No way out.

There was genuinely no way out.

The thick dust was building up, creating a disruptive and intrusive blanket over each destroyed item scattered around the building. Her beloved project, the one space she had worked most of her life to build.

Ruined, dust, rubble.

Evelyn's heart was pounding against her chest to the point of feeling nothing but pain. There was a shrill ringing in her ears, whilst her once-strong lungs now felt like they were about to collapse completely, with each breath being a struggle. She used to be a healthy girl, one that was proud in how much she cared for her body. She could make it through anything, usually, and she was never really in much trouble.

But not anymore, because now there was no way out.

The heat was now picking up in the kitchen, but she couldn't find the source. All she knew is that it was extremely hot, almost unbearable, choking each of her senses one by one until they shut down within her. A whistling sound suddenly pierced through the air – it was pretty clear that something close to her was about to explode. But where was it?

Rubble was now cascading down onto her injured body like rain, and it was beginning to get a little too tight in there – now the claustrophobia was settling in.

That was it.

It was her time to die and there was no, way, out.

…

The hospital room was uncomfortably silent as Evelyn picked her discharge clothes out. She couldn't believe the time had finally come - she was going home. At this point it was almost essential that she left, whether she had fully recovered or not, because there was literally no space for her in that place anymore. The hospital was filling up at speed – the incident in Metropolis had caused even more longstanding causalities than they'd anticipated, and that they could cater for, with the number of patients doubling and tripling by the minute.

Her mother Katherine, who was also a nurse at the same hospital, strode into the room with her release forms. "Ev, I need you to sign these, please," she muttered, shoving the papers into her daughter's direction.

Evelyn glanced up from where she was packing the rest of her belongings, her exhausted red rimmed eyes darting down at the papers. She didn't look overly bothered.

"I'll do it in a second, you can just leave them on the side," she mumbled back quietly before going back to her clothes. "I'll…I'll sign them as soon as I can." Katherine did as she was told before blinking up to the small television in the corner of the hospital ward.

Of course the news was on – and of course, it was about Superman again. Why on earth would it be about anything else?

He and the otherworldly beings had caused more destruction and more casualties than the city had ever had before, and the economy was about to enter a completely meltdown because of it. There was no escaping his news, just like there was no escaping for Evelyn when she was trapped in her own coffee shop, counting down the seconds to what she was sure was certain death-

"This f*cking idiot," Katherine shook her head in irritation, snapping Evelyn straight out of her thoughts.

"Ma, can we not talk about this now?" she mumbled, taking her clothes into her little ensuite bathroom so that she could strip down and change into a fresh outfit.

"I know you don't like talking about it, Ev. But it is his fault - you have to process what you went through, and the start of this journey is putting the blame on the man who caused you this pain," Katherine continued to rant, her eyes glued to the news report above her. Evelyn rolled her eyes from the bathroom and grabbed her hoodie to fling it over her bruised body, wincing as the dull aching pain rippled through her.

"How's Alana doing?" Evelyn called out instead, desperate to throw her off the scent.

"Still in a coma," her mother answered, slightly quieter than before. Evelyn's mouth went dry and she bit back her tears. "They don't know when she'll wake up. I can't bear it…"

"I know. Me neither," Evelyn sniffed, finally shoving on her baggy tracksuit bottoms before slipping out of the bathroom again, ready to go. Her mother smiled at her weakly and shook her head as she walked up to her.

"Look at you," she murmured sadly. Evelyn was such a beautiful girl. Permanently rosy cheeks, these mysterious sea green eyes, thick dark brows, deep pink plump lips and the most endearing auburn loose curls flowing down her back.

But she just looked so sad now. Plasters still on her forehead, her usually strong nose now broken and bleeding, and those enticing cat eyes now welling up with constant tears.

This wasn't the daughter that Katherine raised, or the wild child that she turned into, and she was heartbroken at the shift.

"Evelyn," Katherine breathed, holding her daughter's face in her hands. "Please come home and live with me for a while whilst you recover. You can't do this alone." That was when Evelyn's eyes squinted and she spun around, zipping up her bag as loudly as she could before turning her head to face her mother once more.

