Upon entering I was surprised to happen upon some sort of birthday celebration. The office look different; it had been set up with a potluck-type meal. Due to the celebration, both conference rooms were occupied. They asked me to wait for a few minutes (which I didn't mind because I was excited that they might soon cancel class all together). As I leaned against the reception desk, I noticed Ash and Matt sitting on the floor leaning against the wall while eating some food. It was a relief to sit down next to them and joke around as I waited. I waited for about an hour and still no progress about the class. At this point, I was debating what to do—leave, or hope we’ll have the last 2 hours of class…
At that moment, the actual employees of the company came by and said that they wouldn't need me for class today. They went on to add that there would be no reason for me to come back as they’d be looking for a replacement for me. Feeling slighted and insult, I left.
Almost instantly, however, I found myself in a YAPPI branch office that doesn't actually exist. I set my heavy bag on the ground and began talking to the manager. My class was supposed to start in a little over two hours, but I was dressed in a baggy hoodie and a pair of sweatpants (which was different from the outfit I was just wearing in Chanel). On top of that look, I was unshaven and my hair was a mess. Still I hung around a little while and watched the minutes tick away. The bags that I had carried in were full of clothes and other assorted ideas. I was about to leave my classroom and go home for a quick shower and shave before having to travel back for classes when the manager came in and sadly informed me that someone had died. I had never heard of or met the person, but they were going to give a special lecture that Thursday night on Postcolonialism. The manager asked me to substitute the lecture instead. I said that I would think about it, because I wasn't sure that I wanted to cancel my Thursday night classes.
She left and I rummaged through my bags until I found my wallet, and I pulled 30UAH out. Before I could leave the room again, the doorway was blocked by a former colleague of mine from ELC. Her tall and wide frame filled the door and kept me from leaving. She was looking into the room, which had become a dimly lit auditorium where someone was lecturing. When I told her that I needed to take off, she said that we should leave at the same time. However, when she wasn't paying close attention to me, I grabbed my larger bag that I had placed my wallet and other money and tucked it away next to the YAPPI manager for safe keeping. Finally I went out the door with only enough time to ride home and back on the metro (the shower/shave window had closed).
Since I appeared on Kontraktova again, I thought I might save some time and take a marshrutka. It was dark outside and I couldn't see very well. Due to being in a rush and blinded by approaching headlights, I hopped onto the first marshrutka that I rolled up. It didn't take long before I discovered that the marshrutka was heading in the wrong direction. I looked at the number that read 250. I didn't know where it went and so I asked to be let out at the nearest metro. The driver responded “What metro?” With such a discouraging response, I asked him to let me out here. I ran across the street to catch a ride back into (and then across) the city.
Standing in the midst of kiosks, cars and people that I didn't recognize, I happened to look up at the night sky. In the sky I saw distant shadowy images that I couldn't quite clearly make out there true form. But they would appear in a pack of six all side by side and they would move forward at a slight pace before launching forward and leaving a brilliantly glistening and colorful contrail behind them. Before long another six would lower themselves from the deep night sky just enough to appear faintly in the distance, and do the same thing at crossing angle. This repeated itself constantly, but nobody seemed to notice or care. My heart and stomach sank. I began to feel nauseous. A shrill chill ran my spine. I feared that the end of the world was coming very soon, so I stepped inside of the next random vehicle that had pulled up to the bus stop.
When I stepped inside of a small, compact car, I was home. It was completely dark inside and about 9:30 at night. I stumbled around in the dark and found Valeria asleep on the living room floor. I tried not to wake her as I covered her with another blanket. Since it was 9:30 in the evening, I had missed all my classes and the Postcolonialism lecture; I had missed everything and I didn't know what to do, so I started walking toward the kitchen.
At this time, I awoke
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