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At exactly 5:00 PM, Kaia's phone vibrates so violently that it spills off the counter and crashes to the kitchen floor. With a sigh, she sets down her paintbrush and retrieves her phone. The blocky casing is as solid as always, but there is now a small dent in her kitchen floor. She glares at it, as if doing so will cause it to disappear, and jots down a note to herself to call someone about that. Then, she begins her nighttime routine.

Kaia always completes the tasks necessary for getting ready for work in the same order. Take off clothes. Shave legs. Shower. Put deodorant on. Put new clothes on. Shave face. Make two packets worth of oatmeal. Take pills. Brush teeth. All of it always takes her exactly twenty-eight minutes. Sometimes she has to slow down, just to make sure that she ends at the right time.

Kaia exits the door at a brisk walk. Her apartment building is as empty as always, and she passes no one on the seven flight descent to the lobby. The skeletal landlord is present, but before he can ask her who she is, she shoves a printout into his decaying hands explaining that her boyfriend lives here and she is saying with him. In retrospect, Nimue's idea about printing this note out in bulk was a wonderful idea.

Her walk to work is as uneventful as always. She glides through crowds without anyone noticing, and no one tries to talk to her. Crossing the street is an exercise in caution; more than one driver has nearly hit her before simply because their brain did not register that she was there.

Seven minutes later Kaia enters the bar, and Nimue is behind the counter, mixing drinks and chatting up a storm with customers. She sees Kaia and flashes her a grin.

“Hello, K!” she yells, causing a number of customers to turn their heads. “Care to take over?”

Kaia smiles, because this is the place where she can feel known.