Friday, April 8, 2016

#TuesFlashFicTrain: Quite the Predicament

Getting my #TuesdayFlashFictionTrain in just under the wire tonight.  Which is fitting because I had to edit it down to make exactly 400 words and our prompt was about being productive.  Here's my answer to the next part of Gloria's story.  Head over to Trials and Tribulations of Writing Fiction for the first part of Gloria's story as well as other responses to this part.

Gloria stopped to stretch out the kinks that had formed in her neck and shoulders from hunching over her desk for so long.  Rolling her neck, she noticed the candles were mere stubs.  She checked her watch.  Not break time yet.  She scanned down her list and realized she’d gotten most of it done already.
Gloria double checked the queue in the computer.  As usual, there were several additions.  She printed off the new list and decided to grab some new candles from the supply closet.  That way, she was all set to tackle the rest of the list after break.  Hopefully that would see her through the end of her shift.  Except for Harvey.
She carefully secured her desk against accidental castings while she was gone and dug out the ancient key for the supply closet.  Making her way down the rows of empty cubicles, Gloria thought she heard voices.
“That’s unusual,” she said to herself, “There shouldn’t be anyone else in this department right now.  Hell, there’s only a few other people in the entire building at the moment.”
Gloria stopped at the supply closet and jiggled the decrepit lock open.  She always loved coming here with the neat rows of ingredients in quantities she could only dream of in her personal supply cupboard.  There were some rather special ingredients kept here as well, ones she knew she’d never have of her own.  Gloria made her way to the candles and selected the necessary colors and sizes.  As she approached the door, she heard the voices again, only much clearer this time.
“Are you sure this is going to work?” A deep male voice asked.
“There’s no one here to stop us,” a second, medium toned man answered.
“What about Gloria?  She’s in this section tonight.”
“Harvey’s taking care of here.  By the time we’re ready, we’ll be just fine.”
The voices faded to unintelligible garble.
“There’s no bloody way I’m meeting with Harvey tonight,” she whispered waiting to be sure the two men were really gone, “How am I going to get out of it this time?”
Gloria headed back to her desk.  Four rows away from her cubicle she spotted Harvey waiting there for her.  His back was to her so he hadn’t realized she was there yet.
Really!  For the love of all, can’t I catch a break?  Now what am I going to do?


Stop by the Don't Panic Picture Prompt and take a shot!  You have until Sunday April 10th before midnight.







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