When a curse is broken

6. To fall asleep

Chapter 6. To fall asleep

The intercom beeped, "Yes?" Marlyn replied fully well knowing it was none other than her boss.

"Are you done yet?" He asked.

Marlyn looked at the Excel spreadsheet she was working on, then at the pile of business cards and then at the photos of those. She had at least a hundred cards more to go though, and it was a nightmare.

"I need more time," she replied, closing her eyes, knowing already that he wouldn't leave a chance to reprimand her.

"Do you think I have all day for it? I want it first thing tomorrow or you are fired,"

Beep he cut off the line.

Marlyn signed, he was being such a bully, trying to find any excuse to fire her. But she did not want to give in.

She was working on the same thing since yesterday, she had left Ellie with Alice, and not brought her to the office daycare, so she could skip lunch. At least she had brought a sandwich to munch on. Nonetheless, her head was hurting from staring at screens for so long, trying to decipher information from the photos of business cards that were unclear or plainly unreadable. Who even made photos like that? She had an inkling Benjamin might have ruined them on purpose.

She had to extract contact information from each card and put it in the excel file while searching on the internet for the missing and unreadable details. She was completely exhausted.

She closed her eyes for just a moment, she took a deep breath and tried to relax her eyes. Back in the university days it worked.

Butterfly kisses rained on her face, Marlyn giggled getting closer to the warmth.

She felt content, she was at peace. She had no worry in the world.

She was happy, she was so so happy. But then suddenly she felt cold. He was not there anymore.

"No...No please...Don't leave me. Don't leave me, please Ben, i will die" she cried, angst clutched her heart.

"Stay away from me"

"Noo, NOOOOOOooo" Marlyn woke up with a start, she was having trouble breathing.

She hit her chest twice, as if she could slow her thundering heart that felt like it was going to jump out of her body anytime.

One. Breathe in.

Two. Breathe out.

Three. Everything's alright Marlyn.

She peeled her watery eyes open and looked at the time, 15 minutes had passed by, she could not believe she had fallen asleep. She almost had another panic attack when a beep beep resounded in the room.

"Hello?"

"Had you fallen asleep?"

"Err..." How did he know? "No, of course not," she replied convincingly. She looked around the room. Where are the cameras?

"Go back to work right away," he said, his tone as cold as ever.

"I was just taking my break as per my worker's rights, sir" she gritted out and hung up immediately.

He wouldn't give her a break even in her dreams!

She wanted to cry, but sucked it up and got back to work, the sooner she finished, the sooner she would get back to Ellie.

It was nine o'clock when finally, Marlyn typed in the last word.

She sighed in contentment, although she knew hell had just begun.

The office was very quiet, the lights were off. Has everyone gone home?

She got down the elevator and walked to the bus station. It still wasn't very dark being a spring day, although when she arrived at the bus stop, she realised there was no bus for at least half an hour, that would become 3 quarters of an hour at least because a bus getting in some place in time was not less than a miracle.

She was starting to get creeped out, it was getting darker, and no one was around. Would anyone hear me if I scream? That was the thought she was having when her mind drifted in a fight between conscious and unconsciousness, sleep hovering heavy on her, while she mindlessly wondered about all the ways someone could assault her, and how high pitched her voice should be to reach helpful ears.

Then, she thought she might keep the emergency number ready to be called, but then again, her antique phone had run out of battery a while ago.

At some point her head fell on the side and her hands relented on her bag. She was fast asleep on the cold bench.

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Hope you guys are doing well, oh comment asap if you want the next chapter asap, I might have it already ready *winks*

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19/08/2021