•61•Disruptions Anew

THREE YEARS LATER

Skylar walked through the foyer while feeling like she could pass out any moment from now. She groaned, feeling a headache coming on, and the cacophony of voices and heels all around her in the reception wasn't helping.

Despite her tiredness, she did her best to greet and respond to greetings with a smile. But her face must've been a mask of exhaustion and worry because everyone she passed by looked at her with pity.

She'd spent almost all night going through document after document. Looking for discrepancies and errors or nuances and technicalities that could help pull the company in which she worked from the crises it currently found itself wallowing.

She'd worked fruitlessly deep into the night until the words on the sheets and her laptop screen blurred and her eyes watered. Only then had she given in to the grogginess. She'd caught the time as 3:58AM just before she'd stood up from the couch and fallen on the bed.

Yet, she'd had to wake up at six in order to prepa