Within Our Walls | COMPLETED

2. Star

Sol never showed up late to work, they would rather not show up at all and make an excuse about it, showing up late wasn’t a part of them.

Until today, that bit might have been somewhat part of their week — first day of the week at that — a really great way to begin the week.

Instead of their usual six o’clock alarm ringing, it had been the seven o’clock one — really far apart from the first alarm but they usually never needed a second alarm to wake up, usually Sol woke up earlier than the alarm — a couple of minutes before it rang.

Sol didn’t think much of it, the sleep was too good to question why the alarm hadn’t sounded, and when it did — it wasn’t the six o’clock one, which meant Sol was f****d and had about thirty minutes to shower, eat and start off for work.

Sol slept through the first alarm, probably snoozed in their sleep — they did add a very loud and annoying ringtone to it, or at least it was for somebody half asleep.

Thirty minutes, one of their three usual morning routines would’ve to say bye bye — couldn’t be showering, Sol didn’t want to reek of sweat all day — couldn’t be heading off to work, it was a Monday and they certainly had a lot of work to do — it had to be breakfast, a warm one because time did not permit cooking to be slipped in.

Considering one of those two had been done with ten minutes to spare, chugging down orange juice was the only sort of breakfast Sol’s tight schedule allowed — ten minutes was clearly not enough time to walk to the office, catching the bus was useless as they missed it — both of them — and even if they could, cars were probably jammed on the street at this hour, it would be much more of a delay.

Sol did have to get in their months worth of cardio and their black bicycle quietly standing at the corner, had been collecting dust for weeks now — it was a win either way but certainly not for Sol’s legs tomorrow morning.

Perhaps the whole week

And that was how Sol was cycling to work on a Monday morning, already late with ten minutes.

It was a beautiful morning, brighter than most or it was just a typical sunny Monday morning just that this time around Sol was cycling, and not at the comfort of their desk or that beautiful aircon they adore on days like this.

Sol was tired

They might have underestimated the distance at hand or Sol really needed to do more cardio — the distance they covered wasn’t a large distance yet they already felt sweat form on their forehead with legs wobbly, about to give up — speak of being out of shape.

When Sol arrived at the office two things were written in stone. One, they had no fight nor care in them to run into that building and get working — two, exercising frequently had to become a topic priority.

The morning had been terrible, that was obvious but at least the elevator was in service this week — they couldn’t imagine going up a flight of stairs, that was a nightmare.

Exhausted, Sol had their body weakly leaning against the metal walls, slowly watching the floor number change. “I’m calling in sick tomorrow.” Sol mumbled pushing their body off the wall, walking out the open elevator. “—I’m definitely sick.”

Each step had a drastic effect on Sol’s body — lack of energy and a heavy lot of exercise under the burning sun, never gave the best outcome — for Sol at least.

As much as work was draining, Sol had never seeked the comfort of that wooden desk, so much so they let out a breath of relief as they turned the corner.

It was a little too soon to be relieved perhaps, as the next thing Sol knew had to be that the floor was really good at comforting an exhausted body but with the weight on top of them — it was difficult to breathe.

Sol sighed, eyes momentarily closing.

“I’m very sorry.”

The weight on them went away with those words.

Sol stayed a bit longer on the ground gathering the little energy their body could master to get up — any day this would be a lot easier or better yet, not happen at all.

“Don’t mind me, I find the floor very comforting.” Sol spoke sitting upright, another sight escaped their lips before they pushed themselves up. “I do this twice a day, it’s very relaxing.”

“I was in a hurry, I’m sorry again.”

Glancing to the direction the voice came from, Sol briefly locked eyes with hers before diverting their gaze somewhere else.

“I’m really tired and super late, wasn’t really paying attention to anything. It’s fine.”

“Are you okay?” she asked, there was something familiar about her voice, that Sol couldn’t quite put a finger on it — but they didn’t persist to figure it out, it was a large company after all and Sol did work in IT — they helped a lot of employees over the phone and in-person.

Probably met her before or something.

“Just peachy.” Sol mumbled checking the time on the watch before meeting her gaze. “I’m late, see you later I guess?”

Awkwardly, Sol pursed their lips and took a few steps towards the woman, patting her shoulder at least twice Sol walked — ran — away.

Sol mumbled. “What’s wrong with me.” as they rushed down the hall, as fast as they could.