Iara

thirty minutes before the Tower

They say it only takes a second to ruin years of hard work, and that couldn’t be truer for Iara Pereira Santos, a young twenty-six year old woman that worked really hard to be where she is. Lights shining brightly on the streets as the woman walks around, aimlessly, she has nothing anyway, even if someone comes to attack her, what use could it do? It’s all gone anyway.

Her career, her love life, her money, everything is gone like a desert mirage.

From a really poor family she managed to succeed in an area where rich ones dominate. A sous chef of the biggest restaurant in Sao Paulo, she started early, selling candy in the small community she lived in, while also studying like crazy to be able to enter a public university. Step after step, she worked harder than anyone else around her, the top of the class in all she ever did.

Lowering her head in front of those who could give her a shot, she did whatever it took to be here today. In a place where she wasn’t a poor girl, no, she was a successful and respectable young chef. 

But what does it matter now? 

It all started when his family died in a shoot-out that happened near her childhood home, all whilst she was abroad studying under a french chef. Unable to even do their funeral, not even seeing them for a last time in fact.

But even then, she still had her work, friends and money.

How would she know that the house she bought with all of her harsh money was a scam? With nowhere else to turn, she started sleeping in her friend’s house. Her childhood best friend, who had recently had a kid, all was fine grinding everything again. 

It couldn’t get worse… right?

But it did.

She stops in the middle of her walk, her dark brown eyes staring at the flickering light of the street she’s walking in. A sigh leaving her lips, all hope left her eyes.

Her friend’s husband thought she should pay rent with her body just because his wife was recovering from the baby. When she refused, the man accused her of seducing him.

So her friend cut her off. 

Then, she started frequenting bars to let go of her pains, sleeping at the restaurant by her boss’ pity. Finally meeting someone after a few months drawing her sorrows, an apparently nice guy who even helped her find a cheap apartment to live in. Slowly everything was going back on track.

Until her boyfriend died when his house blew up due to a gas leaking from a nearby apartment.

Almost as if life was laughing at her face, saying that happiness wasn’t meant for her.

But she still had her job, the job she loved so much, cooking for others, it was satisfying enough to help her push through it. Help isn’t solving it, though.

Slowly she became more dependent on alcohol, showing up at work drunk, messing up the ingredient preparation, etc. One mistake after the other, until no one could take it anymore and she was let go just minutes ago.

What do I have left? She wonders, her heart hurting from bitterness, whilst she is still slightly tipsy from the alcohol she had hours ago. She knows she was wrong. She knows she blew all up.

But what else could she do to stop this hurt?

She moves to take another step to cross the road, her eyes fixed on the lights on the other side, not noticing the cars moving towards her at full speed.

However, those who are pained by the world, sometimes, have no rest, not even in death.

Because milliseconds before the car hits her, the woman disappears, her consciousness fades, and those who were driving towards her, wonder if what they saw was just a figment of their imagination, or perhaps something more fantastic like a ghost.

☘︎

Author's Note: The other chapters won't be as long as this one, this was just an introduction to all characters, some have a good glimpse into them while others have less, thank you for reading and check the other chapters once they come out ^^ The GL couple is obvious, but who do you think are the other couples? :D Have a good week!