The evening wore on and endless numbers were crunched. Finally she hit the enter key. Her report was complete. Looking up a the clock, 1am.
She could only filter a sigh.
Tired and hungry she pondered the thought of stopping at Harvey's Wee Morning Cafe for Dinner and breakfast.
The report finished printing, she grabbed the stack of papers, through them in a folder. Finally.
A sense of bitterness washed over her, the realization that here she was working all these hours for a damn report. Is this what life had become? Toiling endless hours for a stack of papers. While her cohorts, part of the development team, were home in bed. Snuggled with the love of their lives? Or just the love of the night.
She couldnt remember the last time she snuggled with anyone unless one counts Ben and Jerry, her dog and a blanket.
Right at that moment she couldnt stand any of her co workers. Her usual bubbly persona flew out the window about eight hours ago.
What made the bitterness worse was the fact that the whole team would get the kudos from the CEO and not one had helped her with the project.
She would sit at that meeting, listen to the accolades of each team member, burning inside.
She let it go.
Like everything in life, it just wasnt worth it. So what is getting praise? It wouldn't increase her paycheck. Her bills were paid. She had a top dollar flat, nice car. Given the billing for a project wouldnt increase anything. Except gossip at the water cooler. The only way to get anywhere in this Agency was to sleep with someone.
Not that the thought hadnt crossed her mind now and again.
Her eyes crossed her office and peered out her window which faced the rest of the office. She hadnt noticed how creepy the office looked in dim light. A sudden chill ran up her spine.
It was time to go. She felt an urge to get out of the building, now.
She grabbed her purse, her messenger bag and headed for the elevator.
As she walked down the aisles of cubicles, she felt as if she was being watched. Quickly tossing that idea away,"Just tired."
Reaching the elevator, she pushed the button.
Looking over her shoulder, the lights that were on suddenly dimmed and then went bright again. SHe pushed the button again. What could be taking it so long? As far as she knew she was the only one here.
The whir of the elevator coming up the shaft became louder. She felt relieved.
Until it stopped and the doors did not open. She pushed the button again.
SUddenly what light there was, extinguished and all noise ceased.
It was dark and quiet. Deafening quiet.
Within seconds, the fear ran through her as the battery back ups began to wail. Now she was angered. Stuck here, with the blaring beeps of back ups. Great.
All of reasoning had just escaped her. She was an intelligent woman, schooled in life. Schooled in common sense. She quickly gathered her senses and calmed herself down. THe stairs, she would go down all 10 flights of stairs.
Her anger grew.
SHe couldnt place the anger. THere was no one identity to it. THe fact she wasted another evening here at work? That the power went out? That she was letting her fear get the best of her?
As she hit the door, it didnt budge. What the hell?
Now she just thought she had possibly fallen asleep at her desk and this was just some weird dream.
She pushed again. Locked. The emergency door was locked. Her eys caught a green little light.
No she remembered. THe agency had installed key card passes to get in and out. Her office was on the common floor and above and below this floor were the "important" floors.
One below was HR and Finance. The one above, the CEO suite. Ah yes important. Going up wouldnt help her anyways.
"Shit." a visual came to her, her kitchen table. That is where her key card was at this moment. She had never used it since it was installed. Just a useless gadget.
Useless.
A lot of good it's doing her now in her warm home. She pulled her sweater tighter, the air felt chilled. They must set the thermostat to drop down when no one is in the building.
Double great.
She headed for her office, walking in the aisle of cubicles. She could at least wait there.
She fumbled in her purse for a lighter to help her see. Unable to find one, why she thought there would be one didnt make sense to her. She felt her way through the maze. The closer she got to the other side the more light there appeared to be. From outside.
This gave her a sense of comfort. At least there would be some light filtering in.
She was about two feet from her office door, when a shuffling noise came from behind her. Now she knew she was hearing things, or wanting to hear things.
She threw her bags to floor, kicked off her shoes and stood by the window. Gazing out at the city. Looking to see her watch an hour had passed. Strange it felt like only minutes.
Peering closer to the window to look down the street. A few cabs drove down the avenue, and there were people walking. Looking out ahead of one group, to see where they might be headed.. Harvey's.
Her stomach let out a small whine.
