The Aftermath: Part One

Posted on Wed Feb 6th, 2019 @ 4:00pm by Mackenzie Bergman
Edited on on Wed Feb 6th, 2019 @ 4:52pm

Mission: The First Step...
Location: The White Lotus
Timeline: 2388/08/29 1710 (Fri. August 29 2388 5:10pm)

Mackenzie sat behind the desk with her eyes closed, relaxing a bit before the next wave of clients made their appearance. Since word spread about the salon, she was much busier than normal, but with help, things flowed smoother than she could have ever hoped. Though, when she was at work, she couldn’t wait for the end of the day to finally roll around so she’d get to see a certain someone. He invaded her thoughts like no one else could have hoped to before him. Jake had a way of making her smile, making her feel like she actually mattered to someone who wasn’t related to her. And yet… she still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going to happen to ruin things… kill that one shred of happiness she’d felt in a while.

She needed to let that go. The incident with Joey was nothing more than a distant memory, and it was high time she moved on from it instead of letting it fester like a wound that just refused to go away. After all… the brown haired woman couldn’t hurt her if she didn’t let her.

Climbing to her feet, the redhead woman started to make her way to the storage room when her PADD alerted her she had an incoming message. She couldn’t help but feel a rush of excitement, thinking that it was either Kelly or Jake. The prospect of one of them wanting to get her out of her apartment later her feel absolutely giddy. She’d been cooped up too long. Turning around, the redhead woman turned and moved back to reception to retrieve her PADD off of the desk, then settled back down on the chair as she accepted it.

Mack was fully prepared to see an invite from one of her two favorite people on Sapientia, but what she ended up with caused her brow to furrow. What the hell was this? Unable to peel her eyes away from the screen, she watched until she just felt like she couldn’t take it anymore, tears welling up in her eyes. Why did it feel like someone just stabbed her in the gut with a red hot poker? Why did she suddenly feel like someone had just shot her dog, whom in fact, was curled up and sound asleep not that far from her? Things did seem like they were too good to be true, and like she felt they would, that shred of hope and happiness snapped.

With tears in her eyes, she tried to see who the sender was, but that information was left blank. Probably intentionally. She felt like she was going to be sick… no… she was going to be sick. Clapping a hand over her mouth as she tossed the PADD back onto the receptionists desk, the petite woman jumped to her feet and ran to the bathroom as fast as her legs could take her. It didn’t take long before she’d emptied her stomach that she staggered to her feet after flushing the toilet to move over to the sink. She rinsed her mouth out and splashed a little water over her face, but that did nothing to make her feel any better. The petite woman felt like complete death, and after looking at her reflection in the mirror, she realized she looked like it, too. Her normally tanned skin was completely washed out, leaving her a shade or two darker than transparent.

Just when she thought she was going to be able to make it to back to the land of the living, she ended up getting violently ill again. Curling up on the floor, she tried everything she could to kill the hurt that stabbed through her, but nothing worked. Instead, she just laid there… on the cold floor… sobbing.

Some time later, she pushed herself off of the floor feeling weak and worn. Her skin was still a ghostly shade of white for someone of her normal tanned tone, but she seemed to overlook it completely. Splashing more water on her face, Mack moved back out into the main part of the salon... using walls, chairs and anything else she could to help keep her upright. "Lou… I… uh… I have to go. I’ll… make this up to… you." Ugh… why did she feel like she was going to be sick again?

Having just came out of the massage rooms, Lou heard Mack before she saw her; the woman was pale as a ghost and looked like she could barely walk on her own. He quickly went up to her and put a supporting arm around her. "Do you want me to contact Medical?" he asked.

"No." Mack said, her throat a bit hoarse and scratchy sounding from being sick, shaking her head. That’s the last place she wanted to be. Around a bunch of people… no, thanks. "I’m just going to go to my place and lay down. If you can keep an eye on things here, I’d appreciate it, and like I said… I’ll owe you one."

"You don’t owe me anything, Mack," Lou said. “I hope you feel better."

"Thanks." She said softly with a sad smile as she gathered up her things. Tucking her PADD into her bag along with some of the little Wolfdog puppy’s toys, she shouldered it and bent down to scoop Liekos up. With that, she walked out of the salon… more tears forming in her eyes… but these were ones of anger.

Wondering what was going on, Lou chose not to question her on it. If she wanted to tell him, she would in her time. Giving a small shrug, he headed back to finish up on what she had left off and hoped that the place wouldn’t get overrun with clients in the meantime.

True to her word, Mack left the salon and went straight back to her place where she planned to lay down to let things fester.

Mackenzie Bergman
Owner: The White Lotus

&

Lou Parker
Manager: The White Lotus