Chapter 1.5

Her name was Aroma. This singular thought became her anchor as the scene around her finally lost all cohesion.

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Aroma woke to the sound of an alarm. She followed the sound with her eyes and saw the alarm notification blinking on her cell-phone screen. Reaching over, she slid the toggle to turn off the alarm. She remembered the dream. In her mind's eye, the image of being surrounded by a snake and feeling safe faded. Then she just lay there, staring at the ceiling, until her stomach rumbled. She grimaced, then threw her legs over the side of the bed and sat up. She looked around at her room. The world no longer felt unreal.

She was at a loss. What was she supposed to be doing right now? Her stomach rumbled again. She made a decision. First, eat something. Maybe if she performed an activity, any activity, there was a chance to build momentum. So she went downstairs to her kitchen and explored her cabinets. There was hardly anything at all. There were some packs of Ramen, but she would definitely need to go shopping later. How did she let it get like this? She paused on that thought. Everything felt familiar and novel at the same time. She shook her head abruptly and refocused on her mission to feed herself.

She took a large pot out of a cupboard. After filling it with water she placed it on the stove. She turned the dial to the High setting. She took the pack of noodles and broke the contents in half. Placing the pack on the counter, she pressed down on it with her weight in a kneading motion, causing the noodles to crumble.

The pot started to boil, so she tore open the pack of noodles, fished out the seasoning packet, and dumped the noodles into the water. The seasoning went in next. She used a ladel to stir continuously. Five minutes later and it was done.