"Double-Existence" Introduction

A fiction novel based on the life of an educated city professional woman who also heads a counterfeit money distribution operation in a dangerous underground criminal world.

The alarm clock jolted the life out of her sleep. Yesterday she changed the alarm ring before setting her cellphone next to her sofabed. Cheriz never could stomach the standard alarm clock. She felt this associated too much with a settled home life; which did not mirror her reality, so her phone was an adequate substitution. Her former ring sounded like a wave of a sweet intermittent melody that so easily meshed with fading dream remnants in the wee morning hours; yet did nothing to return her to the hustle and bustle of daily life. Especially now with the looming shadow of heartbreak taking over her resting hours; she tended to drift into slumber abyss only minutes before it was time to arise. Now, the 1920"s style rotary ring programmed on her 2017 Android was a fitting remedy to this issue, and she welcomed it with necessity sprinkled with disdain.

After hitting the 10 minute phone buzzer twice, Cheriz pulled herself from under her shallow knitted covers, and slowly drudged across the carpet to her bathroom shower. She thought " This is a new morning, yet the same pain....wonderful...". As she turned on the shower faucet and felt the droplets of water warm the pores of her skin, she began tapping into her mental to-do list of the day:

10:00am " Overview meeting with the support staff to discuss the upcoming company changes

3:00pm " CEO meeting with Mr. Hurston to finalize the details of the company new structure launch

7:00pm " Zuumba Class with Donnie " yay!"

8:30pm " Meetup with the Kyles D. to examine the freshly made bills before distribution to the A crew at 2:00am.

Hopefully, Cheriz thought, she would make it across town in time with the evening traffic which always seemed to result a wrecking headache. But, she couldn't miss Donnie, her favorite class instructor. He was a gem, and that jolt of workout energy would serve her well to burn the midnight oil while counting the sixty-three stacks of one hundred dollar premium counterfeit bills until delivery time.

Author's Note

Would love some critique; my first time writing any kind of story and would like to get an idea how it comes across. Thanks

Reviews

[John the Baptist]

This is a good intro. It makes us interested in the protagonist without giving away too much. Right away, though, we see she is someone living on the edge of danger and possibly liking it a little too much. Still, we don't know yet if she is truly self destructive, and this is what builds the suspense and make us want to find out more. Good work.

PS: I've always seen it spelled "hustle and bustle."