She turned into her regular shortcut down a short alley, and then? The city was heaving with every employed person trying to get to their desk on time, at the same time. She’d drank some and had a few nibbles out of the brown paper bag as she walked.

She got dressed, bought her coffee and breakfast muffin on her way to work as usual. She’d woken up feeling crummy but resigned, as she did most days, and got up for work. She’d slept through the night, no flashing lights or tractor beams or little green men with anal probes had disturbed her. She’d gone to bed the night before as normal, turning off the TV at ten to eleven and snuggling under her duvet on the hour. She tried to think through that morning to find the point at which she’d hit her head, or accidentally taken a tab of acid with her coffee. Despite the apparent sterility of the environment, there was still a distinct animal smell like fur and sweat, as if a hard-worked horse had only just vacated the space. There were no doors as far as she could see, and certainly no windows. Those two holes seemed to be the only breaks in the metal monotony. Not big enough for her whole foot to go in, but definitely big enough to trip her if she forgot it was there. Next to her hand on the floor was a smaller hole, maybe six inches across.

The ceiling was also metal, with a hole in the centre that was roughly a metre and a half across. She couldn’t see the walls very well because the light didn’t reach that far, but light glinted off bolts and seams, which made her think they were metal too. The floor was metal, which explained why it had made that noise when she’d hit it.

She managed to get onto her knees and looked around. The room she was in was dark, almost pitch black, the only light coming from reflections from the room above, refracting around the room from the space immediately below the hole she’d fallen through. She groaned and rolled onto her hands, trying to get her stunned back to co-operate enough to get on all fours, or sit up, maybe even stand. The pain wasn’t sharp enough for a break, but she wouldn’t be surprised if she’d dented something. Judging by how quickly the floor had risen up to meet her now aching shoulder, she’d fallen a little less than a storey.

Ruth's Bonded by V.C. Lancaster