Suddenly, Kat was awake, panting as she tried to regain her breath from the latest nightmare that plagued her sleep. As she gained her senses, she turned her head around to take in her surroundings, taking note of the dresser across from her bed, the closed door to her room, and the slightest of light creeping into her room around the edges of her drapes.
Everything was in order, as usual. Sighing, she laid back down onto the sweat-soaked mattress to regain her thoughts. Three straight nights Kat had the same nightmare, trapped in a close, dark box for what felt like an endless amount of time until the sounds of heavy footsteps slowly made their way to her, louder and louder. With each step her heart rate would spike, by the time the steps stopped just outside her claustrophobic encounters, Kat's heart felt like it would explode out of her chest. Then, blinding light and a calloused right hand with a long scar from the base of the index finger to the base of the pinky would reach down, roughly grabbing her neck as she screamed, and then Kat was awake.
Kat looked over at her phone, reading the time: 6:43 am. It was too late for her to get any use out of falling back asleep, so she began getting herself ready for the day ahead. It was eight months since she'd graduated from college with a Bachelor's in communications, and six since she'd gotten a job at a marketing firm in Chicago. Every day was the same for her, a glorified intern she would show up to work at 9 am and leave at 5 pm, spending most of her time sitting and doing nothing, while the rest she would run errands for her superiors — she knew their coffee orders by heart.
Still, it was a job, and a job in a busy city and a rich life with all her friends. Nothing to complain about. Besides the winters.
Despite the early wake up, today was barely a break from her usual schedule. She made a cup of coffee, ate a protein bar for breakfast, and scrolled through her social media feeds, careful not to wake her roommate, Norah.
Norah worked nights as a nurse at one of the local hospitals, and would come home bone-tired. The two girls didn't know each other before moving into an apartment together, but the arrangement was fine as far as Kat was concerned. Norah was a pleasant enough person who cleaned and was polite and in her rare off days, the two roommates would often go out to bars together or Kat would invite her to hang out with her friends, she knew Norah struggled to make new ones since moving to the city.
When Kat was done fully waking up, she went to choose her wardrobe for the day. Opening her drapes, she frowned as she saw snow falling from her third floor view. It was going to be another cold one, she thought to herself. Dressing appropriately, Kat put on a pair of dress pants and a beige blouse with red flowers on it, and a black sport jacket to go with it. Looking at her full length mirror, the 5' 4" girl liked what she saw looking back at her. The pants she chose showed off her round ass, but not too much to bring unwanted attention to herself. The lace bra nicely corralled her pear shaped tits, pushing the C-cups up so that her blouse could show just a hint of cleavage when she leaned forward. Finally, Kat did her hair, choosing to go with a ponytail, she ran her fingers through the thick brown hair as it ran down just below her bra before putting it up. Smiling, she knew she looked good, she'd been going to the gym since she moved to Chicago and had shaved off a few pounds, her face slimming so that her double chin had disappeared and her cheekbones dominated the shape of her face.
Leaving for work, Kat took the subway to downtown before taking the long ride up an elevator to her office, clutching her work bage the entire way. Calmly making her way to her desk, she sat down and booted up the computer, looking to see if any work was sent her way. Surprisingly, there was a note from her boss: "Meet me in my office at 10 am, we need to talk about your future."
Obviously, a note you never want to get. The next hour was hell as Kat could only sit and wait, looking around nervously to see if anyone else was as flustered as herself. When the time came, she got up and went to her boss' office. With a glass wall facing the sea of workers on one side and a view of the lake on the other, drywall for the in between walls, Jim gestured for her to sit down at one of the two chairs across his wooden desk.
"You've worked here for six months now, is that right?" Jim asked, looking down at a piece of paper.
"Yes I have, and I've enjoyed the experience very much."
"Well it seems you've done quite a lot of good work, Kathryn, I'm impressed and so are my superiors. Some of the ideas for these campaigns you've come up with proved to be rather brilliant. Especially this one for..." He paused as he was looking for the name of the company. "Michael's Milk Co."
Kat was taken aback, here she thought she was doing nothing, contributing nothing. She didn't even remember the Michael's Milk job.
