"Don't forget Steven wanted you in work early tomorrow. Just in case he forgot to remind you."
Immediately, Lyra shot up in bed, glancing over at the digital clock on her bedside cabinet. Half past six in the morning, a full hour and a half before her shift was scheduled to begin. She'd need to hurry if she wanted to arrive early. "Ugh..." she groaned as she groggily clambered out of bed, her socked feet making contact with the carpeted floor of the bedroom. Still having not fully woken up, it took her a second to realise that she was still wearing the same clothes as yesterday. No matter, she thought. It was only work, not like she was trying to impress anyone.
Still though, she wasn't willing to leave her flat without putting some degree of effort in. She made her way out of her room and towards the bathroom, assuming that her dad wouldn't be awake yet to interrupt her. Lyra's regular morning routine involved the typical morning cleanse, followed by makeup and hair styling, which she almost always had in a similar fashion to the day prior: slightly curled and falling over one shoulder. Maintaining that beauty she was so proud of didn't come without effort.
That was when she realised. Lyra looked up and stared into her own reflection, totally prepared for the day ahead when she suddenly thought: why? She didn't need to go into work early. What happened yesterday was real. With a single raise of her hand, she had brought those men to her feet, but here she was complying to the demands of her asshole boss?
No, she wasn't gonna roll over and do whatever he wanted just because he was her boss. If he was a fair and respectful superior, maybe her mindset would've been different, but Stephen was far from it. He was a greedy, intolerable man who showed Lyra little to no respect. Perhaps it was the years of pent up frustration of being trampled on by others, but she hated him. In fact, she decided she was even going to show up late today, the exact opposite of what Stephen wanted.
With a small smirk playing on her face, she left the bathroom and made her way over to the living room, knowing full well she had quite a bit of time to kill. To be honest, she wasn't used to it. Normally she was rushing out to work at the crack of dawn or immediately heading out on shopping trips or errands on those few days off she managed to obtain.
Her dad did little to nothing to help out of course. From his point of view, just being there was enough. Speaking of which, he was still fast asleep, just as Lyra had expected. His bedroom door was practically sealed shut, but his snoring still rumbled like thunder through the small flat. A few days ago, she would've let him sleep and simply left for work as she was originally meant to, but she wasn't about to sit here for an hour listen to that.
Without putting any consideration into what noise she was making, she swung open the door to her father's room and made her entrance. There he was, sprawled out like a useless sack of meat and bones. "Dad." she said calmly, her hands resting on her hips. The wait for a response felt like an eternity, but she never got one. Lyra sighed, tilting her hips to the side impatiently. "Dad!" she yelled.
"Hugh! Y-yeah?" he asked in a panic as he jolted awake, his arms and legs flailing in his waking moments before he regained control.
"Get up." Lyra demanded, staring into her father's eyes, "Get up and do something productive while I'm at work."
The look on his face could only be described as confusion and disbelief. Lyra, the girl who had always been mocked and used by others, was trying to tell him what to do? "Ha... You think you can give me orders?"
"Yes."
Her father laughed, sitting up on the edge of his bed, "I'm glad you're trying to practice standing up for yourself, but you haven't gotta look so serious." Lyra's confidence was shaken by his words. He thought she was just practicing standing up for herself? Did this mean she couldn't control him? Then how could she... "Shouldn't you be heading to work right now?"
Lyra shook her head defiantly, "I'm not practicing. I want you to do what I said."
The smile faded from her father's face, the two now sharing a cold-gazed staring contest. "No." he answered bluntly, "If you want me to do something productive, you're gonna need to try harder than that." Satisfied that the conversation was now over, he got up and began slowly moving towards the room's exit. Defeated, Lyra moved aside to let him past.
"Fine, I'll go to work." she murmured. Her confidence had taken a serious blow after that.
He responded with a simple 'alrighty' before vanishing into the bathroom, presumably not to exit for the next ten minutes. Meanwhile, Lyra was trying to figure out why she couldn't make him do what she asked. Perhaps it was because he was her father, rendering her appearance all but useless? Perhaps she held no power over others at all and those thugs in the street were simply really into submission? Either way, Lyra felt herself quickly degrading into the unconfident, weak girl she had been just a day prior. The fact that she was folding to Steven's demand for her to come to work early was a sign of that.
It was another grey day outside, not a ray of sunshine to be found. The regular hustle and bustle of the city was in full swing, even near the outskirts where Lyra lived. If she hurried, she could probably make it to work on time. It wouldn't be early like Steven had wanted, but at least she wasn't late like she originally wanted to be. God, she was going to get an earful from him for storming out last night, and she wouldn't be able to do anything about it.
The sounds of cars driving by and passer-by's idly chatting amongst themselves were all she could hear over her own thoughts, until another sound interrupted the cacophony of the city. An all to familiar sound; the sound of the voice that had been following her the day prior.
"Look..." it beckoned from behind her. Startled, Lyra spun around the face the source of the voice. Of course there was nothing there, just like last time. If it turned out that she couldn't control people, then what was this voice? Perhaps she was simply going insane, hearing voices in her head as a method of coping?
No matter what it was, Lyra unintentionally did what the voice had requested her to do and looked in the direction it had came from. At first she didn't see anything, but then she saw that across the street was the same alleyway she had been in last night, snugged between two smaller buildings which each held shops. Surprisingly, neither shop had opened yet, meaning the alley was bound to be desolate.
Her heart thumped, the sensation of butterflies welling up within her. For some reason, she felt compelled to go back. Nobody would be there, she was almost certain of it. They were just creeps desperate to take out their submissive fantasies on strangers, that was all. Once again she had been used for someone else's gain. As if Lyra actually had any control over them at all.
