After the morning finished, my co-worker switched with me.

My break had started. 

I nibbled on a piece of cheese as I sat down in a corner, clutching my knees to my chest. There was a sense of loneliness and sorrow from the whole thing that I just wanted the break to end. Though my eyes were dry and they hurt from staring at a screen for hours, at least it was a distraction. 

As I ate, I watched the new girl, my eyes following her movements. She wasn't new to this kind of work. I could tell by how fast she did things, and the speed. Compared to the others, she was twice as fast, her limbs nimble and swift as she attached screws and hit nails into wood. 

Perhaps that was the reason she was hired here. But still, however quick, she couldn't replace four people.

As if she had noticed my gaze, she turned around and made her way towards me. I relaxed my knees down and braced myself. For what, I had no idea. 

"Hello." She said. Her voice was kind. "Is this where we take our breaks?" I nodded in response. "I just started." She added. 

After a few moments had passed, and I hadn't responded yet, she began again. "What's your name? Mine's Anna." 

Knowing that she wasn't going to take the note I opened my mouth to speak.

"That's a nice name," I said, ignoring the question about my name. "Both my aunts were called Anna."

"Were?" She echoed. I nodded.

"They both died a few years ago," I said sorrowfully, taking a bite out of my cheese. 

That was a lie. 

My mother and father had no siblings, and the only relatives I knew were my grandfather from my mother's side and my grandmother from my father's side. To add on, this was the first time I had heard of the name, 'Anna.' It wasn't a common name and I wasn't stupid enough to tell a stranger personal information.

"I'm so sorry." She answered. Taking the silence as an opportunity, I stood up quickly and smiled down at her.

"It's alright. It's been some time and we weren't very close." I replied. "Well, my break is over so I'll be going now." 

The girl had opened her mouth to speak, but I left quickly without giving her time to respond. No one in the factory district talked to strangers. That girl was suspicious. Sharing a conversation with someone you didn't know very well was strange already and asking things like names and inquiring about my family was even more strange.

It was best to stay away from her.

The rest of the day finished quickly and the sky had blackened. I glanced at the clock in the corner. It was 7:30. 

Other units had finished already and were cleaning up. After a few minutes, my unit began as well. 

******

The evening was always my favourite time of the day. It was quiet and calm, with no loud or disrupting noises. Only a soothing silence. You also felt tired too. Your movements were sluggish and slow, your eyes always struggling to keep open. 

The perfect time of the day. Right before you drifted off to a peaceful sleep. 

I sighed after we finished and leaned against the wall, resting for a quick second. I was done for the day. At this time, the boys would be in their room and all the chores at home had been done. 

Suddenly, I opened my eyes as the skin of my back crawled. Like butterflies were rustling in my stomach, my nerves felt strange. Restless somehow. I glanced back and forth. 

Everything was normal.

Maybe it was that girl?

I swept my head around. 

Where was she?

There was this nagging feeling I had, telling me something was wrong and that something... something  was missing. There was something, just something different about this night. 

And where was that girl?

My nostrils flared and my muscles bunched as I abandoned my station. The air was different. A pungent smell that was stronger than before. It was unmistakably familiar yet I could not put a name to it.

There was the droning sound of machines but other than that there was silence. No one was talking and their faces seemed strange. 

I could tell that tonight was abnormal somehow. That silence that had once been so soothing and comfortable before, felt undoubtedly foreign and strange. And then it came. 

The answer to that feeling I had.

That familiar buzzing sound. 

That moment of shock and realization. 

Something was wrong. 

Something deathly wrong. 

After that, everything was a blur of grey. A mixture of instinct and shock. Screams filled my ears and I could not distinguish my own screams from others. Stone and rock pelted my body and a gray shower of cement dust covered my site. My instincts screamed at me to run, but where?

Where could I run?

All I could see were gray and red, bodies on the ground. The building was collapsing. And there were bugs everywhere. My legs seemed like mush and my body thrummed with anxiety and fear. 

The buzzing was growing louder and I ran forward, not knowing where I was going. It seemed like I was flying but before the feeling could even really start, the wall on my left of the factory exploded. 

It was like fog. A blanket of grey colours. A giant billowing fog that seemed to devour everything in its path. And its next target was me. 

At that time I was completely and utterly frozen still. The cement seemed to move in slow motion as the bugs whizzed around towards me. I was frozen still and a massive fog-like wave of deadly bugs as well as broken pieces of the wall was coming at me. 

I felt my life flash across my eyes. My parents. My siblings. My friends. A wave of dizziness shook my body as I felt my grip on my consciousness loosen. 

Would I die like the other thousands of people, another body thrown in the mounds of corpses? Would I never feel the warmth of the sunlight, the taste of fresh snow on my lips? Would I never again laugh with my siblings besides me?

I sighed as the bugs came at me, almost touching me.

I was so, so tired. 

And then before everything went black, I felt my mother's mouth brush my forehead like a whisper. 

Mother.