[center] [IMG]http://i309.photobucket.com/albums/kk396/Mercinus3/Kayla%20Mason%20Title%20Drop_v2.png[/IMG]

[b]Location: French Quarter, Lost Haven.
Time: Morning (7:30am)[/b][/center]
The alarm clock blazed its loud siren in the room. Light crept through the cracks of the blinds, the shadows of the fire escape catching some of the light. The light focused itself on the sleeping form under the covers in the middle of the room. Kayla stirred from her sleep, the light of day inconveniently placed across her face. As her groggy eyes opened, still tired from waking up in the middle of the night from the nightmare. She appreciated everything Mia, the woman who came in to console her, had done. Both of them go back to when Kayla started archery. Mia had been 9 at the time, already doing archery for one and a half years. While at first they didn’t really get along due to the competitiveness at competitions and a clash of personalities, they quickly became friends once they realized they had one thing in common: N’Sync. From that point, they learnt of other things in common and became ‘stuck at the hip’. While the elder of the two ended up working as a receptionist of a small-sized, little-known law firm Archer & Archer Solicitors and eventually lost a lot of the interest in the sport in favour of field hockey, she was always at hand to help her friend out. She had been the one, learning of the things Kayla went through in Pasadena and was struggling with adapting to life back in Lost Haven, to find her both an apartment and a job. The convenience of having a spare room in the French Quarter of the city solved the first problem. For the second, one of the solicitor’s clients, Jeremy Taylor, had to deal with a recently-fired employee, suing the garage for wrongful dismissal, and was finding a new person for the vacant place. Though Kayla thinks that she owed her everything, Mia believes that just having her friend back safely and on her feet was more than enough.

Kayla slowly turned her head to the alarm clock to check the time: [color=Red]07:30[/color]. While the alarm was her usual alarm and she did go to bed early after a long day of work the day before, she still felt tired. The nightmare certainly didn’t help with the problem of sleeping. She had thought about getting rid of her prescription of Prazosin as it had done nothing for the nightmares. However, she knew that if she stopped, the nightmares would more than likely get worse, so she remained on them. Some of the medications used for post-traumatic stress disorder were on the side next to the clock, the bottle for painkillers still empty. The pain in her shoulder having finally resided in her 4th year of kickboxing, the exercise conditioning the muscles to cope with everyday activities. She eventually got out of bed and put on some clothes that had been lying on the floor next to the bed. She didn’t need to be in to work until 11:00, but she might as well wake up early to help around the apartment while Mia was at work. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she walked out of the room into the living area.

In stark contrast to the room she came from, the living area of the 5-room apartment was clean. The room was neatly divided from the living room and the kitchen with an island, the bar-type stools standing on the side. While the black and white décor didn’t match Kayla’s tastes, it gave it a modern look. Mia was sitting down on the black couch facing away from the bedroom door, a man sitting next to her having a conversation. [color=#e38c2d]”Morning, Mark,”[/color] Kayla spoke, greeting the man. Both Mia and Mark, Mia’s boyfriend of 2 years, turned around and greeted her back as she walked to the kitchen. Grabbing a bowl and a box of frosted flakes, she listened to the radio that was playing quietly in the kitchen. She had been hearing about a lot of crazy events that happened in Lost Haven during the past months, including ‘D-Day’ and some of the exploits from Icon, one of the superheroes of constant mention. Even with all that in recent memory, Kayla always wondered what would have happened if there were heroes such as him in Pasadena that day. [i]Would you still be alive,[/i] she pondered, sighing at the mental image of Jason.

“When are you working until, Kayla?”