"In fact, the people at Michael's thought it best that you become their lead partner with this agency, and my superiors agreed," Jim continued. "It's not too big of a company, but I think it's big enough to be a challenge and reward for someone of your obvious abilities. What do you think about that?"
Kat was stunned, her mouth slightly ajar. This was a big deal, and an opportunity she couldn't say no to. Not many people her age get to head up an account this young. Kat managed a slight nod and croaked, "I would love to."
"Great, the people at Michael's will be ecstatic to hear that. Of course, you'll have to go out there to see what the company is about first. We were thinking a two week venture out there should be fine? You could tour the company and work with them directly to get a good foundation going."
Kat was just nodding along at this point, and there was a lengthy silence before Kat realized she needed to say something, "Yeah that sounds like a great plan. When should I go over?"
"Monday is a good start, and then you can come back the next friday. We'll take care of all of your travel needs, you just need to follow directions."
Kat counted the days in her head, today was Thursday, so that was one, two, three days to pack and get ready. Everything sounded good to her, and she said so.
With that, the meeting was finished and Kat went straight to her desk with the biggest grin on her face, reaching for her phone and texting Norah and her best friend from childhood, Max. It was a great day.
**
Kat could barely hide her excitement as the days went by, the days seemed to slow down for her as she got closer to Monday. The only thing that stopped her from being in a state of bliss were the nightmares, every night it was the same dark box, same footsteps, and same scarred hand. But every morning for Kat the fear would leave her once she had her coffee and was ready to face the day.
Finally, it was time to go. Kat took an Uber to the airport, and flew out to Iowa, where Michael's dairy was headquartered. Kat didn't even have to rent a car, the company took care of it and gave her a driver to get her out to the dairy farms. Throughout the ride, Kat talked with the driver about the company, trying to get a gauge on what the company met. By the time they got close to the farms, the sun was starting to set, and Kat had gotten tired. The driver wasn't taking her to the hotel first; he said that the owners would like to meet Kat that night, and that they would put out a dinner for her.
Rolling into the driveway, Kat could barely see the farm or farmhouse. The sky was cloudy and the only light came from two porch lights outside the farmhouse, where Kat headed to as soon as the car stopped. She wanted to get this done as quick as possible so she could get some sleep.
Bringing her fist to the door, she only had to rap her knuckles once before a homely middle aged woman opened the door. 5' 10", if Kat had to guess, she was slim but strong, auburn hair with grey streaks for hair and a kind smile. "Ah, you must be Kathryn, my name is Elizabeth but you can call me El, how nice to meet you." She said reaching a hand out.
Kat took it and returned the greeting, adding "You can call me Kat," before being invited in to the long ranch. Kat was immediately in an entryway, with shoes lining a shoe rack. She took that as a sign, and removed her flats. Looking along the walls there were family photos and photos of the farms. Curiously, none of the photos of the farms had cows in them.
"You just stay out there Chris, I'll let you know when we're done in here." El said to the driver before turning around and closing the door. "Come in here sweetling I'll show you to the dining room."
El took her a little ways in before a long hallway reached both ways left and right, El gently grabbed her arm and guided her to the right, down a hallway with doors on the right and windows to presumably the farm on the left. Kat enjoyed looking at all the happy faces in the photos and lovely decorations as they wandered past a couple of doors before reaching an open kitchen and dining area.
"Just take a seat there hun." El told Kat, pointing towards a round table set for six. Besides El, it was Kat and a woman Kat's age, two men her age and an old man about El's age. Kat guessed that this was the family in charge of the farm. Kat sat in the open chair next to the woman her age, a ginger with a strong jaw and freckled nose that perfectly suited her face. Even sitting down the woman seemed tall, probably 5' 11" or taller. She introduced herself as Heather.
Down the line they went, the two men around Kat's age were clearly brothers, with thick brown hair, bronzed skin and bushy beards, one of them had a long, thick scar on his forehead. The one with the scar said his name was Jake, and the other was Jonny. The older man was named John and looked just like the two younger ones, but instead his wrinkled face had a grey beard and a bald head.
