It's one thing to turn your alarm off in your sleep. It's another thing to have the espresso machine at the coffee shop explode just as the barista is working on your order. And, the icing on the cake, to miss the subway because of all that combined. My name is Sue Yoon, and I'm extremely late for work yet again.

The thing about Downtown Chicorgi that I hate so much is how many people work in the financial district, and even then how they all seem to start work at the same time. On my first days I figured "Oh, I can probably skip all this morning rush nonsense if I just leave a little early!" Yet, here I am.

The office complex I work at is supposed to be three blocks from the subway entrance, but so far it's felt like it's six blocks away with the progress I've made. The crowd moving down the sidewalk has felt like a sheer river of bodies, one that I'm currently just shoving through. I can see the crosswalk just up ahead, the walking man glowing a stark white as the sidewalks trade people across the street. Pushing between at least of the same brand of trench coat and kept dry only by everyone else's umbrellas, I manage to shove my way to the edge of the sidewalk at the lip of the zebra crossing... only to be met with the angry red glow of the light's open palm.

I stood there, shifting my weight between feet quietly as I wait for cars to pass by. Now that I'm at the edge of the sidewalk and out of the crowd, I only now notice how much rain is falling on me. My coat is starting to soak through, my dark hair matted to my head, and to make matters worse I had forgotten my own umbrella at home.

"Just another Grade-A Gray Day," I grumbled to myself. At this point the only thing to keep me warm was the caramel macchiato cradled in my hands like something precious I was afraid to lose. I know Mondays usually aren't the best, but this is ridiculous! The steady flow of cars seemed never ending, and in an effort to keep myself warm in the rain I removed the lid from coffee, letting the steam from the hot drink wash over my face.

"Okay! She's stopped! Finally!" Ping announced with a sigh of relief as they floated closer to the crosswalk. Handling the curse-breaker between their paws, Ping circled lazily around the canopy of umbrellas as the contemplated how best to administer the magical artifact.

"You're not seriously going to do this, are you?!" Cant protested, swooping down to Ping's level.

"What? It's just one little curse-breaker! They'll barely notice that it's gone, just cool your jets!"

"Barely notice means they still notice!"

"Psh, whatever Cant! I'll think of something!"

"No! I'm not taking the fall for another one of your schemes!" Cant made a lunge for the curse breaker, catching Ping off guard as they did so. As they reached for the glowing blue marble, Ping made an attempt to dodge out of the way, but the curse-breaker had been moving between their paws mid-juggle. Ping desperately tried to reach for the marble, fumbling it several times before the blue orb finally slipped between their paws and fell into an open cup of coffee with a flash of blue light. Both Ping and Cant remained floating there, looking down at the cup in disbelief.

"Well," Ping said, breaking the silence. "At least now we can say it was an accident!" Cant buried their muzzle in both paws.

"You mean at least it landed in the right cup," Cant mumbled.

The light at the end of the crosswalk turned from the weird hand to the walking stick-figure, and the crowds began to shift once more.

"C'mon! We can't lose her now! Adventure awaits!" Ping announced, swooping down ahead of the crowd.

"C'mon, c'mon," I muttered under my breath, impatiently, taking another sip of my coffee. Maybe it was the stress making me more aware, or maybe it was the fact that now I was standing still and not distracting by moving as quickly as possible, but something about the coffee tasted... different. As the liquid passed into my mouth, it made a sort of electric tingle across my tongue and palette. Maybe they accidentally made it a double shot? Oh god I hope they accidentally made it a double-shot.

Finally the light changed and with me leading the pack the crowd began to move. Practically, though carefully, jogging with intent, I could see a gap in the next group of people ahead of me, and I made my way for that gap as if my life depended on it.

Yet there, above me, I could see what looked like two lights floating above like weird drones or something. One glowed with a bright mint-green and the other was a golden yellow. One of them passed by in front of me and, in shock, I stopped mid-jog, stumbling forward slightly and spilling hot coffee all over the front of my outfit.

Cursing loudly, I tried my best to wipe as much of the liquid off as I could before it stained, but then realized that I was still in the middle of the zebra crossing when the car to my right honked at me loudly. With a yelp I ran for the other side and the line of cars hit the gas as if with a murderous intent just as I passed by.

I stood at the other side of the street, panting. I looked back up at the sky over the intersection and couldn't see those two lights anymore. I cursed under my breath.

"Great," I said. "Now I must be going crazy." Taking another large gulp of my coffee, I resumed pushing through the crowds to make my way back to work. Really, there aren't many ways this day could get any worse.