Chapter 1

Our story starts like many others do.  It starts on a normal afternoon, in a normal town, in a normal office building with a girl who wants nothing more then to be normal.

You see from a young age Nichole Jenson knew that she never quite fit in.  She never understood other girls fascination with discussing the new attractive male actors or what Susan Brooks, the schools queen bee, wore last week, or who was sleeping with who, or the latest fasion trend.  However, she was fascinated by their fascination with it.  She would try to fake it but she was always slightly off.  By the time she had caught up on a topic it was old news and there was something new it its place.  She really didn’t care about the topics but she wanted to fit in more then anything else.

The only moments when she would feel free were when she was sitting in the dark with her best friend Katie talking about the universe and how small they were, or discussing the future.  Those moments when they would walk under the stars and just breath in the universe.  That’s when she felt free.  That’s where she belonged.

But our story is not about Nicholes past or how she came to be where she is now.  We will not dwell on her short stent at college or the falling out of her and Kayties friendship.  We will not think of all the in betweens because talking about them will not change what is about to happen.  You see our past may have made us but it is our present that defines us.

With that being said I bring you back to today and I welcome you into Nichole world.

She always had this soft type of beauty about her.  Her skin was lightly kissed by the sun, her hair that hung down to the center of her back was a deep auburn which made her forest green eyes truly pop.  She was short in height with a long torso and very soft features.  She was beautiful in a very subtle way. The kind that would catch your eye and you would admire from a distance.  She doesn’t flaunt her beauty because in all honesty she doesn’t see it.

However, whats truly luring about Nichole is her personality, its her heart, her mind, her soul.  The very essence of her being which ninty percent of the time is hidden under a mask because these are the pieces of her that don’t quite fit in with the rest of the world.  To those who are lucky enough to know her in this way though would tell you that these pieces of her are what they love most.  That its those things that truly draw them in and causes them to attach themselves to her.  Her soul like a drug to the few who have truly felt it.

But here in this normal office on this normal day we only see the mask of a girl who is about to change the lives of so many and it all starts with a break down.

She sits at her desk staring at the blue folder in front of her and she ponders what shade it would be considered, if it was purple instead of blue surely it would be considered royal purple due to its richness and deepness in color so does that make it a royal blue? Is there such a thing? Or is it light enough to be considered a sky blue? You know as the day turns to night and the sky can be painted this blue that you would imagine the middle of the ocean being colored. She is still contemplating the shade of the file when the ringing of the phone interuprts her thought process and brings her back to reality.

“Good morning, Burke and Scott’s attorneys office how can I help you”  Her face turns a shade of pink as her cheeks burn thankful that the person on the other side of the phone can not see her blush from her embarrassment of saying good morning and not good afternoon.  A mistake in her mind that she made far to often and was constantly remineded of by her co-workers.

“Good afternoon, I am tryin to get ahold of my attorney Mr. Adam.” The faceless voice says to her with a slur between the words leading Nichole to believe that she was most likely one of the many DUI clients they were handling considering it was 1 in the afternoon and she was clearly intoxicated.

“Mr.Burke is currently in the middle of a deposition ma’am I can place you over to his paralegal and she should be able to help. What’s your last name?”

“No I don’t want to speak to her! I want to speak with my attorney!”

“Unfortuently ma’am like I said he is in the middle of a deposition at the moment.  I can schedule you for a phone conference for Monday if you would li”

“MONDAY. No I want to speak to him today.  What am I paying him for if he cant take my phone calls when I call him!”  Unfortuently having clients talk to her this way was nothing new to Nichole.  When dealing with criminal clients and DUI clients it happened on nearly a daily baisis.

“Ma’am I understand your frustration.  He does have appointments with other clients later this afternoon though.  I can take a hand written message if you would like though and see if he can give you a call in between those appointments and for the time being transfer you over to your paralegal.  They should be able to help you with most questions.”

“Okay well if I don’t talk to no body today then im a just gunna come get my file and find another attorney.  Tell em’ that ms. Brown called.  Jessie Brown im one of mr Brooks clients.”

