Red

Marlene had overslept. It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence, but it was still her least favourite thing on earth. Her alarm was as loud as it could be and she went to bed at an appropriate time. Her problem was really how cold her room was. She wouldn’t want to get out of bed or take off her blanket so she’d stay in her bed until she fell back asleep and then realized it was seven o’clock when she was supposed to have left by six-fifty. Hey, at least she knew she was moving up in the world.

Marlene had studied and suffered through boring lectures for two years to get an opportunity like this. She’d studied as hard as she could through school until she was finally accepted at Hogwarts, a prestigious school for the smartest people in science, math, technology, engineering, and all of the greatest fields of study you could think of. Four campuses spread across London. Marlene had managed to get into the most well-known one. The Gryffindor campus was where the most famous engineers and scientists studied. She’d spent two years living on this campus, meeting her friends, going to class, and then she’d gotten the letter.

It was a letter from Albus Dumbledore, and it was a letter that ensured her life would never be the same.

Dumbledore was one of the wealthiest men Marlene had ever heard of, and she was right on the cusp of meeting him. He ran Phoenix Enterprises, a business that did research in medicine, military weaponry, and even just dabbled in small random experiments on the side. He’d managed to create a name for himself, and he had studied in the same place Marlene was. He’d been a Gryffindor student at Hogwarts just like her. At some point in time, he’d decided to start taking on groups of interns from the two closest campuses to the main Phoenix Enterprises building. He’d take a few from the Gryffindor campus and a few from the Slytherin one.

Marlene had been picked.

She and her friends had been picked, and she was prepared to devote her life to this new job.

That was if she ever decided to wake up on time.

“Marls!” Her best friend Lily burst into her bedroom angrily. “Out of bed, let’s go.”

“It’s too bright outside,” said Marlene, grumbling.

Another friend of hers, Mary, peeked her head through the doorway. “You should have chosen to live in a cave then.”

Lily gasped dramatically. “Marlene, are you a vampire?”

“Piss off!” She snapped.

Marlene grabbed the pillows sitting beside her and chucked them at her friends. Lily laughed as Marlene finally sat up and chased her from the room. She slammed the door behind them and turned to the old mirror in the corner of her room. It was old and stained with rust from age. She was pretty sure it had belonged to her mother when she was Marlene’s age. It was the closest thing Marlene had gotten to a McKinnon family heirloom.

The room she had been given at Hogwarts was small. The walls were painted an obnoxious shade of red that clashed with the posters and photos she had taped against her wall. Her messy bed with sheets sprawled corner to corner was positioned against the windows in the back of her room. Across from it, there sat a messy wooden desk cluttered with pens, journals, and her computer. Sticky notes and loose leaf papers lined two bulletin boards that were nailed to her wall above her computer along with a whiteboard that had foolish ideas and passwords scribbled onto it in blue marker that hadn’t been erased for weeks. Her closet didn’t have a door so it was an open display of jackets and a broken thing of plastic drawers she had bought for her extra clothes a few weeks before. The old mirror leaned against the drawers, reflecting Marlene’s appearance and the large wardrobe that stood tall behind her.

Marlene scoffed as she began to poke at the small blemishes on her face. She had a warm, dark, tawny complexion that was starting to pale as the winter months came closer. Small freckles lined her cheeks and her nose. She grabbed an eyeliner pen from her desk and began to outline the lower lids of her small, hooded, brown eyes. She gagged in disgust at the sight of her dark overgrown roots clashing with the rest of her bright blonde hair. Mary and Lily had said they preferred her hair the way it was at the moment but it made Marlene feel uncomfortable. She never knew exactly how to make it sit, and sometimes she had the impulsive idea to shave it all off.

Sadly, she had to worry about Phoenix before she thought about how to style her hair.

Marlene grabbed a blue sweater and a pair of jeans from her closet. She pulled them on and ran towards her desk, grabbing mascara and concealer, and quickly straightening up the rest of her face. She pulled her hair into a small bun at the top of her head and grabbed her wallet from underneath the clutter of things on her desk. A red purse of files, papers, and anything else she needed was waiting beside her door. She pulled it over her shoulder as she laced up her shoes and walked out the door.

Mary and Lily were waiting outside for her with travel mugs and their own bags tucked underneath their arms. Lily handed Marlene a mug of coffee as the three of them began their way downstairs to the parking lot.

