The dance floor was pretty crowded, so there wasn't much room for my small and awkward movements to betray my self consciousness. Geo was a real gentleman. The comfort he projected with my awkward attempts at dancing counterbalanced my extreme social anxiety. I don't know whether it was the exertion of dancing or the fact that I only had a breadstick and a cup of coffee all day, but quickly I could feel the vodka wash over me like a warm mist, dulling the sharp edges of my self-conciousness. Geo seemed to notice it as well. I felt him relax as I relaxed and my dance moves felt more ….fluid.

I had no idea where this would lead. And at the moment, I didn't care.

The beautiful countryside smelled of fresh grass and wildflowers. The roads this close to Threefold still overflowed with masses of adventurers choosing the easy path to their early quests, though the crowds put the lie to the word “easy.” I walked the fields, confident that the occasional starving wolf or unskilled bandit would offer me little real danger.

By Therisa Godwaldt

© 2008 Therisa Godwaldt

All rights Reserved

An angry feminine voice
Jars me
Back to the present.

My eyes
Bleary from crying
Realizing
It was your mom.

Hastily
Wiping my eyes dry
Turn to face her.

Knew
She was talking
But didn't understand
Her.

Slowly
Her words penetrated
My mental fog.

Judging
From her voice's pitch
She has been yelling at me
For a while.

"James Robert McLeod!"

It doesn't take long when one of our security personnel appears at my new office. Its mechanical voice speaks. “It is time Associate Gorman. Please follow me.” I get up and follow. My guide leads me down into the basement where I stand in the corridor into the same stone corridor I had been led fifteen years ago, the same corridor that I had led Collin now Kelly to take. I stand before the stone archway, but it isn't closed off it is open. I close my eyes. I relax into the yoga that has been my comfort and stay since I have become a part of Fashionable Inc.

A Blank Page
Chapter 10
By Flummox