Morning all and welcome to the middle of the week. I hope yours is chugging along nicely. I had a character rebellion early in the week and I am trying to get things back on track, but otherwise, not too bad for October. So shall wee see what this morning’s prompt will bring? Timers set and off we go.
I like the set up. Just need to figure out the details. Both past and present.
Wednesday, October 9th: The mattress was firmer than I was used to.
The mattress was firmer than I was used to. In fact compared to this mattress, my mattress at home was a down stuffed cushion with no interior supports. I shifted around. It was like trying to sleep on a padded board. There was no give to the mattress and when I rolled onto my side I could feel the pressure on my hip. I rolled back onto my back and stared at the ceiling.
‘One night,’ I reminded myself. ‘I will stay one night, go to the gathering and then leave.’
I wasn’t entirely certain about the following day but I had agreed.
I knew it was a bad idea when I got the call. How long had it been since I had seen any of them? Heard from them? I couldn’t remember. When the news about my father broke, they all cut ties. Some instantly and dramatically, others slowly putting more distance between us. They slowly stopped taking my calls. It took a year and all six of them were out of my life as though they had never been.
Everything changed that year. I could have used friends. But they weren’t those sorts of friends. It took three years but in the end my father was exonerated, the social stigma banished in an instant, all forgiven, all forgotten. This time it was me that didn’t take their calls. It took six months for them to take the hint and stop trying.
That had been almost ten years ago.
A lot changed in those ten years. We were all different people then we were back then. I hadn’t really thought of them, not consciously anyway, in years. I wasn’t avoiding them so much as not thinking about them. When I answered the phone I did so without looking at the screen, my attention elsewhere. I was expecting a call. It just wasn’t Sean I was expecting to hear from.
I wasn’t surprised that Sean was the one they chose to call. It took him the longest to fade away and he was always the peacemaker in our group. Everyone was gathering for the reunion and I was invited to their private post reunion gathering. I hadn’t planned to attend the reunion, had in fact received and tossed the invitation after having my assistants send in my regrets.
I told Sean that but he asked if I could stop by their group anyway. I wasn’t sure why I said yes. He sounded more relieved than I would have expected. I looked for a hotel room but most were booked up. I secured one, and was now doing my best to rest in the too firm bed. Tomorrow I would see them and to be honest, I was having second thoughts. I was actually having third or fourth thoughts. I gave up on sleep and got up. I went to my laptop and decided to look into my old friends.
Ten til Midnight 