Short Fiction

8:52

Chloe exhaled, exhausted. Not the kind of exhaustion that comes after a long days work and is eased with a large meal. The kind of exhaustion that comes before the day has even begun and can only be endured with coffee. She glanced at the glowing green box numbers of her car dashboard, assuring her she achieved the seemingly impossible task of getting to work on time. The mere endeavor of getting herself out of bed was often struggle enough, but to pull her distracted kindergartner away from the colorful cereal box and to pull herself away from her clingy two year old at daycare added to the tricky morning schedule.

She took another deep breath and turned her car off, and the radio with it. She enjoyed the music in the morning. Whether it was her toddler's sing-along tape or whatever songs the stations were replaying these days, the music always served as an escape. Turning the car off in the parking lot of her office building always seemed, in some way, a defeat. Chloe clutched her day bag, filled with as many gum wrappers and cough drops as work-related items, and opened the car door.

She was hit by the cold of this early October morning. Where had summer gone? Chloe was in the habit of leaving the house without a coat. She remembered with militant diligence to dress her children appropriately, but somehow managed to disconect herself from the reality of the weather. Chloe threw shut the door and clicked the lock on her key chain. She bundled her arms around herself and sprinted for the door.

Barb who sat at reception looked up as Chloe opened the door, releasing its cold wet breath. Chloe slid into her office, slumped her bag on the chair, clicked on her computer, and made a b-line for the ladies room. Her morning routine ran like the songs on the radio - possibly without pattern, but certainly repetative. She went into the small kitchen area and poured herself a cup of coffee. She talked with Sue about their children's halloween costumes and the general impossibility of 5-year-olds. She smiled dutifully at the CEO and her other coworkers, echoing their good mornings. A few minutes later, Chloe returned to her desk and wiggled the mouse to remove the screen saver.

Half attentive to the task of entering her computer password, half distracted by the remnants of yesterday's work left on her desk, Chloe sipped her coffee and began to re-order her mind. She thought about the main objectives of her day and began to create an outline in her mind of priorities. To better get her baring she took a quick glance to the corner of her computer screen to check the time. 12:42. "Damnit, what's wrong with this piece of junk now?" Chloe murmured. She took in a long slow breath and pulled out her cell phone to find out the real time. 12:42, it mimmicked. "Impossible", Chloe thought as a sense of panic ran over her. How could she have wasted so much time? It had to be a mistake. 12:52 the clocks now read, and Chloe's eyes focused on the numbers. 12:55, 12:56, 12:57. The minutes moved on like seconds. At first Chloe was relieved, negotiating that she had misread the seconds keys for minutes keys. But this consolation soon faded as the clocked flipped, 1:00, 1:01, 1:02. Stop. STOP! Chloe hissed, hitting the sides of the computer. She took in a deep breath, swiveled around in her chair, and hopped to the door. "Barb", Choe exhaled. "Barb, something's wrong with my computer. "Barb went to lunch", Sue's voice came from her office down the hall. "Lunch? Already", Chloe asked. "It's 1:30, Chloe! Sounds like someone's been lost in their work" Sue joked. Chloe felt a prick on the back of her neck that spread round to her ears and forehead as a quiet 'no' escaped her mouth. She stood there for a while uncertain of what to make of this phenomenon. Pulling our her cell phone again, the time read "2:03". Hours, gone. Impulsively, Chloe ran from the office.

She ran down the road. She ran to the end of the road and she kept running. Chloe ran through a field and into some woods. She came upon the bank of a creek in the hallow of two hills and stopped. There she saw a bird land on a brach and then, alerted immediately to her presence, take off again. Everything else seemed to run in time. Cars still rushed by at their normal speeds. The birds did not pause for her to observe. Even the water in the creek flowed onward. Chloe was filled with rage. "Stop!" She insisted. "Stop just stop for a second!" she screamed down at the indifferent water. "I said STOP" she demanded, splashing into the water and facing the oncoming current. She knelt down in the creek bed and spread out her arms and pushed against the flow. The water rose up and over her arms. Stop, she pleaded, stop, Stop, STOP! she raged, splashing the water back into place. The water approached her calmly, where she threw it up in rebelion, kicking and slapping at the current. Chloe tried with all her might to hault the march. With limbs and water flailing all around her, Chloe could not stop it. It fell back in line behind her. In her madness Chloe slipped into a sitting position and the water turned her around. She saw that the water continued its cource behind her, uninterupted, with no sign she had been there at all.

Chloe crawled out of the water onto the muddy bank and wept. Her tears ran down her cheaks with the hostage water escaping from her hair.

Exhausted.

Not the kind that comes at the end of a long day's work, and not the kind that comes before the day begins, but the kind of exhaustion that all mortal beings sense. It was a good exhaustion. It calmed her like a heavy blanket. Chloe fell back on the ground, panting. She looked up at the trees and watched them loose their leaves. She felt the prick of those fallen leaves on her neck. She smelt the decay. It smelt sweet.