Mystical Sea: A Reckoning of Love and Identity

I had been out of the country for a while, and I was looking forward to my first day back in the office. It made me anxious, but there was nothing that could stop me from going back. I wanted to see everyone, talk about old times and how our vacations went. That's when it happened.

*Knock knock knock*

My neighbor was at my door. He had a look of concern on his face. He said that he'd noticed that my lights hadn't been turned off since yesterday, so he came to check up on me. At first, I thought it was funny; like somebody had left them on by accident or something. After all, I'd only been gone for four days. I thanked him for checking up on me and told him it was no big deal.

I went about my day as usual; getting ready for work, driving to the office, etcetera. Nothing seemed amiss until lunch time. That's when I saw her. She looked beautiful in her business suit, hair tied neatly in a bun and all. Her light brown skin glistened under the sun as she walked towards me with a smile on her face and a bag of chips in her hand. She said hello and sat down next to me in the cafeteria, just like she always did every day.

"How was your vacation?" she asked cheerfully.

I didn't know what to say. Was this real? Had she really just talked to me? This wasn't something that had ever happened before; like we would talk normally and then part ways, never talking again until lunch time the following day. We used to be good friends before her promotion a couple months ago; both assistant managers looking to be promoted into management positions down the line if we kept proving ourselves worthy of it one step at a time. But after that promotion, things changed between us completely - well at least for me. She started acting like a different person entirely; distant and emotionally detached from everyone else in the office except for her favourite client - Mr Jones - who just happened to be an ex-boyfriend of hers from high school! He apparently had gone through some hard times after he broke up with her because he couldn't get over their love for each other (which is odd because they were together for less than two months!), so she took it upon herself to go visit him overseas to "talk things out". They supposedly did that every single year since then...

"...What's wrong?" she asked, snapping me out of my thoughts. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

I shook my head and smiled at her nervously: "Nothing's wrong." I replied with a forced smile "Just thinking about work."

That evening when I got home, everything seemed normal again: lights were turned off when nobody had been at home all day long and everything looked as it should be... but wait! Something was still amiss! *Knock knock knock* My neighbour was back again! Exactly like before! Same concerned expression on his face and same remarks about my lights being left on all day! It felt surreal! How could this be happening? When did this start happening?

The following day went by exactly like any other day: same routine as usual, same lunch break conversation with my co-worker friend "Lucinda". Same thing during dinner... with Lucinda again! And again! And again! Lucinda sitting down next to me at lunch time at the cafeteria each day, saying hello and asking how my vacation went after being so distant towards me ever since she got promoted - just like she always did before things changed between us all those months ago... Then Lucinda checking up on me during dinner time each evening.. telling me that she was worried about me because my lights hadn't been turned off since yesterday... So Lucinda checking up on me during dinner time each evening... telling me that she was worried about me because my lights hadn't been turned off since yesterday... Then Lucinda checking up on me during dinner time each evening.. telling me that she was worried about me because my lights hadn't been turned off since yesterday... Then Lucinda checking up on me during dinner time each evening.. telling me that she was worried about me because my lights hadn't been turned off since yesterday... Then Lucinda checking up on me during dinner time each evening.. telling me that she was worried about m- *click*