Prompt 6.01- Five Times Someone Was Late For Work
Five Times Someone Was Late For Work
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There’s a faint line of light peaking in through the heavy curtains. A faint line that shouldn’t be there until the sun began to set later in the afternoon.
Helen scrubs a hand over her eyes and turns to regard the large clock standing in the corner. Half four. Helen blinks a couple of times and looks again. Half four.
James. She was going to kill them as soon as she returned from her meeting with several of her supporters in Parliament. A meeting that was to start in half an hour and here she was half-naked in James’s parlor.
They weren’t expecting any guests that afternoon but it wouldn’t do to be found in such a state, her skirts scattered around the room, her bodice laid over the back of a chair. Her corset twisted and mangled hung limp from her torso as she sat up. They clasped in the front for a reason, but even that seemed too much for James at times.
It would take her nearly the entire time to make it across town, and just as long to dress. She’d be better off leaving her scattered garments where they were and retrieving a freshly laundered day dress from her room.
Casting around the parlor, she swore quietly at James’s latest bout of ingenuity. He had seen to removing among every other textile, the ornate wall hanging from Turkey, leaving her without a single scrap of fabric with which to cover herself save her scattered rumpled dress.
As late as she was going to be, Helen decided that upon dressing she would pay a visit to the library. Bestowing her current wrath upon James was more than payment enough for the profuse apologies she would be paying upon her arrival at the restaurant.
Two.
“Mommy?”
Helen pauses, arm halfway through the sleeve of her long wool coat, to turn toward the quiet request.
“Ashley, darling what are you doing out of bed? It’s late.”
“There’s a clown,” the sniffling blonde half sobs running down the remaining steps to throw herself into her mother’s embrace.
“It can’t hurt you.” Helen reminds her gently. “Why don’t we find someone to put you back to bed.”
“You promised.” Ashley’s grip tightens as Helen scoops her up. “You promised you’d make them go away.”
“Alright.” Helen soothes, running a hand down her daughter’s back. “Let’s go deal with these clowns. I bet they’re only looking for the box of crayons you’ve hidden. They’re scared of the dark you know.” Helen continues as she begins making her way up the stairs. “There’s no colors in the dark, and clowns? Well they don’t like things that don’t have colors. It’s why they insist on those god awful red noses.”
Three.
“How was I supposed to know the door would lock behind me? Or that the place was a bona fide panic room with no cell service?”
“I told you.“
“You also told me the Big Guy served normal breakfast food, that I wouldn’t get flushed out of my shower, that two am feedings did not include a dip in Sally’s tank, and that the stairs to the North Tower were haunted.”
“Well yeah.” Ashley shrugged, “you did say, though, that you could tell when I was lying.
Four.
“Kate.”
“I’m not going.”
“Dammit Kate!”
“She’s dead Will. What the hell do you want from me?”
“We can’t just give up.”
Kate twists her wrist free from his grasp and falls back onto the couch where she’d been lying. “You can’t, but I can. Go save the world. I’m done.”
“I’m not leaving without you.”
“Fine but don’t blame me when you’re the only one left for sentry duty.”
Five.
“You’re late.”
“So are you.”
“At least I have a good excuse.”
Henry sighs. “And what would that be?”
“I had to go all the way downtown to a gym to take a shower because someone still hasn’t installed the new hot water heater.”
Henry chokes back a laugh, dodging the blow that threatens to land as he finishes speaking. “I fixed it as soon as you left. I just tested it. It works like a dream. That shower was worth every minute and the death glare we’re going to get from Magnus.”
Kate glares. “I hope for your sake it’s worth the beatdown you’re getting from me as soon as Magnus gets done with us.”
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