“Okay ms. Brown I’ll make sure to relay the message.  For the time being would you like me to connect you over to Ms. Chrissy your paralegal?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

Nichole transferred the call and watch as Chrissy line lit up on the switch board knowing she wouldn’t answer it.  She never did.  The only paralegal who constantly had clients calling complaing that they could never get ahold of her.  Also the paralegal who complained the most about clients calling.  Nichole couldn’t help but shake her head in disappointment as she watched the flashing light stop knowing very well that Ms. Brown would call back before the end of the day once again demanding to speak with someone.  She turns back to her laptop and opens a writes an e-mail to Adam informing of ms. Brown threat to take her file elsewhere if she doesn’t speak to some one today.  It’s most likely and empty threat made to get a quicker response.  As much as Nichole didn’t like the idea of people throwing a tantrum to get what they wanted she couldn’t disagree with the results it produced.

Back to the blue file that was staring at her laid out open in front of her.  She felt stuck as she stared at it and tried to remind herself what exsctaly she was doing on this one as appose to the other 40 blue files that sat in the corner of her desk just waiting to be worked on.  She often couldn’t remember what she was doing on each file, they all kind of just blended togeather like a sea she could get lost in and she often did just that until she would snap her fingers bringing her back to her normal office job.  She let out a soft sigh as she looked through the file to find something that would tell her what it was that she needed to do.  Requesting billing statements easy enough.

“Hey Nicky can you do me favor?”  Catelyn said as she snuck up behind Nichole causing her to jump as she was easily started. “You okay there nicky?”

“Yeah sorry I’m just a jumpy person.” She could feel her face starting to burn red again.  She knew Catelyn knew she was a jumpy person.  How often was it that Catelyn would cause her to jump and she would explain that every time.  But Catelyn intimindated her.  At twenty-four Catelyn was a sharp beauty.  Hair shoulder leaght with the thin sharp facial features.  Make up always perfect from the eyeliner that made her big doe eyes pop even more to the pale complection of her foundation to the contrast of her red lipstick on her plump and soft looking lips.  The rest of her thin and tight.  She was out spoken and funny and could keep up with all the latest trends, she knew who was dating who and who the hot new stud was on tv.  She knew all the things that Nichole had never been able to keep up with.   “What do you need.”  She said with her head down staring at the tattoos on Catelyns feet.

“Can you call Greater Metro Orthopedics and find out which location James Jackson went to and then send a request over there for his medical records?”

“Yeah no problem.”

“Thank Nicky you’re awesome.”

She takes the file from her hands and knows that Catelyn will never see her as an equal.  She will never be more than the receptionist.  But this is her life and she does what she has to do to get through one more day.  Turning back to her computer she feels the sad truth of the fact that she is working a dead end job and is miles away from where she truly wants to be.  She stares out the glass door and into the street.

You see at the end of the road she works on if you turn right then follow that road until you come to the Dash in and at that light you turn left, follow that road down and merge on the highway and drive another 3 hours then you’ll find the place she wants to be.  Honestly it’s not the location she desires but the person whoes at the other end of the drive.  The man who makes her feel truly free.  She reaches up and snaps her fingers in front of her face to break herself from her trance because thinking of that right now will do nothing but leave unfinished files on her desk over the weekend.  She does need a break though so she grabs her phone and walks down the halls that are silent other than the rythimic tapping of fingers on a keyboard and the quite hum of someone on the other side of the building listening to what sounds like country music as they work.

She pulls a cigertette from her pocket before pushing through the back door and into the sun light.  What a feeling on this summer day.  Standing in the middle of the parking lot she lights her cigerrette takes a long drag and points her face towards the sun.  She stands still for a moment like this as a breeze lightly blows her hair back and the sun warms her face.  As she stands there she lets her mind go blank for just that moment before being pulled quickly back to reality as a car pulls up with Ashley and Liz coming back from lunch and she is forced to wonder off to the side of the parking lot under a tree that casts a nice shadow and it drops a couple degrees in its shade.  She leans up against the tree smoking her cigarette and pulls out her phone.

A smile spreads across her face as she notices that he has texted her

“Hey baby I’m sorry it took so long to text back. I dozed off after I ate lunch.”

Why a text like that made her smile is a concept she didn’t understand but she didn’t waste time trying to figure that one out. Instead she just enjoyed the feeling and texted him back those three simple words that can set fire to someones world.” I love you.” 

These breaks from her normal job in this normal office are often needed for her.  You see the mask she has worn for years to fit into this world, to make her feel normal, has started to soficate her over the last few weeks and she needs these breaks so that for a moment she can breath.  As slowly part of her is dying and she doesn’t even know.

She takes one last drag from her cigarette before throwing it into the parking lot and heading back inside where she will spend the next four hours focusing on getting through the files and dealing with more clients. 

Author's Note

Please tell me what you think.