“You sure the sunlight isn’t gonna bother you, Marls?” A smirk widened across Mary's lips as she playfully shoved Marlene’s shoulder.

Marlene’s eyes shot daggers at her friend. Mary and Marlene had sat next to each other on their first day in class, and they’d immediately started bonding over Mary’s horrible bright green phone case. The two of them had discovered their dorms were in the same building and ever since they’d order takeaway together on the weekends and tell each other everything. Her friend was a few inches shorter than Marlene, and Marlene wasn’t one to let that fall unnoticed. Mary’s dark hair was silky and thick. It was pulled back into braids that rested against her shoulders. She had a warm brown complexion that was always adorned with some of the fanciest eye makeup that Marlene had ever been given the pleasure of seeing. That day, blue eyeshadow lined her downturned eyes coloured a dark shade of brown. She wore a silky, green, button-up that day with red nail polish glowing from her small hands.

“You know what, Mary?” Marlene glanced down at her. She smiled as she skipped down the steps. “At least I don’t rely on ten cups of coffee to stay awake each day. I actually sleep well.”

Lily snorted and gestured to the coffee cup sitting in Marlene’s hand. “Yeah, you don’t drink ten. You drink twelve.”

Marlene glanced over at Lily unhappily. She and Mary just loved to gang up on Marlene with no respect for everything Marlene did to keep their happy little family running. Everybody would simply be bored if they didn’t have Marlene around to wreak havoc on their lives.

Lily was calmer than Mary, and she usually wasn’t as insulting. Marlene and Lily had known each other as kids, and the two of them were ecstatic when they managed to get into Hogwarts at the same time. Her childhood friend was taller than Mary by an inch or two, but Marlene still had height on both of them. She had short red hair that rested in tiny curls against her shoulders. She had dark eyes that were the colour of the ocean. Sometimes seeming more green than blue, and at other times, more blue than green. She had a pale complexion that was dotted with tiny freckles around her forehead and nose. She wore a dark red blouse with dark dress pants and white heels that were definitely new.

“See this?” Marlene gestured back and forth between her and her friends as she pushed open the door that led out to the parking lot. “This is an unhealthy relationship.”

“Oh, really?” Mary asked, pretending to be dumbfounded and paralyzed with shock.

“Yeah,” she replied, knitting her brow sadly. “There’s a power imbalance.”

“Is there?” Lily gasped, absolutely horrified.

“The two of you are intimidated because I’m that much better than both of you.”

Mary and Lily rolled their eyes and shoved past Marlene, walking towards their friends who were waiting for them in the parking lot. James Potter had been Marlene’s best friend and next-door neighbour since she was five years old, and his first impression of her at five years old to him and his family was breaking his glasses with a stick. Effie and Fleamont had practically invited her into the family from that point on, and James had repaid her the day after by dropping a rock on her foot and breaking her nail off. She had screamed so loud that their entire neighbourhood had heard her shouting bloody murder.

James had gotten into Hogwarts with Lily and Marlene. It had been their childhood dream. They’d studied and applied themselves in school so that they learned everything and all of them were finally accepted into the renowned school of science. James’ parents had both gone to the school as well, and much like Marlene and her friends, they had stayed at the Gryffindor Campus. It was full of kind, hardworking people and it had some of the best classes and sights to offer. Some of the most famous scientists and inventors in the world had come from the Gryffindor Campus, and now Marlene, James, and Lily had made it.

Well, it was more than them who’d made it. Peter Pettigrew had been a family friend to the Potters since their parents had all been at Hogwarts together. Peter practically lived with the Potters and he was there so often that he became best friends with Marlene in the same way that Marlene had become best friends with James. Peter had been particularly good at making things and Marlene would never be able to understand the tiny robots and things he programmed when they were kids. He had been the first one to be accepted to Hogwarts and it made sense. When she was younger, Marlene used to think that Peter was the smartest out of all of them.

James and Peter were standing by a large tan van that Marlene had never seen in her life before. It looked like the type of things kids got kidnapped out of with its dark, tinted windows and door handles covered in tape. She paused in the middle of the parking lot as she dramatically stared at the strange car standing before her.

James spun the car keys around on his finger. “Do you like the new ride?”

“Are we becoming criminals?” Marlene croaked.

