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 A sharp, cyclical chime pierced the early morning silence that had settled in Eliza’s apartment. Startled by the noise she awoke in a frenzy slapping the buttons on her cell phone until it ceased it’s audible assault on her senses. Her alarm was early somehow she managed to set it for the wrong time when she came back from her shift, and while she was still exhausted the alarm had succeeded in keeping her from returning to the embrace of sleep. 

 

 Groggy and with droll still damp on her cheek Eliza tossed the sheets on her bed aside and sat up along its edge. With a moan of displeasure she wiped the early onset of crust from her eyes. It was then exposed to the chilling air of her apartment that Eliza realized most of her uniform was still on, now soaked with sweat. All of this served with the fact that she had only been asleep for 3 hours didn’t help to lower her blood pressure. Now she definitely had to get up and at least shower. Peeling her soggy clothes from her pasty skin tossing them into a heap alongside her bed. She left the pile of sweaty clothes at her feet as she got up and headed to the bathroom. Her apartment was quaint so she didn’t have to walk far and with the early morning light that was sneaking through her blinds she didn’t have much of a problem navigating it, nor was she worried about anyone seeing her now nude figure stumble towards the bathroom.

 

 Eliza lived alone in her out of the way apartment nestled in the evergreens on the outskirts of Baltham. She preferred living alone most of the time although she was a victim of her senses on occasion. Some nights the howl of wind or rustling of brush outside her home would make her anxious and cause her to wish for someone to keep her company until she could fall asleep. Thankfully she has been so drained from working at the station that she has had little to no problems with falling asleep recently….except for tonight. 

 

 Still grumbling over her alarm Eliza staggered into her bathroom. Feeling the cold touch of the tile beneath her feet she pawed the wall until she felt the light switch and flicked it on, it took a second as the long cylindrical bulbs on the ceiling flickered a few times before bathing the bathroom and Eliza with stark white light. Blinking a few seconds longer due to the light when Eliza opened her eyes she caught a reflection of herself in the mirror. Normally she never stopped to take a look at herself but now that she had she realized just how bad she was getting. Her body looked ill, her eyes had started to develop bags under them, and while she worked out daily at the station’s gym she hadn’t been eating so she had started to lose a visible amount of weight. 

 

 Completely unaware up until this point of the physical toll her job was taking on her Eliza had a brief rush of anxiety. She knew she needed to change her schedule but she was one of the few Sergeants at the station, so it was expected of her to work 16 to 18 hours a day. Anxiety turned into frustration as Eliza racked her brain over her current situation, hoping a shower would ease her mind she turned the spigot to hot and took a seat on the toilet while she waited for the water to warm up. With her elbows on her knees she hunched over clasping her hands over her face while she suddenly started sobbing. Overwhelmed by her current living situation Eliza didn’t know what else to do at this point besides cry. She had overworked herself to the point of exhaustion, she barely made enough to get by, and most importantly she was alone. Eliza continued to sob uncontrollably while the bathroom filled with steam. Moisture from the shower started to hide her tears while she stood up from the toilet. Sliding the plain white shower curtain aside she caught a rush of steam as she stepped over the ledge into the shower.

 

 While she showered under the steady comfort of water her body relaxed and she started to calm herself down. [color=coral][i]“Things are better this way, and you're better for it Eliza."[/i][/color] That's what she told herself as she got out of the shower drying herself off before setting back out into her bedroom. She dropped the towel on the floor with her sweaty clothes while she retrieved a clean pair of panties from her dresser. Now awake, relaxed, and clean Eliza gathered up her laundry and started a load, just as she went to sit down and relax her phone rang. It was maybe 7am at this point, her wasn’t for maybe another 12 hours. So she let it ring figuring it was a telemarketer, grabbing a blanket from her bed Eliza sat down in her living room and curled up to watch TV. Then her phone rang again, and again she let it ring, but then it rang immediately after it went to voicemail. Eliza was thoroughly annoyed at this point and got up from her seat leaving the blanket in the chair. Before she could even get to her phone it was ringing again, it was the station. She immediately answered it and began to apologize for not picking up, claiming that she was asleep but before she could finish she was interrupted. 

 
 [color=lightblue]“Clark it’s Garrett I know you just got off your shift but I need you down here.”[/color] Sergeant Joe Garrett was Eliza’s relief for the day. She was pretty close with him and his family, and she always knew him to be a calm and capable officer but Eliza could tell that something was off. [color=coral]“Joe what’s the matter?”[/color] Eliza tried her best to not seem startled but there was no hiding that she was. A call this soon after her shift was never a good sign. [color=lightblue]“Chief came in pissed about how we did the turnover. I guess he wants you down her to do it the right way but something tells me he just wants another ass to chew.”[/color]

 

 [color=coral]“Are you serious!?”[/color] Eliza let out a groan and started getting dressed again. [color=coral]“I’ll be there in about an hour.”[/color] Waiting for Garrett to acknowledge her response she hung up the phone and continued to get ready.

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