The Day Before Today ch 1 & 2

The Day Before Today



         Yesterday happened to fall on a Wednesday.
         Aurora was asleep in her bedroom at 6:07 a.m. to parted curtains in her yellow bedroom, which allowed the red morning  sun to swaddle her blankets in a shimmery golden glow. Had she been awake, she probably would have appreciated the scenery; however, an orange cat she salvaged from a dump yard had been weaving in and out of all the nooks and crannies of Aura's (Aura is what everyone calls her) little house. He found the table at her bedside and, unbeknownst to him, knocked the alarm clock plug right out of its socket with a switch of his tail.
         And so, by the time Aura awoke, it was 9:47 a.m., and the sun was already up in the sky, hazy and bright. The city was basked with high blue skies, curls of smoke from factories and cars, and unsettling heat. She did not see the sunrise or feel the cool temperatures which drifted sleepily upstairs through open windows. In fact, the only time of her entire busy day that she had all to herself was from 6:00 a.m. to 6:19 a.m., between pressing the snooze button and finally lifting her head off the pillow. But, as you know, she overslept yesterday morning. When she finally opened her bleary eyes, and the whole bedroom was awake with unwelcome sunshine, she had to skip breakfast, makeup, and the third button on her jacket. She walked three blocks to catch a white bus with electric green stripes running along the side of it. She did not bother to duck into her sister Felicity's shop like every other morning and say hello.
         "You are late," Carl spoke, frowning as she dashed inside the kitchen to fetch an extra apron (she had forgotten her own). All of the workers at Carl's Delightful Diner wore identical outfits- black slacks, white short-sleeved shirts, and dull blue aprons with pockets barely deep enough to drop change into. When she mingled with the other workers, the restaurant looked like a sea, with all the blues of the aprons and the deep greens in the walls and tables. She paused for a moment and wished she were someone else- someone who did not run between cars and buses and loud businessmen in the mornings, but along strips of sand and the comforting tide of an ocean.
         Aura muttered a quick apology to her boss, full well knowing that any pay she received this week would be just enough to pay most of her bills. As she brewed tea and poured coffee and took orders from rushing customers, she thought mostly of Vincent.
         She couldn't help but wonder what he was doing right this second, and if he also hated his job at the company on Sixth Street, and if he woke up this morning and let his mind wander to Aura. ‘Of course not,' she thought to herself in a chastising manner. ‘Don't even start thinking of him.' But out loud, she sighed, and her heart skipped a beat every time a man came through the door wearing a long, black coat.
         "Vincent," she murmured. "Vincent and Sephora. Vincent and Sephora Lorre." He was, of course, married. He told her that many, many times, every time he came in to get something quick to eat, and she hinted at a date. He wore a thin gold band which he obviously never took off, because his finger had grown around it. Aura didn't want to believe that he was taken, but of course he was. A man like that absolutely had to be with somebody else already. After awhile, Vincent told her that he could no longer stand coming into the diner, because as much as he liked Aura, he was a faithful husband. And Aurora found herself envious that he came home to someone else, who probably did not deserve him. She was jealous of the wife, who seemed perfect, and who he reserved himself for.
         Why didn't he like Aura, anyway? She was pretty, intelligent, and nineteen- which is old enough for a man of twenty-six.
         When she left work at exactly 8:00 p.m. that evening, she went straight home and flopped onto her bed. "Maybe I should call Felicity," she wondered. "No, I forgot she's on a date with her boyfriend." She talked to her new cat, Humphrey. He didn't answer, only stared lazily through slitted eyes from his perch on the dresser. "I could call Mom, but that is long-distance." Thoughts of her mother in Rhode Island flitted through her mind. Why had she moved to New York City as soon as she turned eighteen? The big dream of becoming a photographer seemed very far away...and all her lifelong savings had already been spent on the little house. She had no relations or promising advances in the work field she wanted. Then she thought again of Vincent Lorre, who must be home with his wife right now, watching a movie on the couch together or eating at a nice restaurant. She imagined his pretty green eyes, which reflected sadness. If his wife was too good to leave, why was he so miserable?
         "I hate my life," she told the wall.
         She turned over on her bed and cried pitifully into her pillow, wishing she would never wake up again. After sobbing for half an hour, she grew sleepy, as most people do after a good cry. Aura had forgotten to set her alarm to wake up in the morning, and she fell asleep with her shoes and work clothes and house lights still on.
         At the time when Aurora was crying, the sun began to set over the city, much slower here than in other places throughout the world, because of so many bright lights. All the same, had she sat up and rubbed her teary eyes, she would have beheld a beautiful purple, pink, orange, gold, and red fire burning in the sky, dotted with teasing stars which never really blossomed in the city. She would have seen the pigeons flying low to the tree branches in the park, and listened to the soft symphonies drifting from the musician's house next door, and noticed the mailmain trotting up, late again, and carrying a small white envelope.
         A letter from Vincent.







