Author's Note:
This is a revised and updated version of the very first chapter of "Battle-Hardened..." I was bored and dealing with a case of 'writer's block'. I decided to revised the chapter in hopes of receiving some inspiration to write again.
Plus, I was inspired to do this after viewing twelve pages of 'Fuckyeahsexygingermen' on Tumblr. Don't judge me. LOL!
For the people who are reading this story for the first time: Thank you.
For the people who are re-reading this chapter until I add a new one: Thank you.
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When Kali Richardson woke up this morning, she felt like it was going to be a good day for her. Not a bad day and not a day where excellent things happen for her, but it were going to be a 'good, average day' for her. And for Kali, she thought that having at least one good day was... well, good enough for her. She felt like she deserved, at least, one good day, ever since she hasn't had one of those for a long time. To be precise, it's been nine months and three weeks since her last good day, which was the day before her grandfather unexpectedly passed away.
After she performed some of her daily rituals of an hourly exercise routine, a light breakfast and a shower, Kali stood in her bathroom and in front of the sink. There were still drops of water from her shower that clung to her cinnamon-hued flesh. A cream-colored towel was wrapped around her body, in an uncomfortable, constricting way. The room was saturated with the shower's steam. The medicine cabinet's mirrored door was coated with it. Using a hand, Kali wiped away the steam and was greeted by her reflection with her swipe of the hand.
Kali observed her reflection, silently, for a moment. She stared at her small nose that looked dainty and very 'lady-like'. It was so dainty that she barely could see the bridge of her nose in her reflection. Her friend Katrina once told her that there are women, who pay plastic surgeons a lot of money to make them a nose that looks like hers. Her grandmother always told her that God blessed her with a beautiful nose, which was different from her nose.
Her eyes drifted down to her lips. Her lips were not wide. Her lips were small, but plump. She had the perfect "Cupid's Bow" top lip that was brown in color with a bottom lip that had a healthy pink hue that turned burgundy, whenever she bit down on the plump flesh. As a teenaged girl, the neighborhood's 'dirty old men', as her grandmother used to call them, would yell out to her that she had lips that were kissable. One man even grabbed her wrist, yanked her close to him and whispered in her ear that her lips were "dick-sucking lips". Outraged and horrified, Kali managed to free herself and ran all of the way home. She told her grandmother about the encounter, who had informed her husband. Her husband silently absorbed all of the information and then quietly left their home, but returned an hour later. A few days later, on her way home from school, Kali was given an apology from that same dirty ole man, who sported some bruises and appeared to have been severely battered.
Kali's doe-shaped, soft eyes ended their visual survey on themselves. They were shaped beautifully with a wide and rounded out shape that makes the twenty-six year old woman look as if she possesses the innocence and naiveté of a child. They were also beautiful because of their unique color. The irises of her eyes were a gorgeous color of purple. They shared the color of the amethyst gemstone. Since she was a child, Kali was told that she have beautiful eyes. She had the experience of strangers approach her and tell her that she owned 'such pretty eyes'. Her friends complimented them, as well as her co-workers and employers. Her late grandfather, Jack, adored them while her grandmother Mare marveled at them and wondered 'who in the family did she inherit them from?' Reba, her mother, despised them and hated them. Jackson, her step-father, once told her that they were odd, but will 'catch a lot of customers and make them a lot of money'.
'Jackson' her mind whispered to her. At the thought of his name, the image of his face popped up into her mind's eye and soon she felt her mind drudge up a bad memory of him. She felt that box that she made for him and his memories start to lift the lid off. "No" she growled, while her eyes squeezed shut and her face formed a grimace. Then she started to shake her head to the side, violently. "No. I won't think of you. Go back to your box. Go back to your box and stay there! No!" she screamed. Her shout bounced off the bathroom's walls. She popped open her eyes and glanced around the room. Jackson, his face and those memories were gone. Her mind was clear. 'It just needs to stay that way,' she thought. She opened the medicine cabinet and was greeted by two shelves of prescription medications. She found the desired pill bottle. She opened the bottle and produced a pill. Without an aid of a glass of water, she swallowed the pill with ease. 'I refuse to turn this good day into a bad one' Kali thought as she continued to look in the mirror.
