminded that he was no longer there during lunch hours to pick her up from work, take her to their favorite restaurant and cheer her up with his goofy, bubbly attitude. He referred of course, to her ex-boyfriend. He was one of her closest friends and they had pretty much done everything together. He was the one person she trusted completely and she had fallen madly in love with him. She let out a single sigh as she thought about the guy who had made such an impact on her life, the guy that she couldn’t be with anymore, the love of her life, Kyle Jackson.
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The Cyprus traffic was getting worse by each passing day. Kyle had been stuck in the same traffic signal for the past 30 minutes or so and he was getting impatient. He kept drumming the speedometer of the black scooter that he was riding. Every now and then he looked into the rear view mirror to straighten his long curly hair which refused to stay still. Kyle was well built, but not muscular. He was not tall and yet, not too short either. He had just the right amount of stubble and a very crooked nose. His blue eyes were hidden behind rectangular spectacles.
He sighed with relief as the traffic started moving along once again. He had to be at work in less than ten minutes and he still had a fifteen minute drive to the old school which was acting as an aid camp for all those people who lost their homes in the very recent tsunami that devastated the east shores of Cyprus. A lot of people had been injured, killed and a lot more lost their homes. Kyle worked with a social work agency and hence had been actively involved with the rescue and rehabilitation effort. As a psych major, his job was primarily grief counseling, but he was helping out with organizing the food, fund raising and pretty much everything.
He quickly ran over all the names of the people he was supposed to be counseling today, as he rode past at full speed. Keeping busy and helping people out had always had a cathartic effect on him. And right now he needed all the catharsis he could get. He had recently broken up with his girlfriend of three years. It had been one of the hardest decisions he had had to make and though he loved her immensely, he knew he had to make that call; it seemed the only solution at least for now.
They didn’t have to break up due to any problems between them. Three years of being together and they had never got into any serious problems of their own. They were a wonderful couple, good partners, and better friends. The problem however was that they had been star crossed from the beginning. She was a Greek Cypriot and he was a Turkish Cypriot and though that made little difference to them, their parents did not think so. They were against the union on racial and religious grounds. Kyle’s parents especially were very against their son wanting to marry a Greek Cypriot. Soon these family issues started to impact Kyle and Willow’s relationship and things started to go downhill, majorly. This was when Kyle decided that though they both loved each other, this relationship was not working out.. at least not right now. It was tough, but he had to make that decision to end things with Willow and he was not surprised to see that she understood. That was after all what made them such great partners. Even though she understood, he knew Willow was pretty broken up over it but then again so was he.
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Willow James was already having a bad day, just like predicted. She had rushed into the office, out of breath thinking that she was late, courtesy of Cyprus traffic. It would not of course matter even if she was late, seeing that her assignments if any, come halfway through the day. But then again her boss, Mrs. Alvin-the-hen would not shut up if she was late. She walked into the photography department to see that it was locked. Her boss was still not here, so poor Willow had to wait outside the office for thirty minutes for the security guard to find the spare key in his own sweet time and open the department for her.
Another 30 minutes later, the stupid hen came bustling into her cubicle and gave her yet another menial assignment. She was supposed to go click pictures of the victims of the tsunami in one of the schools which was acting as a relief-aid camp. Now she genuinely felt very sorry for those people, and she had personally donated a lot of things for the rehabilitation effort, but clicking pictures of them would really do them no good and by now, she honestly deserved better assignments.
‘Can’t I have a better assignment?’ She had asked the Hen who just smiled gloatingly before saying, ‘Why? The woes of the poor tsunami victims too boring for little Miss-perfect-shutter-speed?’ (Willow had once taken a workshop for some college kids in which she had emphasized a lot on the shutter speed and after that the Hen had her rechristened.
So grudgingly, Alvin had hopped into her bike and ridden to St. Augustine school, the host of the relief camp. Now as she stood in the doorway, she just couldn’t help but curse her boss, the Mirror and her whole life. She walked to the entrance door, taking her camera from its bag and putting her ID card around her neck as she rang the bell.
She was still fidgeting with her camera as the door opened and without looking up, she chanted, ‘Hello. I am from the Daily Mirror to cover the relief aid camp. My boss would have talked to the camp coordinators. My name is –'
‘Willow James,’ finished a soft voice which was all too familiar, sending chills down her spine and causing her heart to jump. She looked up abruptly into the surprised eyes of Kyle Jackson.