It had been a long day for Monica. Searching for work wasn’t exactly her favorite activity; it was made worse by that fact that nearly all her potential employers looked down on her with a mix of pity and disdain when she hobbled into their place of business with a bulky brace. She had learned that the best way to handle such people was to show them that she was still normal; she could still function and work. The woman had left her wonderful city for the army as soon as she got out of high school. It was days like today that made her wish she hadn’t of. However, for Monica there hadn’t been much of a choice. The army was the only place she could’ve made a reasonable name for herself; her parents lacked the funding most of the other kids at her high school had for college. Monica had been a proud girl, she would never have admitted to any of her friends that she couldn’t attend college. 

	It was on days like today that she wished she had told some of those friends; it would’ve been nice to still have a few. Monica hadn’t kept in touch with any of them after graduation, not even her best friend, Gray Yin. He had been her first love, she knew that to be true. The two had never dated; Monica was sure her crush on him was completely  one-sided. They spoke about everything; drama, friends, school, and the future; even in her time in the military she hadn’t forgotten him. Monica sighed as she made her way to the small apartment building. She checked out the piece of paper she was holding; she was in the right place. The army was paying for her livelihood temporarily while she looked for a stable job. The apartment number had been rented out to her already, so she was told. It was kind of the government to pay even just a little for an injured soldier like her. It had only been a few months since her accident, and she had only come home a few weeks ago.

	Monica hadn’t even been in a combat zone. Soon after her accident, though, the small town of Deir Atiyah in Syria had become one. A roadside bomber had slammed into the small hut she was in, killing her companion and severely injuring her right side. Her leg had been the only part of her that was seriously injured, she had been in surgery for hours for all the shrapnel and other materials to be removed. She now had to wear a brace, and beneath that a cast. If one were to remove her leggings they’d find many scars, both small and large, where the doctor’s instruments and the bomb shards entered her. Naturally she'd been dismissed from active duty. What she was going to do now was still a mystery to her. 

	The woman made her way into the elevator, deep brown eyes scanning the floor numbers. She pulled her crutches in close to her, tying her shoulder-length brunette locks into a quick ponytail. The door was taking awfully long to close; she hoped the apartment she was given was at least in reasonable condition.