Cursed

Allegra sat at her desk covered in growing stacks of paperwork and fidget toys, trying to keep to herself and keep to her work. As she sat fiddling with her purple pencil, Sabrina, the director's new-ish assistant, pushed a cart filled with letters, memos, and new assignments around the huge cubicle-less workspace.

Taking away the workspace dividers was supposed to encourage teamwork and a free flow of ideas. Instead, it seemed to promote a free flow of distractions. Allegra daydreamed as she followed Sabrina's usual circuit around the room.

When she saw the dark clouds gathering outside the window, adrenaline started pumping. She packed her things up as quickly as she could and clocked out early. Putting on her hat with a rain-shielding veil and tightening it around her neck, Allegra bounded out the door, just catching the bus as the door creaked shut.

As she sat against the wall, her face pressed against the window, peering up at the sky and foot tapping against the seat, Allegra worried she wouldn't beat the rain home. The sight of her building jogged her mind. She pulled the cord again as the bus careened right past her Apartment block.

~Ding!~

"Hey, this is my stop! Let me out here."

"Oh, sorry, dear. Didn't hear the bell."

Allegra slung herself toward the door, pole to pole, like a spider monkey, eager to beat the clouds.

"Thanks, have a good one."

"Ehh, see ya tomorrow."

As Allegra shut the front door to her apartment building, relieved, the first drops started to fall, pattering on the glass panel. She trudged up the stairs and slipped into her apartment; the familiar smell of her cedar and Tonka bean candles was like a warm hug. She lit them as she walked around the small apartment, taking off her outerwear in the process - the hat she set on the table, next to her bag and keys.

"Ugh, bad luck ay Ellie"

She scratched the cat behind the ears, peeled off her coat, and tossed it easily onto the coat tree. She shucked off the boots she'd worn that day just in case, shoving them under the bed with her sock feet, and flopped back, sighing at another missed opportunity.

"Do you think I'll ever work myself up to talking to her? I don't even know if she dates women."

"Rowow"

"Yeah, you're right."

She looked at the package of shower wipes, debating whether or not to use them again, but her hair was getting itchy from the dry shampoo, and her skin felt smudgy and sticky; it was time for a real shower.

"I need a shower first; tomorrow will be the day."

She grabbed leftovers from the fridge and slumped temporarily back onto the end of the bed to watch an episode of Sailor Moon for comfort and to steel her resolve before heading into the bathroom.

"Alright, you stay here. I'll be back!"

She gave Ellie one last scritch and squared her shoulders, plodding into the tiny bathroom, shedding her clothes and dropping them as she went. She donned her protective gear: ear plugs, nose plugs, and a set of goggles she'd made that wore around the ears like glasses but still suctioned tightly to the face. She even had something for her mouth; held by the teeth, it also suctioned her skin and still allowed her to breathe.

It seemed counterintuitive to undress and then attach all that gear to bathe, but it was the only way. Allegra had tried Baths, but those had proved even more perilous. After getting ready, she stepped in and started the shower.

The cold water started shooting directly at her, which made her cringe and shiver under the stream. Fortunately, she marked the exact spot where her shower was comfortable, so she got to washing; the faster she could get out, the better. Unfortunately, the disaster started when she leaned to dampen her hair for washing.

Allegra was usually so careful, but her mind was occupied with thoughts of Sabrina. Her finger accidentally caught the right ear loop of her goggles, breaking the suction. Water immediately started rushing across her face and up her nose, like tendrils of some aqueous demon. She immediately started slowly breathing out through her nose, steadily creating a stream of air to combat the water trying to get in. It was too late; water had already gotten inside her lungs, and Allegra coughed and sputtered allowing another stream to enter.

Her eyes were closed, and she was starting to panic. She managed to shut off the water but fell into the shower curtain and got tangled up, attempting to vacate the tub. Every time she opened her mouth or stopped breathing out and tried to inhale, drops flew up her nose and inside her mouth. The curse had caught up with her, and she had done so well for so long.

This is what you get for allowing yourself to be distracted.

Allegra thought to herself, which made her cough more and more. Finally able to extricate herself from the plastic shield, she crawled to the bed, grabbing the empty bowl from the edge where Ellie had been licking the latent flavors from the old stained plastic.

She huddled on her pile of clothes and coughed up the few teaspoons of water she had managed to aspirate. Heaving and gasping, she shivered and cried.

"Ellie, How am I supposed to break this curse when I can't even get close enough to another girl to talk to her? True love's kiss? That's a nightmare I can't even fathom."

Cries turned to wails as she muscled herself up onto the bed. Just then, she heard a knock on the door. She gasped, and her cry was caught in her throat. The panic returned, only this time was over who could possibly be at the door. She had never had a guest here, so she worried it was a neighbor or her landlord over the atrocious noise she must have just made.

"Just a second, I'm not decent."

