Hello dear friends, how are you today? It's great for me to be able to publish for the first time in this community, although sometimes the inspiration is lacking, today it has arrived and I'm happy to share with you a short fiction story that I've spent the day preparing, I hope you like it.
This was a Tuesday like any other, August was ending and Javier could not believe that soon 2022 would also be gone, just a few days ago January began and with it, many plans and goals that he wished to have achieved by this time. It was almost 5:00 pm and Javier turned to look at the time every 5 minutes, with his sick wife, the night before he had slept little and although his mother-in-law, like any loving mother, had gone to take care of Kelly, he could not help but be worried.
Only 5 minutes left to finish his shift and a little desperate, he began to gather his things to put them in his briefcase, some papers to fill at home, pencils and his wallet, it was not much to collect, but he wanted to lose some time to leave at the right time as his boss was strict with the time, not a minute more and not a minute less, a leg moving in a hurry along with his heart and looking attentively at the computer the time came.
He stood up, stretched his shirt a little and headed for the door quickly, when his boss with a half-hearted laugh on his face called out to him.
"I heard your wife is sick Javier, there is work due today and I need someone's help. You must need the money, that's why I thought of you to do it What do you say to some overtime?"
His boss was right, he needed the money urgently, they had spent everything on health insurance and the previous night had come out of his pocket. Although he didn't want to be there, he had no choice but to accept the offer and call his mother-in-law to accompany Kelly for a few more hours. Javier's thoughts were many and all at the same time and did not allow him to concentrate to do his work, he was tired and as he read document after document, his eyesight began to tire and his eyelids began to become very heavy.
A noise at the door made Javier realize that everything around him was very dark, it was late and the only thing that gave light to the place was his computer, he wanted to finish his work quickly so he ignored the noise and the darkness and continued with his work. After a few minutes the noise outside returned, this time much louder so he could not ignore it, he stood up and took slow steps towards the window of the door, fearing that it was a thief.
When he looked out, he realized that this was a very different place, outside there were people in colorful costumes, very happy and laughing, for a moment he thought it was a promotion, but at that hour, only he was left in the building or so he thought. Without thinking about it he went out and realized that this was a really nice place, between friendly smiles and words of encouragement one of the people approached Javier and offered him a hot drink.
"you've been working for many hours, you deserve to drink something hot to relax a little."
But hours passed and Javier lost track of time, between chats and meeting nice people he had forgotten his responsibilities and more importantly, he had forgotten his beloved wife, he ran to his office wishing to finish his work to finally leave, but when he opened the door he found again a group of people celebrating and having fun. This time, he didn't feel drawn to meet them or approach them, he had only one thought in his mind, to go home to find out how Kelly was doing.
He tried to open several doors, different offices of the building but they were all full of people celebrating, he felt very desperate and trapped in a place too happy, he could not get out of there no matter how hard he tried and meanwhile, the minutes were passing and it was getting later and later. Everyone was inviting him for a drink or a chat, but a little lost and tired of looking for a way out he shouted loudly.
"What's there to celebrate, my wife is at home sick, needing my support and care and you guys just want to have fun?"
The place was silent for a few seconds and then everyone continued as if nothing had happened, happy and laughing completely ignoring Javier's presence and concern. Without finding a way out he threw himself on his knees on the floor and started crying, he was really tired and just wanted to hold his wife's hand to support her, but the world seemed not to care about his misfortunes. Wretched and also covered up in that horrible place exaggeratedly happy, he heard a soft voice in the distance.
"Javier, Javier, Javier!"
Startled and sweaty, Javier woke up with a start, sitting in his swivel chair, and there were still some rays of light coming through the window. His partner, Lewis, was standing in front of him, with his briefcase in his hand and looking at his watch.
"Javier it's already 5:00 pm, it's time to go."
Sometimes a good dream can turn into a nightmare if we mix it with reality.
Paragraph splitter made with the free app "VistaCreate" available in the Playstore.