Emma Thoday

The traveling notebook

Today was the same as every Tuesday. Rachel switched on her lamp at 5:30 am and staggered across the room to silence the siren blaring from her phone. She had already been laying there for an hour so that incessant barking from her phone was unnecessary. It was still dark outside and she saw her outfit laid out in the light of the lamp. All black. She put her hair in braids to avoid another customer complaint about a strand of long blonde hair in their food. It had been falling out ever since she quit taking birth control pills when her relationship ended. Hormones.