Eliza Vargas

Prologue

The first thing I saw were her eyes. Those breathtaking emerald green eyes. It was so easy to get lost in them, to the point where everything around me just disappeared. She was so close to me that I could smell her perfume from her neck, which smelled like roses and strawberries. Bumping into me, she mumbled sorry, but the second our eyes met, she gave me the brightest smile I had ever seen. She blushed, immediately turning her face, and began to walk away. My eyes couldn’t help but follow her, and then she looked back at me. Now I was smiling like an idiot. Move dude, go get her, don’t just stand there.

BRAYNK! BRAYNK! BRAYNK! BRAYNK! The alarm system is blaring in the west wing of a government research building. A man is sitting at a computer with a file loading on the screen. He frantically looks at the nearby door.

Everyone else was laughing. From the moment I walked into the room and I couldn't understand why. Were they laughing at me? Did I walk in funny? Is there something wrong with the way I look that I didn't notice before I left the house? Or did something just happen before I walked in that everyone found hilarious? I approach one of my buddies so I can get clued in to the big joke.

So it's another ordinary day and my friend calls me up to ask me if I want to go hiking. I think to myself, well I want to do more to exercise and it has been a while, but hiking? It's been years since I've done anything like that.

Suffering