An Intangible Pattern - Fate Bound.

To the rescue.

Alex lifted her head and stared blearily at the alarm. It was already 8:45. She scrambled for the snooze button, her arm heavy and uncoordinated with the paralysis of sleep.
Silence restored, she rolled onto her back and inhaled deeply.
So much for going for a run before work.
She looked down at her phone and was surprised to find it was Friday: time had become elusive, slipping away unnoticed under the numbing march of routine. Eat, sleep, work, repeat. Eat, sleep, work, repeat. Whenever anyone asked how she was, she didn't know what to say - there was nothing to say.
With great effort she dragged herself out of bed, shivering in the cold and went to the bathroom for a quick wash. When she deemed herself presentable enough, she sat down at her laptop and prepared for a meeting with her latest client. As she waited for the video call to begin, she checked through her messages.

Cat: Hi, can you call me as soon as you can? I need to ask you something. It's really important.

Alex: Can it wait until lunchtime? I have a meeting this morning. Or is it an emergency?

She hit send and at the same moment,  heard the familiar ring of an incoming video call. She flicked back to the call and was in the middle of breaking down the results of her analysis, when another message from Cat came through.

Cat: It can wait for now, but it is an emergency, so call as soon as you can.

She did her best to stuff her anxiety down, but her desire to call her sister back made her restless and she rushed through the meeting. The faster she went, the more confused the wheezing man on the other end of the call appeared and he frequently stopped her for clarification. Reminding herself it was not his fauIt, she exerted tremendous effort not to lose her patience with him.
As soon as the meeting ended she called Cat.
“What's wrong? Are you ok? Is mum ok?”
“We're fine, but I do need your help.  Well Arthur needs your help to be exact.”
“What can I do?”
“It's difficult to explain. The company is in some sort of legal trouble and Arthur needs someone to go through their old archives to prove they haven't done anything wrong. At the moment everything is still on paper and they need someone to go through everything and digitize it, but everyone is already working flat out.”
“What kind of legal trouble?”
“It's probably best if I let Arthur explain, I don't want to get anything wrong, but it's bad! They could be in a lot of trouble with the police if they don't work out what's going on. Can you come up? We might need you for a few weeks, if that's ok?”
Alex was reluctant to spend more time in Wisterlea than absolutely necessary, however if her sister and brother in law were in trouble, there was no way she could bring herself to refuse.
“Ok. Let me finish up here and I'll drive over tonight.”
“Ok. See you tonight. Let me know when you leave and be careful, we have snow.”
“I will, love you.”
“Love you too.”
Alex rushed through her remaining work, finishing a couple hours earlier than normal. As soon as she closed her laptop, she darted around her room throwing belongings into her suitcase. Checking everything was switched off, she left the room and dragged her suitcase down the stairs.
“Tim?”
The security guard behind the desk looked up at her through his bushy brows.
“Oh it's you Alex! Everything alright?”
“I have to leave for a few weeks. Family emergency. Can you let the others know?” She snatched a piece of paper and scrawled down her sister's address.
His forehead creased in kindly concern and once again he repeated, “Is everything alright?”
“I don't know yet, I'll find out when I get there. This is where I'll be staying if anyone needs me.” She handed him the piece of paper and he squinted at the address.
“Alright, but can you let us know you got to your sister's safely, there's a big storm blowing in and the roads aren’t great.”
“I will Tim, I promise.”
“Oh, and if I don't see you before, Happy Christmas and New year!”
She smiled warmly at the old man, “You too! Hope you have a lovely time and I'll see you in the new year.”
She gave him an affectionate wave and then turned and rushed out to her car.
It was already dark and a shower of snow was falling. Flakes clung to her hair and settled on her long woolen coat. She tossed her suitcase in the backseat and did her best to knock the thin layer of snow from her windshield with her sleeve, then
she bundled herself into the driver seat and started the engine. Her breath steamed in the air and she blew on frozen fingers while the car warmed up and melted the last remnants of ice on the windows.
She took out her phone and texted her sister.