Today


         Humphrey rubbed his body up against Aura, trying to wake her. It was ten o' clock and he wanted his breakfast. Normally she had his canned tuna spooned into a dish by 6:35, along with a saucer of milk. She reached out a tentative hand and he gladly allowed himself to be pet.
         Aura poured him dry food instead, which put him off. He sniffed it and sauntered away to mope in the bathroom. "Fine then," she muttered, and padded into her kitchen. She didn't care that she was late for work  and would probably be fired today. There are no messages on Aura's answering machine. There are no pictures on her refrigerator. But today, when she woke up, Aurora Chassen decided she did not care about anything.
         "You know," she announced to herself, "I would like to wear pajamas today." And so she put on a pair of blue silk pajamas with a cloud pattern. She left her purse inside, and didn't lock the door. She slipped into a pair of cushy purple dinosaur slippers and took off down the street, with a confused Humphrey tucked under one arm.
         She didn't pay any attention to the stares she received from passerby. She probably didn't even realize she had left her chin-length dark hair uncombed, with mascara trails down her cheeks from last nights' dried-up tears. If someone would have notified her, she probably wouldn't have cared. It is an ugly thing to watch someone give up on life when they are still so young.
         As if in a fog, Aura made her way over to the tall building where Vincent works as an executive at a large paper  company. Its black, glassy exterior reminded Aura of a car she'd seen the other day parked in front of a fire hydrant. At the time, she had thought, "I wish I could do that. I wish I could just park like that, in front of a hydrant, and not care at all." Aura pushed open the rectangular door and let herself in.
         A secretary at the reception desk glanced up behind bold, tortoise-shell framed glasses. She offered a broad, fake smile. "Hello, my name is Sharon. How may I help you?"
         Aurora was caught off-guard. She hadn't planned anything, and didn't even know why she had wandered into this building. She had no purpose here. But her mouth seemed to open up on its own, and words spilled out into the air. "Where can I find Vincent Lorre's office?"
         The lady smiled wider. "My, aren't you punctual. You arrived just in time for his lunch break! Our elevator's broke, though, and I'm afraid you'll have to use the stairs." She pointed to the left hallway. "It's just through there. You'll have to walk up the seven flights of stairs..which might take some time, but when you do get up there, his office is the tenth on the right. It'll have his name next to the door. Anything else?"
         "No," Aura replied, and walked in the direction of the stairs without saying thank-you. The woman's plaster smile fell apart, and she continued sorting papers in her  file cabinet. Aura calmly and slowly tread the stairs. She passed landing after landing, marked with brown solid doors. When she reached the seventh landing, she twisted the handle and went inside. The air in this hallway was strangely cooler, and at the end of it was a door leading out to a small balcony. Aura scanned the panels on the right wall until she found it. VINCENT A. LORRE. She deftly unfolded the cat from her clutch and set him down on the purple carpet.
         Aurora made her way down to the end of the hall, leaving Humphrey mewing by himself. She pushed open the balcony door, and smiled as the breeze whipped all around her face. She felt as though in a dream, and as though the world around her weren't real. Aura stepped onto the railing, and put one leg over the side. She put the other leg over, and stood with her hands behind her, holding onto the sturdy iron bar. She was standing on a ledge, with absolutely nothing between her and the busy city streets below except for seven stories of atmosphere.
         Aurora looked down below. Directly underneath was a gray river- a sidewalk- flowing with strange, senseless people. "I am going to jump," Aura declared. "And I am going to land right there on that sidewalk."
         She bit her lip in contemplation.
         "But I don't want to jump," she whispered.
         She tilted her head upwards, and for the first time in what seemed like ages, she took in the blue sky, the lovely weather, the rolling white streaks of clouds. She studied church spires and rooftops far above and far below. Directly across the street was a building the same height as the one she was on, and she spied a woman pressing her nose against the glass of a window, watching her. Aura smiled to herself. "She thinks I am going to jump," she mused.
         Her head drained of all stressful activity, and her thoughts cleared. She could see perfectly her goal in life: gardener. She wanted to work in a botanical garden. The idea struck her out of nowhere, and seemed positively perfect. She would save up enough earnings to purchase that spacious apartment near where Thomas lives. Thomas, who had always appreciated her, and constantly reminded her that whenever she got over Vincent, he would be right there waiting.  She didn't want to die. No man was worth suicide. She turned to climb back over, and forgot she was wearing thick, bulky slippers.
         She lost her footing and fell into the gray river, with Humphrey and the lady across the street as her witnesses. Screams electrified the streets, and a tall brunette pushing her baby in a stroller shouted, "Someone call a hospital!"