Morning all and happy Monday. I hope you had a fabulous weekend. Mine was quiet and rainy. I had planned on gardening and while I did manage to pull a few weeds between bouts of thunderstorms, it looks like there will be weeknight garden chores in my future. At least with the ground so soggy the weeds were easy to pull. But for now, let’s start this Monday off right with a morning prompt. Timers at the ready and off we go.
I’ll admit I wasn’t entirely sure where I was going with this, but I started to see a glimmer at the end. I may take a few minutes and add a bit more so I don’t forget where I was going.
Monday, June 9th: He stared blankly ahead.
He stared blankly ahead. How had it come to this? Everything was going so well. He had the dream. A good job doing exactly what he loved doing and getting well paid for it. He had a girlfriend who he adored. He had begun thinking of marriage.
Then there was the announcement.
His company was closing this branch. They were eliminating the entire thing. No satellite office, no shrinking of the work force. Just a closing. A few key members of staff were going to be transferred to the main corporate office. He thought he had done well enough to be included in that list. However when he looked at the list, his name wasn’t on it. Several of his projects were. They were listed as achievements his supervisor took credit for. They were in fact the main reasons his supervisor was on the list. Was being kept on, transferred to the main office.
‘Where he will no doubt find a new team to take advantage of,’ he thought. The thought had no heat to it. It probably would at some point, but not now. He wasn’t the only one whose projects their supervisor took credit for and some of the others were angrier than he was. He suspected the anger would come when the shock wore off.
After the shock of the list, he received a text. His girlfriend was leaving him. She had been offered a promotion far away and she planned to take it. She wished him all the best, but thought it was best they go their own ways since they weren’t all that serious.
He stared at the text for a while, his car still in the parking lot of the office building. He had been thinking of marriage. She thought they weren’t that serious. It was true that they didn’t see each other very often. They usually met up once a week. He thought if he proposed and they got married they would see more of each other. True things had been busy for both of them and there were several Friday nights missed, so it was only once a month that they saw each other now, but that didn’t mean they weren’t serious, did it?
After a time he set the phone to the side and began staring into the space above the steering wheel. He wasn’t sure what to do. Where to go.
‘Home I suppose,’ he thought with no real energy. He blinked and looked around. The parking lot was mostly empty. The workday long since ended. Darkness was gathering and he noticed the security guard watching him. ‘Home then,’ he told himself. At least at home he could break down without being observed.
Dan put the key in the ignition and fastened his seatbelt. He shifted into drive and pulled out of his parking slot. With no one else in the lot he didn’t have to back out, just drive across the empty slots to the exit. Which he did.
The streets he traveled were mostly empty. He obeyed the stop lights but thought it best that everyone stay away from him for a while. He knew he wasn’t functioning at full capacity. It would be safer if they just stayed away. He crossed town and pulled into the parking lot of his apartment building. He parked, got out and went upstairs, leaving his box of office odds and ends in the back seat. He would deal with it later. He reached his floor and to his surprise someone was standing in front of it. Someone he didn’t know.
“Took you long enough to get home,” the stranger said. “We’re going to be late.”
Ten til Midnight 