Forever Enigmatic

Chapter 7

THE NEON YELLOW SIGN of The Gain shone down on her in a comforting way as she pushed open the door.

Sierra clocked out of the café at eight o'clock when the birds went to sleep and the insects rose. The bright day went away and the dark blue of the sky took her aback. It was a reminder of her long day.

She wanted nothing more than to go home and pass out on her bed, if she even made it there. However, the thought of going where all the problems surrounded her made her rethink her options. Instead, she drove to The Gain in hopes of blowing off steam, or getting rid of the little bit of energy that was still inside of her.

In truth, all she wanted was to distract her brain from her financial problem with the pain of her muscles.

She went inside and waved to the trainer that brought out Kyle on her first day. He sat where the usual women bickered nonstop about Buzzfeed quizzes and gossiped about her and Kyle when they thought they couldn't hear them. He gave her a cute smile before she disappeared to the back, completely different than the usual shocked faces she got from the women.

The gym wasn't as full as she was used to seeing. Usually, she was there during the afternoon when lots of people came in to workout after their normal scheduled shifts. Now less than half of the crowd she was used to was gone.

As she walked to the locker room, tingles ran up her spine as she realized the gym felt like an altered reality. The same feeling of being in an empty parking lot at night. She didn't know if it was good or bad.

Even if it was bad, she preferred to stay there than go back home. The altered reality would have to do for the time being.

Sierra changed into her workout attire in record time. She attempted to smooth out the wrinkles on her blue top, but to no avail. She shrugged. Wrinkles weren't going to stop her from distracting her mind.

She went into a public room and saw three other people there. One man was lifting weights, sweating greatly. The other two women were on the treadmills going at a fast pace.

She looked around some more and caught no sight of her trainer. A part of her was hoping he would be there. After alluding to it back at her job, she thought that maybe he'd make time to be with her. She didn't dwell much in it because for all she knew he had a life to tend to that she had no idea about.

Still, her heart grew heavy knowing she would have to distract herself on her own.

Sierra stepped into the open space and plopped down on the squishy mats. She remembered the usual warm up routine Kyle made her do and replicated it, getting her body ready for the rigorous amount of exercise.

Closing her eyes, she stretched her neck. Leaning it side to side, she slightly pushed it down on each side with her hand on her head. She breathed in and out, and switched to the other side.

She tried to only think about her movements, like how her neck bent to her command, but she couldn't keep her mind interested enough. She remembered the landlord's notice back home and grew short of breath.

The thought of having to raise so much money in such little time made her dizzy. She wasn't sure she'd be able to get enough to cover all the expenses. One thing calmed her down, however: she had two months to find some way to get the money. 

She hoped that not training with Kyle for two weeks could make the difference. However, she wasn't sure about everything else she had to pay. The electricity bill always stayed the same. Her water bill usually did too, but recently there had been a problem with the pipes in the entire apartment complex, so she, along with the rest of her neighbors, were stuck with a significant amount to pay. (Even though it wasn't their faults). It was unfair, but she couldn't do anything about it.