Writing Prompt: I promise I won’t tell anyone.

Morning all, ready for the last prompt of the week? Excellent, lets set those timers and get started.

I may have to circle back at lunch time and poke into this a bit more. Kind of like the secret.

Friday, October 3^rd: I promise I won’t tell anyone.

“I promise I won’t tell anyone,” I said.  Laura looked at me and I could practically feel the relief wafting off of her.  I wondered how long she kept whatever this was bottled up.  She gestured to the chair. 

“You are going to want to take a seat.”

I nodded and sat down.  Looking at her seemed to make her more nervous so I reached for the water carafe and glass off to the side and slowly poured myself a glass of water.

“Take your time,” I said.  “I have no where I need to be.”

The truth was I had several places I need to be and a long list of things that needed to be done.  However my schedule was my own and I could easily move things around.  I doubted Laura’s big spilling of secrets would take more than half an hour and I could easily absorb that into my day.  Working late by an extra half hour wouldn’t kill me.

Judging by Laura’s appearance sitting with her secrets for another half hour might cause her more issues.  She took a deep breath and began slowly.

“It started small,” Laura began.  “I started noticing the little things.”

I nodded and took a sip of water.  With that first admonition it was as though a dam broke and words gushed out of Laura in this never-ending wave.  There were moments where I was certain that she barely remembered to breathe. 

I had to admit, it was far more interesting than I expected.  I thought Laura was having some sort of personal crisis.  Which I suppose she was, but I expected something normal.  A fight with her boyfriends, a tough time at work, maybe even a health issue. 

This was something else. 

Laura detailed how she began noticing her boyfriend Dave going out early in the mornings or sometimes late at night.  At first she thought he was cheating on her, but even in the beginning that was just her go to logical guess and it didn’t quite fit.  Instead of coming home smelling of perfume, or sex or some strange shampoo or body wash,  he came home trailing dirt or dust or the scent of old books.

‘And you found it was some sort of archives?” I asked when she finally seemed to take a breath.

“On one of the times I followed him.” Laura admitted.

She had started to follow Dave when he made those strange runs out of the house and even though she never followed him inside the buildings he visited, returning home so she would be where he expected when he returned, she marked down the buildings and looked into them later. 

Several times she tried to follow him and lost him.  Those were the times he came back with dirt on his shoes and hands rather than trailing the scent of old books.

“And you didn’t think to ask him about any of this?”

She favored me with a frown.  “Of course I asked.  I asked him well before I tried following him.  Most of the time he looked confused as though he didn’t know what I was talking about, even though I could see it was an act. When he lies, he tends to rub his left earlobe,” she explained.  “So it wasn’t like he was sleepwalking and forgot.  He knew he just didn’t want to tell me.  When I pointed out the dirt he said something about gardening.”

“Gardening?”

“Yeah,” she said with a laugh that was dry and humorless.  “Helping out a friend’s grandmother before work.  If he is then her yard is primed to win garden prizes this year with as much work as he’s put in.”