The bright light that had greeted the lamb through the doorway had dimmed to a shadowy gray as she awoke to the melancholy world she lived in, and suddenly she was herself again. The hazel eyes of a twenty-seven year old woman blinked open as she shot up in her bed in alarm, cold sweat dripping down her pale skin. The young woman, somewhat known as Janice Arianne, took a short, shaky breath as she glanced around her apartment with a sense of unease. She felt anxious and confused, yet in her dazed mind she could not fully understand why. Everything appeared to be normal; some clothes were randomly sprawled across the floor, but the rest of the area was kept pristine, every item and object cleaned, polished, and neatly stuffed away in the few nooks and crannies the cramped living space had to offer. Janice then looked over to see the twenty-eight year old man whom she had declared her love to, Jeremy Horrace, his face buried into his pillow as he lie next to her, drooling with a look of content. Janice smiled at the sight of the man, lightly grazing her fingers over his messy brown hair before running them through her own matted mess of black.

Damn... What an odd dream... she thought as she struggled to remember the contents of the dream. Each image in her mind was so vivid, so clear, and so specific that she could point out every tiny detail within the dream while she was having it, yet now that she was awake, she didn't have the foggiest idea as to what the dream was about. Janice quickly gave up on the subject as nothing came to mind, and she checked the time on the digital alarm clock next to the bed. Janice gave a nonchalant grunt as she read the time: 7:47 AM. Though she hated getting up early, and she didn't need to go to work for the next two hours, she felt no need to try to go back to sleep now; she was already amped and awake, her anxiety making her more wired than a large cup of coffee. She gave Jeremy one last adoring glance before she quietly snook out of the small bed that they shared and dumped the scattered bits of their clothing into the laundry hamper. She lied out fresh clothes for Jeremy and grabbed her work uniform for her job, and after freshening herself up, Janice grabbed her purse and left their apartment for work. She made sure she was perfectly kept and ready for her waitressing job at the Chrono Rabbit, a very popular dessert cafe that was within safe walking distance from her new home. Janice didn't really enjoy flaunting herself around in a purple dress and heels all day, (even if the dress wasn't as revealing as she had always thought,) but she still loved her job. It was a simple job with simple tasks that she could do consistantly every day without much worry, so it felt perfect for someone like her.

As she walked down the almost barren hallway to the stairs, Janice couldn't help but glance at one of her neighbors as he exited his apartment. She had never met the man, never talked to him, and had barely ever seen him since she had moved in, yet he had always seemed to intrigue her in a way, yet she could never understand why. He didn't seem too unusual to her at first glance. He was young man - not too young, but notmuch older than her either - with long brown hair that reached to the bottom of his neck and large blue eyes that always seemed to be sunken in to his head. Janice assumed that they always appeared that way because of the deep bags that hung under his eyes. He was also a very pale man, much like herself, although he appeared to be particularly pale on his forehead more than any other area of his face. And by her judgement he also looked very depressed as she watched him carry himself so feebly, his gait trying to make him appear positive, but failing miserably as he actually moved, even when he was with one of the many women she had seen him with at the Chrono Rabbit. Women that would usually leave the cafe crying. Janice felt a pang of guilt in her chest as she went over these things in her mind. She wondered why she made so many mental notes on his physical appearance, documenting him like he was some kind of alien being, yet she couldn't help but look at him every time she saw him, even though she would see him almost on a daily basis at her work.

As Janice passed by her neighbor, glancing at him as she did, the man looked back at her for the first time. Their eyes met for a brief moment, and with a face as red as a beet, Janice averted her gaze to the floor and sped off the rest of the way to the stairs, heading down to the lobby as quickly as her legs would carry her. Hopping off of the last step, she took a deep breath and relaxed once she had reached the bottom of the stairway. She was shaking for a moment, but she quickly recovered and straightened herself out before heading out the front entrance of the building and walking to work, taking a longer route to the cafe than usual.

The work day was oddly slow for Janice that day, with only a few customers to tend to and little work to be done in the usually populous cafe. Janice delivered her orders to the regular customers with ease, greeting them with a smile each time as she tried to keep her composure with every stiff movement she made, afraid of making any mistake that would jeopardize her chances of keeping this job.

Keep moving, she coached herself in her mind, You're doing good so far. Be sure not to trip. Don't spill anything. Keep your back straight and your breath even...

Suddenly, Janice's phone beeped from the chest pocket of her dress.

She jumped and nearly spilled her customers' order on to their table, balancing the metal tray full of sweets in hands.

"Ah... um..." she muttered shyly, her body stiffening up even more, "Sorry..."

"...For what?" the man who sat at the table asked with a befuddled gaze, looking away from his girlfriend who sat across from him. Janice glance at the orders on the tray in her hand. They were perfectly intact.

"Oh, uh, nothing!" she dismissed with a gulp, trying to act cheerful through a face flushed with embarrassment, "N-now, um, who ordered the strawberry cake?"