"Ok"

It sounded like a woman's voice on the other side. Her racing thoughts landed on it being a neighbor. Allegra managed to find a robe and slip into it, though she was still rather wet, and, damn it, there was still shampoo in her hair. She quickly wrapped a towel around her head to hide it. When she opened the door, clutching the robe around her, it was Sabrina staring at her with a soft smile and luminous olive complexion.

"Hi, Allegra. You left this at work, and I thought it seemed important. I asked our boss, and he said it would be okay if I brought it to you."

"Ahhh, hi, I ahh."

When she looked down, Allegra realized it was her bag of medications and emergency supplies. She must have removed her rain shield from the bag and left it on her desk. She relinquished her vice grip on her robe and took it from Sabrina. When she looked back up to say thank you, she could tell there was a question behind her eyes.

"Thanks, I actually do really need this stuff. I appreciate it a lot. Was there something else?"

"Not exactly. I also just wanted to make sure you were all right. You seemed fine, but then you just got up and ran out, and now... So I was a teensy bit worried about you. It's not that I was watching you; I just happened to notice. I mean, you know what I mean, don't you?"

Sabrina blushed as she looked past Allegra inside the tiny apartment, hearing the sound of cartoons blaring inside, and tried to meet her gaze again.

"Oh, yeah, I do. I'm fine. I just had a bit of a spill, actually, but I was fine before. Did you want to come in? There's not a lot of room inside, and it's a mess; you don't like Sailor Moon, do you? That's what I've got going on in the background. Sorry, that's stupid. We could go get coffee or watch basically anything else."

Allegra stepped aside to let Sabrina in.

"That's one of my favorite shows!"

Sabrina breezed right into the room and flopped onto the bed. Ellie stalked across the bed to get some pets. It was like a dream, though the jury was still out on whether it was a nightmare or not.

"Aww, she likes you. Let me just grab some clothes and get dressed. And maybe also pick this up, ahh, and that too."

Allegra grabbed the pajamas she had picked out and shoved them back in her drawer, instead opting for a cute pair of jeans and a tee shirt. She quickly threw them on and did her best to close her mouth and breathe out through her nose while she put the shower curtain back up without getting any more water in her mouth or nose.

"So, where did you move from? Or did you just get a new job, and you've been living here the whole time?

"I moved recently. It's been a pretty strange adjustment. I used to live in a small town; I didn't even realize how small it was or how slow things were there until I moved here. I had visited the city before, but living here is entirely different."

Allegra came back out, but when she took the towel off her head, she realized shampoo suds were still left in it.

"That's definitely true. Oh no, I fell in the middle of my shower and didn't technically finish. Crap!"

"Ahhh hahaha, Sorry, I'm not laughing that you fell; I have just never met anyone who forgot to finish washing their hair. Should I leave and let you finish showering? haha"

"No! I mean, ugh, I don't know. I can't leave it there; maybe I can just rinse it in the sink."

"I can help you! It will be super quick, and then we can go get something to eat."

Allegra was terrified of everything happening so fast, of Sabrina seeing her with her mask and earplugs, and of everything else, but she wanted to go out with her more than anything.

"Ok, but before I do, I must admit something first. It's kind of embarrassing, so please don't laugh."

"Ok, I will try not to, but sometimes when I get nervous, I laugh."

"Ok, I will keep that in mind. Well … ahh"

Allegra thought about telling her everything, about the curse, about all the times she almost drowned, but she couldn't risk having her laugh, or worse, leave before they had even gotten a chance to know each other; what if she was the one? What if she never needed to tell her at all?

"I just have this condition, so let me put on my earplugs and noseplug first, just to be safe. We will be really quick so we can get out of here."

Allegra walked into the bathroom and brought back her earplugs and an old nose plug she used to use. She didn't want to scare her with the goggles or her breather. So she just decided to hold her breath.

"I wear these to shower, and I accidentally dropped one of my earplugs in the shower and fell trying to get it before it went down the drain; it's dumb, I know."

Allegra half-smiled, worried Sabrina would see right through that lie, want to know what really happened, and then not believe the truth either.

"That's not embarrassing; it could have happened to anyone. Let's get you cleaned up, and we can go eat and hang out?"

"Yes!"

Allegra put on her accouterments so she could rinse out the shampoo in the sink while Sabrina brought one of the two kitchen chairs near the counter so Allegra could sit in it and lean back as she sprayed her head with the spray attachment in the sink. Allegra's heart beat fast enough. She worried she was having an anxiety attack, though she didn't feel panicked like she wanted to leave. She wanted to stay like this despite her close proximity to water. So Allegra held a towel and roped it up so the water wouldn't try to snake its way toward her face and make a mess.

She smiled up at Sabrina's kind expression and quick hands. It seemed most of the soap had already been rinsed or toweled out. So after a few quick sprays and Sabrina's delicate fingers running across her scalp, to Allegra's shivering delight, she finally released the breath she had been holding. The barrier towel was repurposed to dry her hair quickly; it was short and didn't take long. And they were out the door.

K.B. Silver