Misha woke up to the harmonious choir of moos. She had five identical alarm clocks on her desk next to the bed, each one shaped like a cow with plastic heads bobbing side to side.
It's not so much that she was particularly fond of cows in a way that some people are into cats or dogs. This was a habit built from a year she spent living with the Kharunes during her university days majoring in Cultural Study of Kharunes. In the mountain plateau on the remote island called Lumhei, cows marked the beginning of the day rather than roosters.
The Kharune tribe, which was heavily outnumbered by the Lumheis who lived by the seaside on the island, was the minority among minorities. This meant that while most children are educated about Lumheis at some points in their elementary school, the Kharunes were completely overlooked.
And Misha was one of the first and only four students who graduated from the course that was established on the year she entered the university. Her diploma stamped 'with honors,' which the university gave to all four students, hung proudly in her room at her family's house.
The cow alarms were her way of keeping a daily connection with the Kharunes every morning, a tribe who truly embraced her and called her 'one of us' by the time she left.
The adopted Child of Kharune was feeling good today. She began her internship at Thorne Media a week ago and everything seemed to be going well. She felt lucky to have a helpful senior called Ms. Marissa Caldwell, who took Misha under her wings and showed her 'the way things work around here.' The new intern thought Marissa was a very friendly and smiley woman, always assigning her things to do so that she won't feel out of place.
Misha grilled four slices of toast over the flames on her gas cooker, making sure that they are burnt just about right. Another morning routine learned from the Kharunes.
Over the breakfast, she paid extra attention to the entertainment news. She was now working in Thorne Media after all, but in truth, movies, TV shows, anime - anything of the sort - have always been another passion of Misha. As a child growing up she immersed herself in the world of fictions with no discrimination between genres or media.
'What a lucky girl I am,' Misha thought to herself, munching on the crunchy toast. She grew up in a happy family, majored in a subject that she had a passion for, and had now entered the industry that was perfectly aligned with her interests.
Life couldn't get any better, but she was sure it would.
Misha looked at the time and it was 8:14 AM. She spent a few minutes more on reading the news than she should have. But this was no problem for the girl who always found a way to overcome any obstacles in her way. She ran to catch the subway on time every morning anyway. This little delay just meant she had to run a little faster.
Feeling confident, the young lady checked herself in the mirror before she left the studio-flat her father has rented for her to be closer to work. Not noticing that she buttoned her shirts wrong, Misha felt perfectly ready for this Monday morning.