continued

Not something to be surprised at really, considering that she had been particularly absentminded of late. Her keys had gone missing, she had forgotten to stock up on her groceries and just this morning had successfully set off the fire alarm of her building as her toast had burned crisp, giving out that pungent aroma one usually only linked to smouldering charcoal ashes - not that she minded the exotic taste that she got out of her PB & J’s. It was at times like these that Keisha was thankful that the sprinkler system didn’t actually work in the run-down buildings this side of Brooklyn. She did however catch the attention of her riled up landlord and the rest of her fellow tenants, earning her a sound earful about children of this generation and a continuous stream of angry glances directed her way. Just two months here and her simple hopes of a quiet, unnoticed life had been effectively ruined. But then again, Keisha had always had the uncanny ability to draw unwarranted attention to herself. Even when she was a child, her parents would cry in frustration each time the school rang to report on her latest "situation". There was the huge spill-up of tomato soup which had stained all the cafeteria's once white-washed walls, the huge tear in the Principal's formal gown, the flooding of the entire second floor, the missing rabbit from the science laboratories; all of which Keisha denied all responsibility for.

Wanderings of a lost soul

Amidst the warm gusts of sticky, moist air, the droplets of sweat tapered down the nape of her neck and clung to her already drenched shirt. Her hair, swept up in a messy up-do, lay tangled in a swirl of hairpins. As she stared up into the distance, the faint sounds of an ambulance siren swirled above the ever present city noises. One could never once pinpoint at any one time what exactly constituted as a "city noise" but together, they were a cacophony, a union of interlaced sounds, comfortable in the presence of others but strangely empty when singled out. Below the iron railings from which she stood, a cat stretched back and yawned, its eerily green eyes momentarily closed to the world.

Bzzz... At the sound of her doorbell, Keisha started as she snapped out of her reverie. Looking down at the hands of her watch, she realised she was running late for work.