James laughed and tossed the car keys into Peter’s hands. Marlene walked towards them, eyeing the van beside the two of them curiously with a look of fear plastered across her face. James was taller than Marlene, and one of the only people in their little group of friends who had that honour. James had a golden brown complexion with messy waves of dark hair that hung over his almond-shaped eyes. They were a warm shade of brown and his hair was just long enough that it reached his jawline. He had brushed it a bit that day to be more presentable for their new roles at Phoenix Enterprises. The bits of a beard were starting to form on his chin and Marlene didn’t think it looked entirely too awful. He wore a grey buttoned-up dress shirt with the sleeves rolled just above his elbows. It was the most professional that Marlene had seen him in a very long time.

“I went car shopping last night,” Peter explained. He eyed the van behind them with wonder sparkling in his eyes. “Isn’t she beautiful?”

“Last night… why– Oh my god!” Marlene gagged. “I do not want to know who you had back there.”

Peter shrugged with a smile. “Listen, I needed a new car, and I wanted to have fun. I did both.”

Peter had flushed fair skin that was framed by dark blonde hair that rested just below his ear. It was a bit wavy and a few strands of it hung over his pale blue eyes. He was about the same height as Marlene, though she believed he was shorter. His eyes reflected the sort of mischief that you could definitely tell would trouble you, but it made you feel better about yourself if you got tangled in it anyway. It was how Peter managed to get a date or a night out almost every night since they had gotten to Hogwarts. He was a ladies' man. That was just how it went. He was like James and dressed in a nice dress shirt, though he wore a black bomber jacket over it that Marlene made a note to steal some time.

“Sirius and Remus are already bickering inside, I assume.” Lily scoffed as she began to open the door. She was proved correct by the sound of Sirius dramatically screaming about something having to do with David Bowie. Lily slammed the door shut again. “I suppose I have my answer.”

“Go get into Sally, Marls.” Peter trudged towards the driver’s seat with a completely untrustworthy smile painted across his face. “Let’s try her out.”

“I hate her name,” Marlene grumbled.

Lily opened the car door again and Marlene followed Lily into the car. It was extremely big, and very necessary since Peter would be driving seven people to Phoenix Enterprises every day. Remus Lupin was sitting on the left side, in the passenger seat next to Peter. Sirius had been confined to the third row in the back of the van where Marlene was forced along with James. Lily and Mary took the second row for themselves to study and relax.

Marlene was stuck with Sirius screaming in her ear.

Sirius Black was a good guy. Marlene had met him when they were eleven and James had immediately connected with him like they were brothers. She hadn’t understood what James was doing with some rich kid whose parents were well-known doctors that received award after award for their medical work. She had thought he’d be obnoxious, and he definitely was, but he was obnoxious in the same way that Marlene was. He did it to make his friends laugh and to make things a bit lighter and brighter in the harsher moments.

Sirius Black was the spitting image of the woman Marlene had seen in countless videos of lectures and in millions of scientific articles. His thick, curly dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail that rested on his shoulders. Small strands of hair hung from the sides of his face, framing his ivory complexion and hiding the small scars on the sides of his face. His brown hazel eyes were decorated with a small bit of dark eyeliner. He wore a similar white button-up to James, only his wasn’t as neat with a few buttons undone by his neck. He wore a black leather jacket along with cuffed blue jeans. Golden and bronze rings decorated his fingers along with black and white nail polish.

“Can you just play some good music, Moons?” Sirius whined, leaning forward.

Remus glanced back at him, irritated. “I’ve been trying to finish this book for a month,”

“Remus!” Sirius shouted angrily. He practically climbed forward into the next row of seats to throttle Remus’ neck. “Nobody wants to hear an audiobook!”

“Well, maybe nobody wants to hear your voice either, Sirius.”

Marlene rolled her eyes and pulled out her phone, tuning out the arguments. Remus was more refined than Sirius. He was calmer. He had fluffy brown hair that framed his freckled fair skin. His most remarkable feature was the green eyes that reminded Marlene of the woods. He was the tallest of the group with James and Marlene following behind him. For their interview that day, he wore a pale brown sweater vest over a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up above his elbows. He had strategically worn his watch to cover the small moon tattoo he had gotten on the side of his wrist. Lots of drinking and lots of convincing from Sirius was all it took to push Remus into permanently marking his skin with ink.