Kayla snapped back to reality when Mia spoke to her. Giving an initial blank stare at the question, she understood what was spoken to her. [color=#e38c2d]“I am working until 6pm. Jeremy usually gives me a shorter day during the week. Why do you ask?” [/color]

“Well… Mark and I had been talking about how to celebrate our 2nd anniversary and we thought about finally checking out that club, The Hub, on the other side of the city before heading off on holiday. We were wondering if you would like to come along.” Mia frowned with slight worry when Kayla’s timorous response at the idea. “It was just an idea; you don’t have to come if something like that is dauntin…”

[color=#e38c2d] “No, no, I’d be interested in that,” [/color] Kayla replied, rushing to make her interest heard. [i]While it has been 6 years since then, I need to at least have a social life outside of work.[/i] [color=#e38c2d] “It is a big occasion, after all.”[/color]

Mia’s frown turned to a slight smile at her friend’s response. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure that people we both can trust come along so you are not too overwhelmed.” Kayla’s face turned back to its normal self after being asked. Mia looked at the clock, with a puzzled look. “I know you said that you have a shorter day, but isn’t that normally at the end of the week for you.” Kayla had the look of certainty until she looked at the date of the clock. Mia was right: the lack of sleep made her remember that she normally got the day at the end of the week. Mia chuckled when she heard a string of expletives erupting from the kitchen as Kayla wolfed down the cereal and scrambled to get ready to leave for work, which was going to be a close call to get there on time.
[hr]
[center][b]Location: Somewhere in Little Ulster, Lost Haven.
Time: Early Evening (6:50 pm)[/b][/center]
What was supposed to be a good day at work in the garage ended up being infuriating for Kayla. While she did manage to get to work on time (just…), a lot of the work on the autos in the usually-popular Taylor’s Garage had been slow. Jeremy, the founder and owner of the garage, had a grand vision of creating a franchise of these garages that would be tailored to a customer’s needs, depending on the make, model and modification of an auto. The lawsuit from the ex-employee had drained him of some of that money in the courts. Luckily, the solicitors at Archer & Archer’s helped him win the case and was expecting the majority of the costs for court to return from the employee. Still, it was a hindrance to his future-planning and he did express his annoyance often at work. Everyone knew he means well as he is generally a kind soul who would help anyone out in a pinch. It was supposedly the reason why he gave Kayla a shot at the mechanic and custom electronics job, learning of her education and history on the West Coast.

The slowness of the jobs during the day hadn’t been entirely her fault, though a few of the cars that still needed to be worked on for just the electronics. During the day, one of the workers, Jackson Mathers, had been working on cutting the custom hood vents. He accidentally knocked one of the hammers he had lying around his messy workstation, landing on the sheet metal that was propped on the foot of the bench. Things would have been fine if Kayla wasn’t walking back to her station. The resulting ‘bang’ triggered the past memories and caused her to lash out at him. It took a couple of the people in the garage to try and break them up before Jeremy’s voice boomed, demanding an explanation. Seeing his new-employee storm off in tears and hearing the bang from earlier, he pieced the events together and followed her to calm the woman down. While it took at least an hour’s worth of the work time, but his calming influence had soothed her torment. That plus him allowing her a small room in the garage for her to practice with her compound bow helped with stopping the meltdown. It had been because of this kindness that she sees him as a father-figure to replace the usually-absent father of her childhood. While Mathers trying to apologize for what happened, everyone in the garage bar Kayla herself knew this was him trying to get into her good books for the ever-present hope of sparking something more between the two. But alas the unrequited lover remained where he had always been, though that’s due to the memories of the accident still being there.

At the evening drew nearer, Kayla managed to get the last of the cars she was working on done. She checked the clock and knew she had to be back to get ready for the evening. Mia called her earlier in the day and said that before going to The Hub, they would go somewhere for dinner in Little Sicily before heading to The Hub, so she knew she needed to head back now to get ready. As she turned around, she saw Jackson was still there. Pulling the headphones out of her ears, she looked at him with a puzzled look on her face. [color=#e38c2d] “Hey Jackson, I thought you left already.” [/color]

“I know,” he replied. She still remembers what happened earlier and was still annoyed with him. “Look, I came to say so…”

[color=#e38c2d] “Don’t worry about it,” [/color] she said curtly. “[color=#e38c2d]Look, I got to go. I shall see you tomorrow.” [/color]

“I will but can I say something to you before you go?”

[color=#e38c2d] “I’m sorry, but can you hold the thought for tomorrow. I’m running late to a prior engagement. Can we talk about it tomorrow?” [/color]

He lets out a sigh, “Ok…” Shortly after the conversation finished, she left the garage and began her dash home, rushing to get to the bus that just arrived.