As soon as Janice had delivered the order, she darted back behind the front counter in a flash and whipped out her cellphone. She frantically checked her messages, hoping that it was just her phone service company telling her when her bills were due. Her hopes were quickly dashed once she read the name: Jeremy.

"Hey. You didn't shut off your alarm before you left." the text read. Janice felt a pang of guilt in her chest. She couldn't believe that she had forgotten to shut off her alarm. She briefly glanced around the area. The woman who usually manned the counter and delivered the orders to her was in the kitchen in the back of the building, and the few patrons that sat at the booths and tables away from the counter were busy talking among themselves. It didn't seem like they needed any service. Janice ducked behind the counter and sat on the floor.

"Ohhh my gosh! I'm so sorry, Jerry! (;A;) I forgot that my alarm was still on when I woke up this morning!" she texted back. Jeremy's text came back almost immediately.

"Where are you anyways? Why did you leave so early?" he responded.

"I'm at work. I got up early today."

There was a short pause before Jeremy texted her back.

"Don't lie to me." it read.

Janice sighed, a sense of annoyance and dread washing over her as she leaned back against the counter. She didn't like it when he acted like this.

"I'm not lying to you," she texted him, "I really am at work."

"How do I know that, Janice?!" Jeremy texted back, "How do I know that you're not out with some other guy instead? Is that why you got up so early?! Are you cheating on me?!"

And the age old question returned to rear its ugly head into Janice's life once again. She sighed.

"No, I'm not cheating on you, Jerry! Why do you always assume that just because I'm not with you, I'm with some other guy?"

"BECAUSE I KNOW YOU'RE A LYING BITCH JANICE! THAT'S WHY. YOU ALWAYS FUCKING LIE TO ME AND I GODDAMN KNOW THAT YOU'RE OUT WHORING AROUND INSTEAD OF 'WORKING' YOU FUCKING SLUT! OR IS THAT HOW YOU 'WORK?' ARE YOU A FUCKING PROSTITUTE JANICE?!"

"Jeremy, please! I'm not lying, believe me! I love you! I would never cheat on you! And I'm not a whore!"

"THAT'S WHAT THEY ALL MOTHERFUCKING SAY BEFORE THEY LEAVE ME AND RUN OFF WITH SOMEONE ELSE! DO YOU REALLY THINK I'M THAT FUCKING DUMB?"

"Hello! Can I get some service here?" a voice suddenly broke through the war scene that played on in Janice's mind, and she shut her cellphone closed and stood up from behind the counter, wiping the tears from her eyes. The man standing on the other side of the counter jumped slightly at her sudden appearance before his frustrated expression returned.

"I-I am so sorry!" she said, "What do you need?"

"Some better service, that's what I need!" the man in front of the counter snapped back at her, "I've been waiting for five fucking minutes for someone so I could get a damn refill for my drink, and now I'm having to walk up here to speak with someone instead!"

"S-sir, I'm very sorry. Please, take a seat and I'll get you a refill."

"Come on, Steve," a dark-haired woman suddenly appeared by mans side and grasped his arm as she spoke, "Don't be angry. Just sit back down. Please?" She batted her sky blue eyes at him with a gaze of false innocence, and the man sighed.

"Fine," he sighed, wrapping an arm around the young womans slender shoulders and leading her back to their table. He glared at Janice as he sat down, and he waved his nearly empty glass of ice tea in the air impatiently before his girlfriend kissed him to calm him down. Janice gave a nod towards the man before rushing back into the kitchen to fufill his order, thanking God in her head that he didn't ask to speak with the manager. She spent the rest of the evening waiting tables as usual, ocassionally sending a text to Jeremy as she tried to defend her innocence. Eventually, Jeremy told her not to come back to their apartment that night, and all Janice could do then was sigh in defeat and obey his orders as she left the Chrono Rabbit. She wandered down the street for a while, trying to remember where the nearest motel was that she could sleep for the night. Though her body felt heavy, her mind was clear and alert, and she felt surprisingly optimistic. She didn't like having to hunt for a place to stay at night while her boyfriend was angry with her at home, but she did enjoy the fact that she didn't have to come home to a beating for once, and she found herself hoping that he would tell her to stay away from the apartment more often. She tried to follow the route she had made in her mind, but instead she found herself in front of a small building she had never seen before, reading the large sign above the doorway: Stray Sheep.

A/N: I know that this chapter is too long and probably isn't that interesting to read, and I'm very sorry for that, especially since I haven't uploaded anything on this website in a long time. I'm not very good with second chapters, but hopefully the third chapter will be a little shorter and move the story along a little bit quicker than this one. This chapter was really meant to give you readers some information on our main character and her current predicaments. The third chapter should be up soon since I actually have some time to write now, but for now I hope you enjoyed chapter two.