Fragments Gallery
A Change of Pace
He stared out the dusty office window, idly twirling a pen between his fingers. The world crawled by outside, with its slowly drifting clouds and antlike people moving along the sidewalks so far below. It was peaceful out there. Serene.
Golden light filled the morning air, its illumination falling across the tall buildings that make up the city’s core. A distant flock of birds, maybe flying back north after that harsh winter, flew past along the horizon. It had been quite some time since he had last seen those.
The office was quiet and, from his co-worker's vacant expressions, he could tell he wasn't the only one to wish that the weekend could have lasted for just one more day. It seemed like ages since he'd had a period of longer than two days off. Even three would be a delightful refresher.
Instead he sat in his old cubical and, continuing to twirl the pen in long luxurious loops, stared out the window. It wasn't that he had nothing to do, the size of the stack of paper watching him was astounding, but he just felt lethargic and unfocused.
Maybe if he could just get some time off... a change of pace would do him wonders.
A commotion from the hallway outside the office briefly broke the silence. Upraised voices came through the wall disturbing the peace of the sleepy workplace. A murmur grew as the employees rose above the walls of their cubicles to investigate. If he hadn't been so sleepy he might have followed suite but he couldn't summon the will to rise. Besides the noises outside were already dying down, there was probably nothing to see.
The office grew quiet beyond the walls of his cubical as people settled down again. He continued to idly spin the pen between his fingers. The door of the office opened and shut. Murmuring from the front told him that someone had entered and was now talking to the receptionist. The door opened and closed again as someone left, their exit punctuated by a flash of light reflecting on the ceiling tiles from across the office. Dimly he though the light was odd but it wasn't enough to fully grasp his attention in his sleepy state. Instead he returned his attention to the contents of his desk.
The stack of paper still stared at him hungrily. Sometimes he felt it wanted to consume his life. With a sigh he gave into its demands and pulled the top one from the stack.
As he set pen to paper he saw another flicker of light reflecting off the wall. The area held his eye for a moment before he turned back to the forms on his desk. He managed to scribble in a few more words before another brief flash of white light caught his eye from the other side of the room. The light didn't seem to move from place to place, it was just there for a moment and then gone again.
It showed up again reflecting off the ceiling tiles a few cubicles over. It vanished again and then a few seconds later it appeared again, this time a few cubicles over in the other direction. The light flickered again and this time didn't reappear.
"Whew. Here you are!" came a high musical voice from beside his ear, "I thought I'd never find you Castor!”
Shocked, he mutely looked up at the little creature sitting on his shoulder. She gave a little laugh and fluttered down to where she could stand on his desk. He numbly put a hand up on his shoulder, he hadn't felt her there. She had no weight to her.
"I've been looking all over for you!"
She was human formed. Mostly human formed anyways. She had a persistent childlike smile, long limbs, brightly glowing white skin and long black hair. The only less regular feature she had was the pair of translucent webbed wings rising from her back. The man looked up and sure enough there was that reflection on the ceiling which he had been following around the office.
He glanced back into the aisle beside his desk as co-worker walked past, giving him a smile and greeting which he returned. He didn't even get a second glance, it was as if-
"They can't see me," the creature stated primly, "not unless I want them to."
"Are you a Fairy?" He asked hesitantly. He had never expected to have to ask that question.
"Some people call me that!" she said, "I don't know for sure though. Others have called me an angel."
Hesitantly he waved a hand through the air where she stood. His hand encountered no resistance on its way through.
She giggled, "That tickles!"
"Was that you before?" he murmured, he still could not believe what he was seeing, "Out in the hallway?"
"Someone saw me," she said with a pout, "They can't do that. It's against the rules."
"I thought you said they couldn't see you?"
"I know!" she exclaimed obviously upset, "It's so unfair!"
"What- what are you doing here?" he murmured, feeling as though that was a stupid thing to ask but too flustered to think of any other questions.
"I'm here for you of course! We need you!"
"For me? You need me? Why?"
"Because you can help us!"
"I can? I'm not even sure you're real."
"I'm real! And we need you! You're the only one who can help! "
"I don't understand."
"You will! We need you at sundown! Be there!" She gave him an even bigger grin, waved a hand and vanished from sight.
"You didn't even tell me where to go…" he said bemused, staring at the place where she had stood.
It didn't matter. She couldn't have been real, could she?