Morning all. Some time around 2 am my neighbor’s dogs decided to have a barking contest; yappy Yorkie versus bass Basset Hound.The contest came in short intervals for several hours and while the barking I could block out my mind kept going through all the things that could make them bark and so I spent the night drifting in and out of sleep still trying to decide what it could be. As there were no sirens or outward property damage I am going with they were taunted by a sarcastic racoon. But moving on from wildlife, let’s start the day with a writing prompt and a really large cup of coffee. Prompt first, coffee to follow. So let’s begin.
Well, not quite what i was expecting, but fun nonetheless.
Thursday, February 4th: She suffered through personal attacks and rumors.
She suffered through personal attacks and rumors. Somedays it was all she could do to keep her head up and ignore the whispered comments she heard slipping through the air around her. On good days she found a dark humor in the ‘knowledge’ everyone seemed to have of the affair.
All knew her father had gone off with the expedition. Even she knew that. But it had been six months since the team’s last check in and no one knew what was going on. Alice stopped by the station every day after school, hoping that while she sat through classes and listened to the rumors no one would dare actually say in her presence, word had come in from the team.
Everyone knew that as the survival expert chosen for the team, her father was the one keeping the others alive. This in their eyes meant that if something happened, it was his fault. In the hallways she heard that her father let the team freeze to death so they all died in a huddled mass. She heard that they were starving and eating each other to survive, her father of course deciding who would be the eater and who the eaten. She heard of attacks by bears and even attacks by creatures unknown whose presence mostly lurked in the back of her classmates nightmares and comic books.
Today was no different. Instead of feeling the dark humor at how everyone knew what was going on when in fact no one, not even the people in charge of the expedition, knew what was happening with the deployed team, she felt a dull sort of headache throbbing behind her eyes with each step.
Bears
Cannibalism
Freezing
Aliens
Harpoons
Pirates
Mutiny
One by one the rumors flitted around her. Today instead of passing they thundered into her ears bouncing off of her ear drum with a resounding thud and echoing painfully in her head until she wanted to scream.
She managed to make it to her final class of the day without snapping, but it was a close thing. As classes ended she took her books and turned her steps to the station. It was the long way home but she couldn’t stop herself from passing, from going in and asking if any message had been received.
Today there was no hope to her steps. She knew that there would more than likely be no message and each step she took felt weighed down with the knowledge. She would arrive, be told there was nothing new and then they would look at her with pitying eyes as she turned and walked away. She suspected that those at the station were thinking thoughts that were on the same lines as her classmates, but were too polite to say them while she was in the room.
Despite her dragging feet, Alice made it to the station. She took a deep breath and braced for disappointment as she opened the door.
There was a soft beeping from the electronic equipment and the others looked up as she entered. Two of the faces were silent and filled with pity. The third belonged to the general. His eyes were sad but kind as he stood up and walked over. Alice saw him open his mouth, but before he could the soft steady beeping grew louder. Bells began ringing and lights began flashing. The General turned away to look at his men.
“Sir, one of them said. “We have an incoming message.”
Ten til Midnight 