Staring at her reflection wasn't just a ritual that Kali only performed, when she was home. The young woman also did this routine when she was at work. She used a mirror that she kept hidden in a drawer that was inside of her cubicle. Or she would use one of the mirrors that were in the numerous bathrooms at her job. There were times when she caught by a fellow employee or a customer. They usually assumed that the woman was conceited, vain and 'stuck on herself', when in truth, it was the complete opposite. Kali wanted to know what was so damn special about the woman that she saw in the mirror. She wanted to know why they wanted to fuck with her.
For a chosen career, Kali chose to earn a living through the process of medical billing and coding. She provided her expertise for a private medical clinic. By working at the clinic that only provides medical services for only women and where every employee was a woman themselves was perfect for Kali. The young woman was not able to work in an environment that also contained men. The job's environment was welcoming for her as well. Her co-workers were welcoming and friendly, at all times, but they weren't imposing and weren't bothered by Kali's dissociative behavior. Her office was a small room at the rear of the building, on the second floor, in a cubicle. On most days, she was up there by herself and she didn't get any visitors most of the time, so she could've gotten away with murder, if she wanted to. It was here, on her self-proclaimed 'good day', in which Kali's good vibrations had come to an end.
It was a few minutes before the beginning of her lunch break. Kali sat at her desk and she was in the process of working on a patient's chart. She was typing in the medical codes for cataracts, on her computer, when she heard the song "La Cucaracha" playing from the inside of one of the desk's drawers. She recognized it as being a ringtone from her cell phone. She also knew the identity of the caller, judging by the festive ringtone. A sense of dread flooded her soul and she let out a shaky gasp. Her eyelids stung and itch from the tears that were begging to be release. She glanced away from the computer's monitor and looked at the row of desk drawers. She opened the top drawer and pulled out a metallic-pink phone. On the small screen, the word 'Truck' appeared in capitalized, bold letters. She pressed the 'green phone' symbol and then pressed the phone to her left ear.
"H-hello," Kali said in a voice so low, it almost sounded like a whisper.
"Kali, hey it's me, Truck" said the voice on the other line. Kali could hear the background noises. It sounded as if he was standing around in an airport. She assumed that he just arrived in New York from Missouri. "Baby, I need to see you. Tonight, I will be staying at the Charter. I'll be staying in room 1423. I should be there around 6 tonight, so anytime after that, its okay."
"All right," Kali said into the phone while she stared at the floor. Her tone of voice was void of any emotion.
"All right, baby, see you later" and then she heard the call being disconnected.
In a moment of silence, she stared at the floor. She wondered why God didn't make her into something simple like a cheap carpet instead of giving her the life that she lived now. She was aware that there were thousands of women who would love to be in her place right now. If she was built like a normal woman, she was sure that she would love having a man call her and declare that he 'needed to see her'. During her moment of silence, she felt her cheeks being wet with tears and she figured out that the Zoloft that she ingested must've worn off. She gave herself another eight minutes to get herself together, before heading off to lunch.
For Kali, it looks like today is going to be a normal day for her, after all.
By the time Kali had left work, the sky had darkened, the sun reached dusk and the crescent moon was on display. The outside temperature had also dropped as well. It was an 'okay' temperature during the day, a modest thirty-nine degrees with no wind. But now, there was a constant wind that blew freezing, frigid air and the night's temperature had dropped to a measly twelve degrees. It was typical 'December-just turned winter' weather. On nights like this one, Kali usually hurries to get home as soon as possible. On nights like this one, she usually spends the night wrapped in two layers of blankets, watching movies on her television and indulging in some type of chocolate-confection. She thought about her night's 'what-ifs' as she traveled from Queens to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, while using the best public transportation that New York City has to offer.
It had taken Kali ninety-three minutes to arrive to her destination: the Charter Hotel. The Charter Hotel is a new posh, modern hotel that is usually frequented by the rich and famous, as well as, by the people who wished to be seen hanging out with the rich and famous. The hotel was also Truck's favorite hotel to use during his stays in New York City, whether if it was because his team was playing a New York-based team or for other reasons. Kali hated coming here. Every time she set foot inside this place, she felt like she didn't belong in here. Despite the employees being friendly, she always expected for one of them to remind her of her actual station in life. If she had a choice in the matter, Truck and she would be meeting up in a cheap motel room that is located by the airport. She already felt like a cheap whore, so they might as well meet up in a place where cheap whores do their business.
'I really don't want to be here,' Kali's mind spoken.
She was standing in one of the corridors that made up the fourteenth floor. She was standing outside of room 1423, in front of the closed door.
