Writing Prompt: My watch stopped.

Morning everyone. This week is just flying by. Since July seemed to drag on interminably it seems strange that as it is coming to a close it should feel like it is speeding by, but so it is. And now we are at Wednesday the 30th. So lets see what today’s writing prompt brings us shall we? Timers set and off we go.

Oh the watch is going to be linked to something. Not sure what, but something. I suspect this will be sitting in the back of my brain all day.

Wednesday, July 30^th: My watch stopped.

My watch stopped.  I frowned as I looked at it.  I wound it that morning so I knew that wasn’t the problem.  I remembered winding it as Dennis laughed at me for even wearing a watch. 

“There is a clock on your cell phone,” he reminded me.  It wasn’t my first time hearing that statement from him and as always he rolled his eyes as I continued my morning ritual of winding the watch.  The watch had been a gift for my eighteenth birthday.  A strange bright spot in a singularly shadowed life this far.  I hadn’t realized anyone remembered it was my birthday let alone that it was an important one.  No one had remembered my birthday for the previous five years and even before then it had been a cursory remembrance that might, if someone happened to be feeling good and in the right area, involve a cupcake. 

The watch was a delightful anomaly and I had worn it ever since. 

There was the slim hope that as I was an adult, things might change with my family, the watch symbolizing a new beginning for us all.  It wasn’t and once everyone seemed to realize I was a legal adult, their involvement with me on any level dropped precipitously. 

I hadn’t even spoken to anyone in the family for at least a decade.

It was what it was.  I still wore the watch.  The watch that somehow was not working.  I left it on my wrist and made a mental note to head into the Old Town after work.  There was a jewelry store there that also had someone on hand to repair watches.  I could make it there before they closed, drop off the watch and pick it up when they were finished.

I hoped it wouldn’t take too long.  After so long wearing the watch, my wrist felt naked and exposed without it on.  I had to replace the strap a few years ago and walking around without the watch until I could get the replacement made me feel slightly disconnected, as though time itself had stepped away from me.

With my mental note and hope for speedy repairs in place I went about my day.  It was a strange day.  I drove to the office and parked in the garage next to my building.  As I exited the garage a car sped past me, crashing through the barrier to the exit, in a rush to leave without paying for the parking or showing his badge to the electronic reader to let it know he already had.  I was with several others leaving the parking garage at the time.  All of us were safely out of the way, the broken divider thrown clear as the car sped away.

It was strange though.  Not only for the destruction but the timing.  At this time of day most people were arriving, not leaving.  The garage was used primarily by those working in the surrounding office buildings.

“I guess someone forgot something important at home,” a woman near me said as we all recovered from the shock of the destruction.  I vaguely recognized her as working in my building but didn’t know her name.  I agreed with the sentiment and we both continued on to the office building.  We shared an elevator.  She got out on three and I went to five.  We weren’t alone, others taking different floors. 

Once on the fifth floor the strange morning continued.