"HUUH!" 

Sammie bolted, sitting up in bed.

Her heart was racing and she realized she was gasping for air.

She took in a few deep breaths but realized she didn't even remember what her dream was about.

'Something about. . . eyes? Hands on me? And whispering?'

And just like that, it was gone.

'Oh well, it doesn't matter. It was just a dream'

Moving on, Sammie got up and out of bed and stretched. She opened her bedroom window and took in the view. It was a clear and sunny day out.

She glanced at the clock, '6am . . . I gotta be there at 8am so I guess I better get up and ready. Gotta make a good impression on my first official day!'

Sammie got herself ready and as she did so, she couldn't help but think about that eyeball again.

'I wonder if I'll get to see it again today'

There was something about it that drew her in.

Finally, she was ready to go to work and it was only 7am.

'I could probably get something to eat at the cafeteria there. Doctor Arin did say they serve breakfast, lunch and dinner there'

She was very pleased with her benefits.

'I hope I don't get fired. I'd never find as good a job as this one'

She briefly thought about what Arin said about the possibility of her dying on the job. . .  but she pushed that thought away.

There was no use worrying about something that might not even happen!

It seemed like too busy of a day to drive on the road, so instead, she grabbed her bike and rode on the sidewalk. The air was crisp and cool this morning with fall on the way. Many people preferred summer but not her.

She liked cooler weather the best. Sunny days were okay but rainy, snowy and cloudy days were the coziest to her.

For a moment, she could smell something smoking in the air.

'What is that?'

All of a sudden, a giant robot burst in her way from the alley!

It was too late to move out of the way and she tried to brake.

The robot went to swipe at her and she braced herself.

Only the next thing she knew, she felt herself get picked up and moved!

Sammie opened her eyes and met someone else's.

A man in a mask had come to her rescue just in time to get her out of the way.

He was handsome if not peculiar. Green dyed hair, a blue mask, wearing a red hoodie like some vigilante.

"Hey miss! You okay?"

"Oh! Uh. . ." Sammie couldn't tear her eyes off of him, he was just so interesting, "Y-yeah. I think so"

The man set her down gently with a blush, "Cool. Stay back. I got this"

Sammie could only watch as the vigilante took matters into his own hands with the robot.

The machine made a loud noise and point what seemed to be a gun on him but the man just dodged the bullets and quickly leapt at it, kicking his feet straight through the metal!

Sammie couldn't believe her eyes, along with everyone else in the vicinity. 

Who was this strange and powerful man?

He ripped the robot's core out from it and the machine shut down.

Everyone started to clap and the man chuckled nervously, dropping the core on the sidewalk.

He looked so goofy now. . . in a handsome way.

He appeared anxious as he sauntered almost gracefully back over to her, "Uh. . .hey.  .. yeah uh . . So. . . my name's Jackie. . .. boyman"

Sammie blinked, "I'm sorry. . .  Jackie. . . . Boyman?"

Jackie snorted and shook his head, his face now as red as his hoodie, "I mean. . . Jackieboyman. . . but you can just call me Jackie.  .. if you want"

"Oh. . . y-yeah! I think I've heard about you in the news!" Sammie remembered, "You're that vigilante guy that's super strong. . . well, I guess you certainly do live up to it." she smiled, "Thank you for saving me! My name's Sammie!" she held out her hand to shake.

Jackie smiled and took her hand, careful not to hurt her, "Jackie. . . but you. . . already knew that. Say uh . . . could I . . . get your number?"

It was Sammie's turn to blush now, "Oh. . .well I. . .." she thought about it. . .

Until her eyes spotted what time it was on the clocktower!

"HOLY SHIT, IS IT REALLY 7:55!? I'M GONNA BE LATE FOR WORK!"

Forgetting what Jackie had asked, she smiled hurriedly at him, "Sorry, I gotta go! See ya around!"

She hopped on her bike and pedaled as fast as she could down the sidewalk.

Jackie watched her go, feeling a tad disappointed.

Oh well. Maybe he'd see her again.

Not knowing what time it was, Sammie burst through the door of Iris as fast as she could after giving her ID to the guards. It was a longer bike ride than she cared to admit but she was there now, hoping she wouldn't immediately get fired.

Sammie rushed down to the Anomaly Division and looked around rapidly for Doctor Arin.

"Looking for me?"

