Disclaimer: I own none of the characters except Danielle.

"Danielle Norton, are you paying attention?"

Danielle jerked her head up to stare blearily at her roommate, Esmeralda Nickleton. Esmeralda was a buxom beauty with thick dark hair that hung in perfect ringlets down her back. She had one delicate eyebrow raised, and her hands were planted on her shapely hips.

"Honey, you look awful." Esmeralda said. "Didn't you get any sleep last night?"

"Had to finish my paperwork. Tucker'd have a fit if I got it in late." Danielle said, yawning widely. The only sleep she had gotten was when she had dozed off at six-o-clock and it was now eight.

Esmeralda gave her a knowing look. Earl Tucker was a hard man to work for, especially when it came to paperwork. Esmeralda worked at the restaurant where Danielle had lunch every day, and would sit and listen to her problems on the slow days, which was how the two of them became friends.

"Maybe you should take a day off?" The waitress suggested, but Danielle scoffed at the idea.

"Tucker doesn't give extra time off except for emergencies." She said, downing the cup of coffee Esmeralda brought her. "And he certainly doesn't count being exhausted as being an emergency."

The rest of the day was routine. Tucker liked the paperwork, but snapped at Danielle for being sluggish at her post. Danielle went to Roland's Diner, but only got to greet Esmeralda in passing since the place was crowded. Tucker yelled at her again when she actually began drooping from exhaustion, and sent her home early.

"Finally." Danielle sighed, kicking off her painfully pinched shoes and flopping down on the couch. She half-heartedly flipped through the DVDs that Esmeralda had gotten from the library, and pulled out Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. "Oh, a good one."

Popping it into the disc player, she watched as Jack Sparrow "sailed" into Port Royal on a sinking boat. Her eyes snapped open in shock as a splash of water actually left the screen and hit her legs (she never liked how Esmeralda insisted on having the couch that close). More and more water splashed out with each wave, but Danielle could not seem to get off the couch.

Then, without warning, something struck her head and she passed out.