The Three Phases of Molly Caffrey
"Worst case scenarios, huh? What kind of person chooses that as a job description?"
"Someone who lived through one."
- Sean Cavennaugh and Molly Caffery in Trees of Glass
A/N: Pre-Series. Very light spoilers for Trees of Glass.
Uncertainty
He'd left the watch, which was the unspoken promise between them. The promise that he would come back.
Molly had worn it every day, only taking it off to shower so she wouldn't damage the leather band. She had even worn it to bed, letting the soft ticking remind her of her father's heartbeat.
Weeks turned into months. Lonely holidays began to accumulate. Until one day Molly found her mother curled up on the kitchen floor, crying. Grasping Molly close, she'd sobbed into her daughter's hair. “I don't know what to do.”
Molly didn't either. That was the worst part.
Factors
Having a plan was not enough, Molly realized as she ran from her pursuer. Running was a plan, but it wasn't a good one. It wasn't, for example, working.
What to do if you're being pursued by someone twenty years older, a hundred pounds heavier, significantly stronger then you are, and who will not take no for an answer? Running had seemed the most logical recourse. But it was a fact that she would not be able to run forever. She needed an alternative.
That was the day Molly first learned of the incredible usefulness of a properly wielded shovel.
Contingency
Even a good plan was not enough.
Because sometimes, even the best plans fail. Even when you've checked the weather forecast and you've obsessively maintained the boat, and you sure as hell checked the life preserves before heading out, there are still things you didn't take into account. Like the electrical interference from the storm that converged on you from nowhere. Or the wood swelling on the cabinet where you keep the life vests. Or the fact that, against all logic, the grown man you're with succumbs to hypothermia before a 98 pound woman.
And then, the sharks show up.
