Chapter 1

"My life is so boring!" she yelped as she sat in her car waiting for the light to change. For as long as she could remember, she had been stuck in a rut of going from work to her apartment, to school to her apartment, and sitting at her apartment killing time by reading, watching mindless television, or surfing the net. She yawned loudly as the light changed to green, and headed on towards her apartment in the darkness. Working third shift was hard at times, but it was the only shift she could consistently deal with, given her tendency to have insomnia.

She pushed the buttons on the radio station, trying to find something tolerable enough to listen to for the rest of her 10 minute drive home. Once she got to her complex, she pulled backed into her usual spot, climbed out of her car, and trudged upstairs to her third floor apartment.

She unlocked her door and stepped inside her spacious place, keeping an eye out for her cat and dog, making sure they didn't run out of the apartment. She hung her keys on the rack next to the door, kicked off her shoes, and headed for the bedroom, followed by her lonely pets.

Once in her bedroom she took off her lone necklace and two rings, and changed into some shorts and a wife beater. She went into the kitchen once to grab a glass of orange juice, and then headed back into the bedroom, climbing into bed with her laptop to do a little research before going to sleep. Glancing at the clock she saw it was almost 5:30 am, so she finished her OJ and surfed a few sites on Norse mythology before crawling under the covers and turning out her small light next to the bed.

She awoke to the sound of people outside yelling. She squinted hard and tried desperately to see the clock, hoping she got to at least sleep until noon. When she could finally see through the pain of light coming through her window, she saw that it was only 11:30 am. "Good enough," she mumbled to herself as she decided to go ahead and get up. She dressed for the gym, knowing it would be a good way to wake up and keep herself awake.

Grabbing her keys, water bottle, a book, and her inhaler that she refused to use, she headed off to the gym in her apartment complex. Once at the gym she went to the elliptical, where she spent most of her time. She wasn't skinny in build, but not overweight either, just very curvy in all the right places. She ran on the elliptical, trying to tune out the music in the gym, but glad she came at the hour where she had the place to herself. As she ran she thought about the research she had been doing lately on Norse mythology. Every couple weeks she would do immense amounts of research on a different subject, just so she could continue to expand on the things she was learning in class.

Once she finished she went to the stationery bike where she could do some reading since her hands were free. She opened a book she had borrowed from the library on her topic, and started reading about prominent figures in mythology. She read about the top three that she had focused on because they were the most intriguing to her: Odin, Thor, and Loki. She read long enough to pass an hour on the bike, and then decided to head back home before she got so sore she couldn't walk. Exercising was a good way to pass the time, but it didn't take away from the monotony of her life. She sighed as she gathered all her things, and then headed back to her apartment.

Once home she threw her things on her couch and headed towards the bathroom to take a shower. Throwing off her clothes she flung herself into the cool water she preferred to shower with after the gym. She washed her long black hair quickly and decided to shave on a whim before she got out, barely drying herself with a towel, heading back to the bedroom to find clothes.

She attempted to get dressed as her cat wound itself between her legs, crying the entire time. "Okay, I'll feed you. Give me a second." She headed into the kitchen still wrapped in her towel to feed the cat and was suddenly stopped by a tall, dark figure standing in front of her refrigerator, staring at the various pictures on it. He was wearing a combination of green, gold, and black, and was dressed like no one she had seen before, except in her research as of late. As he heard her come into the room and gasp loudly, he turned around slowly, giving her a full mouth grin so wide and devious it made her jaw drop and made her feel like someone had just dunked her into a bathtub full of ice.