When he’d realized what he’d done, Remus’ entire face turned red as he slapped Sirius across the face.

Peter had quickly quieted them by putting on his own music, but chaos still ensued throughout the trip. Marlene was tortured by Peter’s loud and obnoxious playlist consisting of Pitbull and Drake. The worst part was that Peter didn’t even like the music. He played it because he knew it was the type of obnoxious music that would get on everyone’s nerves.

“Not too fond of this betrayal, Pettigrew!” Mary yelled over the music blasting in their ears as she dived into a book.

Lily rolled her eyes. “I think he’s leading me to my death.”

Marlene began to cackle hysterically. “Wouldn’t that be funny if Peter murdered us all?”

The van fell silent as they all stared at Marlene blankly. Peter even turned the music off as they glared at Marlene. She swallowed awkwardly. She hadn’t realized making a hypothetical was something so touchy.

“He’d kill you first, Marls.” James began to laugh along with her.

“And then James,” Mary added with a smile.

James rolled his eyes as he relaxed back into his seat.

“Then Lily, of course.” Marlene made sure to add, reaching over and patting her red-haired friend on the head.

Lily glared back at Marlene and gave her the finger before turning back to the book in her hands.

“Sirius and Remus would die after that.” Lily smiled.

Sirius gasped, leaning forward dramatically. “No! No, it’d be Mary next!”

“No way,” said Mary with a smile. “I’d survive.”

Mary leaned back and flicked Sirius on the side of the head. He gave her the finger and the two of them began to bicker. Marlene sat back, pulling a book from her purse and flipping through the pages, not particularly reading anything, but instead staring at post-it notes full of writing and scribbling on each page.

She had gotten it from the library a few weeks before, and she’d already read it twice. The first time was to read the actual book, and the second time was to read the Post-it notes. She sort of felt like she was having a secret conversation with whoever had written it. Their own little catchphrases and descriptions for each character were burned into her brain, and she found herself saying some of the same terms as time went on.

At the same time, it was a little stupid. Who would adopt a bunch of Post-its as their new best friend? Marlene Mckinnon, that’s who.

As they pulled into the lot, Marlene caught sight of other new Hogwarts interns walking into the building. Most of them were more refined and collected than she and her friends were, which made her feel slightly embarrassed, but then again, it meant she was unique. One boy, in particular, caught her eye due to his striking resemblance to his Sirius.

“Sirius,” muttered Marlene, mindlessly poking him in the eye to get his attention. “Do you know that kid?”

His eyes widened with joy. “REGGIE!”

“Reggie— Like, Regulus?” Remus whipped his head to the small curly-haired boy strutting inside the Phoenix corporate building.

Peter clicked a button, unlocking the doors and Sirius began to climb over the girls’ heads. Mary actually slammed her fist against his back as he tried not to step on her. Sirius leaned over them and pushed the door open, practically tumbling from the car. They all stared as Sirius shouted Regulus’ name, causing people to stare as a furious Regulus turned back to face his older brother.

The rest of them immediately tumbled out of the car.

Regulus looked just like Sirius. Marlene had never met him before. She’d only heard stories about the younger Black brother and the complications of his and Sirius’ relationship. He looked just like his older brother with thick dark curls. His hair was shorter than Sirius’, trimmed so it was at the length where it reached his jaw. He had small dark eyes that glared at Sirius with such fury that Marlene was sure she was going to see a brawl. He was dressed in a green knit sweater with fancy dark pants. He wore golden rings like Sirius with some that were exactly identical to his brother’s.

“What are you doing here?” Regulus snapped.

“We are with the Gryffindor group of interns,” explained James, jumping out of the car and smiling at Sirius’ younger brother. “Hello, Regulus.”

Regulus’ eye twitched in annoyance as he watched James. The two boys at his side looked Sirius and James up and down, judgingly. The one on his left was tall, straightening his posture like it meant he had some sort of superiority over them. He had fluffy blonde hair around the same length as Regulus’ and striking blue eyes to accompany it. A jagged pale scar decorated the bottom of his chin, and he had a pair of silver sunglasses sitting on the top of his head. He wore a white button-up with a loose black tie around his collar. His nails were painted black and he wore round silver earrings.