"I know you have no faith in how I look after myself, Ma - but I'm fine. I will be okay," she insisted blankly, before spinning back around to sign the papers that were left on the side.

"Have you found a therapist?" Katherine continued to ask, ignoring her words.

"Yes," Evelyn lied. "But I'll let you know how that goes later this week. I just want to go home and sleep now…I'm sorry," Evelyn yawned as she hurriedly passed back over the signed papers.

And naturally, before Katherine could say anything else, Evelyn had swiftly tied her long curly locks up in a messy ponytail and swept out of the room with her things, leaving her mother stood there, stumped.

…

Evelyn made her way across the road to the sweetly standing cafe with her resume gripped tightly against her chest, feeling the nerves and anticipation boil up within her with every passing second.

She couldn't believe how quickly life had fallen from her grip. Once upon a time she had it all - and now she had nothing.

She went from building her own life from scratch, moving away at a young age and using the funds that her beloved grandmother left in her will to build her very own coffee shop in the heart of Metropolis. It was all she'd ever wanted to do, and she'd done it. 'Serenity Street', a name that she had pondered and pushed about in her mind often until she finally landed there, the weeks she'd spent on the logo, the amount of back and forth she had over the menu and the pondering over which muffin flavour was going to sell the best - it was never-ending and she was so, incredibly proud of it.

Then, within seconds, it was gone.

And now she was starting from scratch - making her way around the city, coffee shop after coffee shop, hoping to find someone, anyone that would at least give her a try so that she could earn the money to rebuild it. She wasn't even surprised the job market was so terrible - The Incident had caused people to lose everything they had worked so hard for, now it felt as if every single citizen was scrambling to claw back what they'd lost amidst their pain.

This particular cafe was the last one on her list, though, and she was so exhausted from being turned down time and time again that she almost couldn't be bothered to do it - but something was telling her to push forward and just see.

So she did.

She pushed her way through the coffee shop door, already enjoying how peaceful it was inside with the few customers sat in there, and she walked across the polished floor to the bar. There stood a beautiful middle-aged woman behind it in an apron, drying off some mugs.

She had such friendly eyes and a sweet demeanour - there was an air of delicacy around her. "Hi there - what can I get ya?" she beamed as soon as Evelyn was close enough.

"I…nothing. I mean, no, sorry to intrude, I was just wondering if you had any jobs going? I…my name is Evelyn Romero, I live not too far from here on the edge of the city. I've been going around handing out my resume all day," Evelyn spoke anxiously, gripping onto her folder even tighter than before.

"Oh," the woman smiled slightly, putting her dishcloth down. "Do you have any experience in-"

"I used to run my own cafe in the heart of Metropolis," Evelyn answered quickly before she could finish.

Her cafe…her safe haven…her dream-

"And all my employment history has been around…cafes…that sounds kinda sad, doesn't it?" Evelyn groaned, realising that she may have ruined the opportunity already.

"No, an employment history around serving coffee? Heck, I wouldn't change it for the world," the lady giggled back, making Evelyn smile as she finally felt her shoulders relax. "How quickly can you start? We get busier by the second."

Evelyn felt her mouth drop in shock.

"I…immediately," she breathed, feeling her knees knock together in sheer surprise. It felt far too good to be true as the lady smiled again and nodded.

"Fabulous. If you wanna take this form here, we can get you signed up to the payroll and you can start tomorrow. Bring the signed form with you, and I'll take care of the rest. We open at 7am and close at 3pm, if that works for you - closed on Sundays and Tuesdays," she hummed, reaching underneath her bar surface and pulling a form out for her to see.

"Oh! Oh thank you so much," Evelyn breathed, trying not to burst into tears at her sudden kindness as she shakily took the form from her. "You won't regret it, I promise. Would you…would you like to see my references?"

"No - I can tell a good person from a mile off," the lady hummed with twinkling eyes. The feeling of relief was undeniable - it was as if a weight had been lifted off of Evelyn's shoulders completely.

"Thank you," she sniffed gratefully. "Thank you so much- oh! What's your name, sorry?"

"Martha Kent," the lady beamed back with a nod. "And this is Martha's Delights. I look forward to working with you, Evelyn!"