She sprawls out on the balcony couch, soaking in the warmth of the day. Today was a lot warmer than the past few days, reaching a high of 90 degrees as opposed to the recent mid-70s. She always enjoyed warmer weather though, so she didn’t mind. Especially in the shade of her balcony and her apartment. She pops open her book that her partner recently bought for her. She was drawn to the book because it seemed tame and was about Japanese culture. The synopsis also talked about royalty so maybe this was similar to “Crazy Rich Asians,” which was a great book and even better film. She always appreciated Asian representation in media (when it was non-stereotypical).

As she looks down at her book, her mind wanders. The bustle of cars whizzing by below her balcony reminds her of the incident she witnessed last night. The sun had already set and the darkness was well established. Her partner ordered pizza for dinner last night and as they were waiting for the pizza to be delivered while watching American Horror Story, they both heard a sound outside. They lived on the corner of an intersection so it wasn’t unusual that accidents happened. She estimated that an accident happened probably every 3-4 months since she moved in 3 years ago. But this sound was different. It wasn’t the usual loud bang of two cars colliding. It sounded like a simple thump, but loud enough to catch their attention. They peeked out the balcony curtains to see what was going on and saw that a man on a bike had been hit by a car. The two whispered to each other, figuring out how it happened. There were quite a few cars stopped and bystanders rushing to help the man. He was ultimately fine, seemingly unharmed, as he got up, picked up his bike, and repeated, “I’m okay,” as he walked off. It took about two hours for the hubbub to straighten itself out with paramedics and police on scene. The rest of the night was calm.

Until she went to sleep. She woke up at 3:25 AM last night. She woke up hot, dehydrated, and hungry – an unfortunate combination. But as she came out of her sleepy-eyed stupor, she realized it was the sound of multiple dogs barking that woke her. She laid in bed, contemplating whether to get up and use the bathroom or just go back to sleep. The dogs continued to bark furiously and she couldn’t fall asleep again so she decided to take a bathroom break before trying to sleep again. As she laid back in bed, the dogs were still making a commotion. It was rare for the dogs to bark at all in her neighborhood. It was quiet aside from the dogs. Then, a series of screams outside her window. She laid there, staring at the ceiling. Who was screaming? Why? The screams came in the sequence of one long scream, two short screams, and it repeated once more. More dogs began barking, louder, more frequently. She wasn’t exactly sure if they were screams or just yelling. The short screams sounded like just yelling but the long screams sounded hurt. The screams then stopped. The dogs stopped barking as well. She hesitated. She got up after a couple seconds and peeked out her bedroom window. She didn’t see anyone or anything, really. Only two cars drove by as she looked outside. She searched for a solid minute, looking for the source of the sounds. Nothing. She shrugged. The neighborhood she lived in wasn’t the safest. She lived down the street of the downtown area of the city and it wasn’t unusual to hear people yelling after a long night of drinking, or to hear wanderers yelling or talking loudly. There were also quite a few instances of heavy police activity on the street. She retreated back to bed, a little disappointed that she couldn’t help the person yelling. She couldn’t fall back to sleep until about 4:15 AM.

The loud, almost unbearable sound of a motorcycle engine as it cracked forward as the street light turned green snapped her back to the present. As she looked down at her book, she dove into the world of a young girl discovering she was a royal Princess in Japan. She wished something so amazing could happen to her. She would have a lot more resources at her disposal and a lot less worrying about finances and security. She nestled in comfortably.