Food sounded good right now. Opening her desk drawer, she moved papers and various office supplies, looking for any kind of snack. Forgetting she had given John her granola bar just that morning. He couldnt be "creative enough on an empty stomach", and some other explanation in regards to some "babes" house where he had spent the night.
John whined a lot. Poor John.
Again her attention was drawn to a shuffling noise out in the office. Her eyes glanced up, she thought she had seen a shadow.
Distracting herself from her distraction she went back to thinking about John.
Prompt # 90 deux
John was a clever man. One full of wit and a bit of vim. Yet his vigor depended on what waited on the other side for him.
He was rough around the edges. This intrigued her. Compelled her to move closer to him. To be in his circle. When the gaggle would go out for drinks after work, she would only go if John was going. She wasnt infatuated with him, just intrigued.
She'd catch herself staring at him when he stood in her line of vision at the office.
Usually he'd catch her gazing when her eyes would be perusing his strong legs. Or if he wore a short sleeved shirt, his arms. He had a tattoo on his left arm. She couldn't see the whole tat, and she'd strain to figure it out.
Averting her eyes when he'd look over his shoulder, he knew.
Yet when he'd ask her for dinner, she'd say no. Claiming to be busy. Or have too much work to catch up on. His eyes would pierce through her. Forcing her to speak to him with full eye contact. Making it harder to lie to him. She knew he could see her soul through her eyes. When she did look down to make a sad attempt at breaking it, her eyes would go to all the wrong places.
Inside she'd think to herself that he enjoyed making her squirm.
Now, alone in her cold office. Sitting in the dark thinking about a man, she'd never even get that close to, she wish she had taken him up on his offer.
He intrigued her. He excited her. He may have been rough around the edges, but those were edges she wouldn't have minded.
plus he was brilliant. In a quirky way. He was always up for a great banter. Either he was more intelligent than his appearance showed or he was just good at the talking game.
She could feel her pulse begin to race, at the same time the shuffle noise came closer.
Frozen. Should she get up and shut the door? Hide under her desk? That was silly, if someone was in here, they knew she was as well.
It's just your mind screwing with you, she'd repeat over an dover. Calming herself.
A door slammed across the way.
A small peep slipped from her lips. Someone is in here!
Again trying to calm her fears. If the lights were on, this wouldnt have bothered her as much. The only difference is light and dark. Everything else was the same.
If someone was in here, and they meant her harm, it wouldve been with lights or none.
She waited for a time, and then all noise appeared to stop once again.
She sat back at her desk, leaning back in her chair. Her eyes peered through the darkness, stopping at the little red light blinking.
HER PHONE!
No she felt stupid. Her phone, she could call some one. But who? She didn't know any of the emergency numbers for the agency. Or anyone's home-well except one. John's.
He wouldn't be home. Probably out, looking for a place to sleep for the night. She often wondered why he had his own place when he never seemed to use it. Well, that is if she believed his stories.
911? Should she call the police? That would do. That is what she would do, picking up the phone there was no tone. Damn. But the light was blinking.
SHe pressed her voice mail code and waited.
"Hi I am not able to take your call right now"
Strange it went right into her own voice mail. She hung up and tried again.
The message came through, yet it made no sense. Some gibberish about meeting up and no name. Must have been a wrong-
Out of the corner of her eye she saw something. Turning in her chair, she saw a figure standing about 20 feet away. Just standing there. Perfectly still.
Her eyes locked, waiting. SHe hung up the phone and just sat there. Adjusting her eyes, making every attempt not to blink.
Afraid to move, to breath she hung up the phone.
It was then she noticed that the wailing of the battery back ups had stopped. In fact she couldnt remember the last time she had heard them.
In a moment that felt like movie slow motion, her eyes blinked and the figure was gone. She picked up the phone and dialed 911. Nothing.
Her heart raced, she got up from her chair going to close the door. As she walked past the credenza, she brushed a stack of papers. Damn! Her report. The pile of papers had fallen and spread out across the floor.
Instinctively she bent to pick them up.
Muttering to herself about how silly she was being. There was no one in the building with her. She was just scaring herself, for nothing.
It was then she felt a presence.
A rush of air had moved some of the papers. And a scent wafted into the room. Deodorant? Soap?
With in seconds she felt hands on her torso. She wanted to scream, opening her mouth. No one would hear her, nothing came out.