Sammie shouted in surprise and whirled around, "Doctor Arin! Sir! I'm so sorry I'm late! I-"

Arin hadn't looked up from his clipboard, "You're fifteen minutes late for work"

"I know. . . I'm sorry" She gulped, "But I got a little held up. You see, there was this giant robot and then-"

"I know. It was on the news live twenty minutes ago." Arin shrugged, "If you hadn't stood there like a deer in headlights for so long ogling the guy, you might have been here on time. Don't let it happen again"

Sammie blushed and swallowed nervously, "Y-yes sir. . . It won't happen again. Sorry"

He sighed, ". . . . . go get the coffee" he handed her a piece of paper, "All of these specifically and then  come back directly to me. Got it?"

She stared at the piece of paper, "O-. . .oh"

Arin raised a brow at her, "What? Did you think you'd be doing important research on your first day? You're an intern, remember? Now don't say another word and go do the grunt work"

Sammie quickly did as she was told and ran off to the cafeteria to get everyone's coffee order.

Admittedly, this wasn't the kind of intern work she was expecting. . .but it was still something, she supposed.

At least she wasn't fired.

She got the pretentious coffee orders thinking she'd be at least doing something with paperwork.

Nope.

Arin then had her doing janitor work mopping the floors and cleaning the windows. Dusting off the machines and wiping down every surface until it was spic and span.

In between the chores, she also had to go fetch everyone's lunch orders. Their coffee wasn't the only orders that were pretentious.

Arin himself ordered butter-poached lobster tail alongside a kale salad with a white balsamic vinaigrette, caramelized onions and heirloom goji berries as well as Crème Brûlée. Everyone else's was either wagyu steak, lamb or duck. 

She couldn't complain too much, though. She was allowed to get her own lunch as well but she wasn't as fancy as all of them yet. She got a simple blue cheese wedge salad with a fillet of salmon on the side.. . . and a chocolate chip cookie.

Arin had smiled slightly as she ate, making a small comment to the others how she'd soon be broken in just like the rest of them.

That gave her some hope at least.

At the end of the day, Sammie had finished wiping down the mirrors and windows and was taking the cleaning supplies back to the supply room. . . when she happened to walk by that laboratory again . .the one with the weird eyeball in it.

One of the guards chuckled at her, "Don't you worry, sweetheart. We're making sure it won't hurt ya" he winked.

Sammie raised a brow at him, "Pretty sure calling me sweetheart is against HR policy and also. . .it's an eyeball. What's it gonna do? Wiggle at me?"

"Hey, what HR doesn't know about won't hurt 'em!" 

The other guard shook his head with a smirk of his own.

Until Arin came around the corner, having heard them, "I'll be sure to let HR know you don't care what they have to say, then." he motioned to Sammie and they walked together down the hall, "Come on. You don't need to be in this area"

"Don't I have to clean in there, too?"

Arin shook his  head, "We have specialized cleaners for that room. With any luck, you'll never have to go in that room ever again"

She damn near pouted, disappointed.

Arin snorted, "In a hurry to die?"

"It's just an eyeball" she shrugged.

Arin blinked, "Sentient eyeball. . . .  we don't know where the host is. . . . we don't know what it can actually DO"

"How long have you had it here?"

"A few months"

Sammie shrugged, "I'm sure it's fine then. Looked harmless enough to me!"

"Not everything is as it seems here, Sammie, or have you forgotten that already? Did you already forget what you went to college for?"

She looked away and Arin pat her shoulder, "You're done for the day. Good work. Head on home if you'd like. Personally, if you're gonna be late then maybe you should stay here instead but. ..what do I know?"

"Must know something if you're HERE" Sammie teased him, "But it should be fine. I promise I won't be late again"

Arin nodded, "Stay away from vigilantes and giant robots, will you?"

She just cracked a smile, grinning, "No promises!"

Sammie got home safely and although she could have grabbed some food from the cafeteria, she decided a pack of ramen sounded so much better.  She boiled some water and the seasoning pack with some chicken broth and made her creamy chicken ramen with some shredded chicken on the side. This was a fancy meal to her.

'Maybe I'll grow into their way of eating soon. I didn't want to seem snobbish on my first day'

She watched some shows in bed on the TV as she ate and stayed up a while before finally falling asleep with her bowl next to her on the end table.

Sammie was so exhausted after the day, she didn't even budge or wake when her bedroom door slowly creaked open.

A shadow darkened the door. It was like something was watching her.

In her dreams, she felt terror well up inside of her.

And the nightmares began again.