Standard Disclaimer:
Hopefully, nobody reading this is crazy enough to think that I own Severus Snape or any of the other characters, concepts, etc. out of J.K.Rowling's wonderful books. I'm not making any money off of this. Please don't sue me, because it really wouldn't be worth your time.
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Just Another City Morning
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Why did she always end up working so late?
It was the kind of question that Alexa often asked herself as she walked home in the pre-dawn hours. The neighbourhood that lay between the university and her apartment was, in a word, dodgy. The sidewalk was littered with broken glass and other trash. Brick walls were covered with graffiti and the odd thickly-barred window. It was the last place on Earth that Alexa wanted to be walking alone at 4:30 in the morning. Unfortunately, the buses stopped running at midnight, and taxis were too expensive for her to afford more than occasionally.
Being a graduate student in astrophysics might be interesting, but the pay and hours sucked.
Alexa nervously held her breath as she dodged around an impediment on the sidewalk; a slumped figure had rolled partially out of the relative shelter of a covered storefront. An empty vodka bottle lay by its single visible hand.
Alexa wondered if the department would raise its grad students' pay if she got brutally murdered, or if it would take several students getting bumped off before they would decide to give a damn.
'Maybe', she mused, ' they have some kind of formula for it, like the Department of Public Safety. Say, they'd raise the pay by $200/month if three Ph.D. students got killed, but only by $100 if they were only graduate students. Of course, grad students with teaching assistantships would be worth more, because their professors would be inconvenienced if they went missing.'
The neighbourhood was slowly fading from small manufacturers into the warehouses that lined the sides of the river. At the end of the block lay the Carston St. Bridge, a shining example of good lighting to the gloomy neighbourhoods surrounding it. Alexa always felt safer after crossing it; on the other side lay the student quarters that she called home. The apartments there might be as cheap and crappy as anywhere else in the district, but she could at least feel that people would run towards the screams instead of away. If they heard them, that is.
Alexa began to walk faster.
The view from the bridge was always spectacular at this time of night. What the Carston St. Bridge lacked in style, it more than made up for in location. It had been built just prior to the city's big growth spurt following WWII, and commanded a view of the entire downtown area. In the cold predawn morning, lights from all over the city shone clearly. It was a glittering show of beauty very much in the same style as the stars that Alexa so loved, and made up, at least in a small part, for its resulting light pollution.
Alexa often paused here, when she wasn't too tired, to admire the view. The bridge was relatively safe; she would be able to spot anyone approaching well in advance of their arrival. The bridge's railing and girders were made from thick iron, and she loved the illusion of antiquity that allowed her to pretend that she had somehow fallen a hundred years into the past.
Hopefully, nobody reading this is crazy enough to think that I own Severus Snape or any of the other characters, concepts, etc. out of J.K.Rowling's wonderful books. I'm not making any money off of this. Please don't sue me, because it really wouldn't be worth your time.
............................
Just Another City Morning
............................
Why did she always end up working so late?
It was the kind of question that Alexa often asked herself as she walked home in the pre-dawn hours. The neighbourhood that lay between the university and her apartment was, in a word, dodgy. The sidewalk was littered with broken glass and other trash. Brick walls were covered with graffiti and the odd thickly-barred window. It was the last place on Earth that Alexa wanted to be walking alone at 4:30 in the morning. Unfortunately, the buses stopped running at midnight, and taxis were too expensive for her to afford more than occasionally.
Being a graduate student in astrophysics might be interesting, but the pay and hours sucked.
Alexa nervously held her breath as she dodged around an impediment on the sidewalk; a slumped figure had rolled partially out of the relative shelter of a covered storefront. An empty vodka bottle lay by its single visible hand.
Alexa wondered if the department would raise its grad students' pay if she got brutally murdered, or if it would take several students getting bumped off before they would decide to give a damn.
'Maybe', she mused, ' they have some kind of formula for it, like the Department of Public Safety. Say, they'd raise the pay by $200/month if three Ph.D. students got killed, but only by $100 if they were only graduate students. Of course, grad students with teaching assistantships would be worth more, because their professors would be inconvenienced if they went missing.'
The neighbourhood was slowly fading from small manufacturers into the warehouses that lined the sides of the river. At the end of the block lay the Carston St. Bridge, a shining example of good lighting to the gloomy neighbourhoods surrounding it. Alexa always felt safer after crossing it; on the other side lay the student quarters that she called home. The apartments there might be as cheap and crappy as anywhere else in the district, but she could at least feel that people would run towards the screams instead of away. If they heard them, that is.
Alexa began to walk faster.
The view from the bridge was always spectacular at this time of night. What the Carston St. Bridge lacked in style, it more than made up for in location. It had been built just prior to the city's big growth spurt following WWII, and commanded a view of the entire downtown area. In the cold predawn morning, lights from all over the city shone clearly. It was a glittering show of beauty very much in the same style as the stars that Alexa so loved, and made up, at least in a small part, for its resulting light pollution.
Alexa often paused here, when she wasn't too tired, to admire the view. The bridge was relatively safe; she would be able to spot anyone approaching well in advance of their arrival. The bridge's railing and girders were made from thick iron, and she loved the illusion of antiquity that allowed her to pretend that she had somehow fallen a hundred years into the past.