The boy next to him stood in front of Regulus almost protectively. He had warm tan skin covered up and down in brown freckles. His hazel green eyes scanned James up and down like he was a threat and his hand rested on something sitting in his jeans’ pocket. He had short brown hair that hung over his eyes, giving him an even more mysterious edge to his appearance. He wore a grey dress shirt along with his pale blue pants. He met Marlene’s eyes and smiled, sending a shiver down her spine.

Regulus trudged towards Sirius and grabbed him by the wrist. He pulled him aside with an angry look on his face. “You could have at least let me know you’d be coming.” He lowered his voice. “It’s nice to see you though.”

“Aw, family bonding,” said Marlene cheerfully.

After that comment, Regulus’ sharp stare was focused on Marlene.

The rest of their friends piled out of the car, staring at Regulus and his friends with interest. Marlene stifled a laugh as his face began to turn red. He grabbed his friends by their arms and started to pull them inside.

“Nice to meet you all!” The brown-haired boy shouted cheerfully.

“Shut up, Barty,” Regulus muttered.

Mary crossed her arms, smiling as they watched the baby Black brother walk inside. “Sirius, you didn’t tell me Regulus would be doing this internship.”

“I would have, but the idiot didn’t even tell me he would be.”

Marlene didn’t miss Remus’ eye-roll as he began to walk inside. If Sirius and Remus got married in the future, she wouldn’t be surprised. They already acted like a couple on the edge of divorce. She walked towards him and followed him inside the building.

“So,” began Marlene, “trouble in paradise?”

Remus swallowed. “There is no paradise.”

“Dark.” She frowned.

“He just fights,” said Remus, crossing his arms over his chest, “He jumps into battle instead of taking some time, to be honest and breathe.”

Marlene glanced Remus up and down. He looked more tired than she had ever seen him before. Dark circles hung beneath his eyes. He’d lost the fullness from his face, leaving it a bony, macabre, skeletal shape. He’d been under extreme stress as of late, and it was painfully clear to her. He fidgeted and picked at the sides of bitten thin nails and his face was stuck in this permanent scowl.

“Ugh, men,” said Marlene, tossing her arm over Remus’ shoulders. “They cause so many problems.”

Remus met her eyes with a subtle smirk.

“Sirius will straighten out, don’t worry,” she said comfortingly, hugging Remus close to her. “He’s got his brother here at Phoenix to help humble him now, and I’m sure Dumbledore isn’t going to let him get away with any bullshit.”

“You think?” Remus frowned.

“Oh, of course. We like to pretend he isn’t, but we all know Sirius is a pussy.”

Remus cackled aloud at that one, causing the professional adult employees to shoot menacing glares at the two of them. Marlene caught Sirius, who walked ahead of them, turning back and gaping at Marlene. He’d obviously heard the comment, which made Marlene even more proud of herself.

“So,” A woman’s voice shook Marlene from her rambles. She whipped around to find the woman to her left, leaning against a table full of name tags. “You guys know how to command a room, huh?”

Remus slapped his hand over his mouth while his cheeks gradually flushed red with embarrassment.

“No problem with me,” she said. “I like chaos…” Her hand drifted towards the table as she picked up two white nametags connected to blue lanyards. After a pause, she handed them to Remus and Marlene. “Assuming I’m right, you’re Remus Lupin.” She turned to Marlene. “You’re Marlene McKinnon.”

Marlene’s jaw dropped. “How did you…”

“I saw your resumes.” She shrugged.

With a wink and a smile, the woman continued her charismatic banter as she walked toward the rest of the group. Marlene knew she couldn’t have been that much older than them. Perhaps twenty-four or twenty-five, but definitely not like the rest of the older faculty who’d so rudely judged her and Remus.

She was different. She had wavy chest-length dark brown hair. She had cute thin wisps of bangs that hung over her golden-tanned face. Her eyes were a warm taupe brown with the tiniest hints of dark circles forming around them. She carried herself relaxedly, her hands stuffed in the pockets of her black blazer while she walked around in dark blue slides. Beneath her blazer, the woman wore a tight white tank top and black running shorts. Marlene was horrified by how unprofessional she looked,

And yet Marlene decided then and there she wanted to be just like her.

She appeared to have the same shocking effect on everyone else as they hung their lanyards around their necks. She had even stolen Lily and Mary’s coffees.

