When Vogue finally returned to his small apartment after days of grueling travel through the wilderness, exhausted. He unlocked his door and stepped inside.
The room was empty and Gloria wasn'there.
I'll contact her tomorrow, Vogue told himself. Once I've rested and cleaned up properly.
He received a notification that he was to be at the University in two days.
"Please report to the Clairemont Street Transportation Hub at 6:00 AM on the designated morning. Buses will be provided for approved candidates. Late arrivals will not be accommodated. Further instructions will be provided upon arrival at the Inner City."
Vogue checked the date on the letter, then mentally calculated. Two days from when this was sent meant… tomorrow morning. The exam was literally tomorrow.
Vogue looked around his apartment—at the worn furniture, the stained walls, the perpetually broken heating unit, all the markers of poverty and struggle that had defined his life for so long.
