Sundial

Chapter One

"God, Lynna, can't you get anything right? The plug goes in this outline." Penelope hissed at the trainee, jerking the yellow cord from its current hold and pushing it into another one on the other side of the box. 

The trainee gave a soft sniffle before wiping at her glistening eyes, turning away to swipe her fingers at her running mascara. Penelope sighed and refrained from rolling her eyes. 

"Go take a break," she told the auburnette, running a hand through her own brunette hair. Lynna nodded and took off in the direction of the restrooms. Probably to fix the painting on her face, Penelope thought bitterly as she grabbed the mouse connected to her computer and pushing the play button. 

The video began to play without hesitation, the quality lowering slightly as the camera swerved to try and get a picture of what was going on. The reporter that had just been in the frame said that the sudden change of weather was a miracle all on its own; the skies turned from a sunny summer blue to the dark twisting gray of rain clouds. Lightning flashed across the sky for three seconds before the camera was cut off.  

Penelope gave another sigh, rubbing at her temples as she gave a quick click on the delete button and leaned back in her chair. The clock down the hall had digital letters that read half past seven in the morning.  

She remembered her awakening this morning from her roommate's dog, Leon, jumping up and down on her bed, canine drool covering her bed as her alarm clock gave its constant, annoying ring that said it had been on for awhile. Penelope had cracked open an eye just enough to see that she wasn't going to have time to take a shower... or eat breakfast for that matter, seeing as she had ten minutes to get to work. 

Lynna came back just as Penelope was looking over another clip of film for the eight o'clock news that she needed to have ready within minutes. Her supervisor was pacing outside her door, yelling into his phone. Lynna gave a stuttered sorry for taking more time than she must have thought was necessary to clean up her face. Penelope waved it off. 

Finally editing the clip that she would use, she saved it and grabbed her portable tablet that she clicks her pen on and the clip appeared. She walked quickly to the main video room just a few doors down from her editing room, Lynna following like a lost puppy. Mikeel, the main supervisor of the whole newsroom, threw his arms up in frustration has Lynna knocked over a control pad and Penelope tried to pull the clip up onto the files for the morning news. 

Mikeel quickly took his seat in the middle of the room, overlooking everyone as he placed the headset into his ears and positioned the microphone in front of his lips. 

"Going on in five, four, three, two..." the set went silent, the introduction to the news channel taking up space on the over-sized flat screen hanging on the wall for everyone to see. 

The report started, the two news anchors reading their lines perfectly, just like always. Penelope gave out a huff of held breathe as her clip was played. Eight thirty in the morning rolled around and the news channel was cut off with a, "Have a good day!" 

Penelope found Lynna flirting with a young technician, twisting a curl of hair in her pointer finger as she leaned in closer to him. He looked like he was about to be eaten by a monster - completely awestruck and about to wet his pants. The poor guy looked like he had never been this close to a girl before. She grabbed Lynna by the back of her collar, and Penelope pulled the trainee away from the scared boy and back into her office. Lynna huffed with annoyance as her superior forced her into a leather chair.  

"I was busy." 

"Doing what? Scaring the poor boy's heart out of his chest? He looked like he'd never seen a female so up close before." Penelope answered with a small sneer, eyes finally rolling with irritation.