“Alright,” began the woman. She pulled a pair of rimless silver glasses from her pocket and perched them against her nose. “I’m assuming this is the group from the Gryffindor Campus. Otherwise, you all can leave.”

None of them left.

She smiled. “Perfect.” The woman laced her fingers together as she began to walk through the halls. Reluctantly, the rest of them followed her. “My name is Emmeline Vance, and I am the head of bio-medical engineering at Phoenix. I’m your tour guide today.”

Lily winced awkwardly. “Ms. Vance–,”

“–No, sweetheart.” Emmeline whipped backwards to face the girls as she continued to walk. “Just call me Emmeline.”

“Right…,” muttered Lily. “I was told that our group was being run by a ‘Minerva McGonagall’?”

“I heard that too!” Marlene shouted, raising her hand.

Silently, the rest of the group turned to stare at her.

She slowly lowered it. “Okay, just wanted to let you guys know I’m paying attention.”

Emmeline cleared her throat. “Doctor McGonagall will in fact be running your group during your time here, but I’m telling you where to go today.”

She stopped and spread her arms toward the group. They stood in front of a large staircase with fancy glass and steel railings. The stairs were made of polished material that glittered under the sun that shined down from the large windows surrounding them. People walked up and down the escalators beside them, and on the staircase as well. They all looked so accomplished and intelligent that it just made Marlene all the more excited to be there. The walls were made of some sort of polished grey stone while the five lifts to their right looked like their doors were made from pure gold. Emmeline took a step up the stairs.

“This is the lobby,” she began, pointing out the groups of people huddled around circular white tables to the right of the front door, as well as the security desk to the left. “Everyone comes here in the morning to catch up and get coffee, but you mainly just stop by and get checked in by security.” She whipped back around. “Now, follow.”

Emmeline began to march up the stairs while the group of Gryffindors drifted toward the escalators beside them.

“Hey!” She shouted; not even looking back to make eye contact with them. “You’re interns. You take the stairs until you’ve worked for an escalator’s privilege.”

With a large cacophony of groans, the group shifted back towards the stairs and began to drag themselves upstairs. Marlene rolled her eyes and pulled open her phone, trudging up past the rest of them. A text from her mother wasn’t unusual, but the long paragraph caught her eye. It was full of exclamation points and emojis with a few misspelt words that just made her laugh. Her mother was one of her biggest supporters. She always encouraged her to do more and push through everyone who tried to hold her back.

She began to respond with some cheesy emoji and message of thanks.

Peter looked over at her. “Marlene, don’t walk while texting.”

“Yuh-huh,” she replied mindlessly, scrolling through an email.

“That’s dangerous.”

She continued to scavenge through her emails as she trudged up the stairs, ignorant of whatever Emmeline Vance was saying ahead of her. Also ignorant to Peter, who’d forced his way in front of her at the top of the staircase. When she made it to the final step, a small push to her shoulders brought her back to reality as she started to lose her balance.

She scowled. “Peter!”

Unfortunately, that push was enough to send her phone flying from her hand, so when she turned back to grab it, she began to fly as well! Marlene toppled all the way down the stairs letting out shrieks of pain as she fell. She cursed as the rough metal at the edge of a step cut through her lip. When she eventually rolled down onto the cold vinyl flooring, she could make out the faintest sounds of her friends both cackling and racing down to try and help her. Her vision blurred as her head throbbed. She blinked dizzily as she reached out to try and grab the railing.

Unfortunately, she grabbed someone’s leg instead.

“Damn,” the girl said, glancing down at her. “You okay, sweetheart?”

Dark braided hair at her shoulders, a forest green button-up with a black and white flannel, dark deep-set eyes with just the tiniest freckle to the left of her pupil; the sight of her made Marlene’s face start to burn deep red. She looked down at Marlene with the prettiest little smirk, smiling across a dark sepia-brown complexion. The pink blush against her cheeks made her sparkle like the angels painted on church walls.

Marlene was just the tiniest bit upset she hadn’t tried so hard with her make-up that morning.

“Hey, kid.” The girl snapped her fingers. “Are you okay?”

Marlene’s lips parted into a soft “oh” as she let out an incomprehensible mumble.

She furrowed her brow. “Do you want help?”

With a shake of her head, Marlene’s vision started to blur as tiny black dots danced around her sight. It took only a few moments for everything to go dark and fuzzy, and with that,

Marlene passed out on her first day of work.