She is Home

                   The elevator dinged as Guy neared it. He looked up from his phone and came to face Alicia, a colleague at work who had possibly pressed the hold button on the elevator when she sensed him coming. He dipped his head in thanks and stood beside her in the small box. She smiled as she nodded back at him as the elevator doors finally closed and the journey down to the last floor began. The entire ride, Guy kept his eyes on his phone. What he was doing was as important as nothing, but at the corner of his eyes, he could see Alicia glancing at him every few seconds and he shook his head as he turned back to scrolling his phone. He’d always known that the ladies at work fancied him. He was young, still very young, but he had been lucky to get his current job, just when he needed it the most. And he had never failed his savior, as he had put his all into the job and from there started a life for himself. Alicia made another sorry excuse for adjusting her top, and she gained what she’d expected, more cleavage. Guy took a deep sigh and almost jumped out of the elevator as it stopped when the doors finally were opened. “Good night Mr. Harris”. Alicia threw at him. He knew that to engage in a modest greeting, he would have to face her, and that would make her feel entitled to have her throw herself at him. Instead, he did the one thing he had perfected in years, turned and ignored her, heading for his car. At the back of his head, he was laughing, not at Alicia’s expense, but at himself. There was a time in his life he would have responded to that. But now, things have changed and he has changed too. He took a look in the mirror and watched his reflection. Damn!  He knew he was one of the male species that the females couldn’t resist, and he had long used that to his advantage to bed women in the past. His history was not something he was proud of, but his future held nothing of the sort anymore. He no longer desired a woman, he no longer wanted a woman, and he surely wasn’t going to give himself up once more to any stupid notion called love. And he had been doing well for five years now and still counting. Guy watched as Alicia stormed to her car and drove off. After he’d seen her leave, he carefully backed his car out of the parking lot and headed for the very place that made his world have a bit of light in all the darkness that seemed to overwhelm him.                                                                           *** A piercing scream from her left made her look up, and when she saw the reason for the scream, her heart leaped as she ran to the little girl’s aid. Quickly she pulled her up, more like yanked her from the floor, and when she did, Olivia’s stomach did a double take at the spill of blood. “I’m dead”. She muttered to herself before turning and dashing to the school’s clinic holding the frail girl in her arms. On her way, she almost locked heads with Miss Spencer, a friend of hers at work, “Hey…what’s wrong?” The screams of the little girl were enough to tell the story Olivia herself couldn’t muster energy to do. But she managed to squeak out, “Could you please take care of my class till I return?” Olivia only saw her nod her head once before she continued her race down the hall, till she got to her destination. She opened the door and ran to the nurse, “She is bleeding, I don’t know from where-’’ Olivia couldn’t continue as she felt the tears run down her cheek. It looked bad. Very bad, and the girl hadn’t stopped crying. The nurse took the child from her arms and laid her on the nearest bed. After a few minutes, the child was sound asleep and then she was facing the nurse who watched her as she dumped herself on the chair opposite the desk. “What happened?” the older woman asked as she passed Olivia a cup of cool water. Olivia drained the cup and let it cool her shaky system before she answered the question. “I was preoccupied for a few minutes, then I heard her screams. I can’t even say if she fell from a high place or-’’Olivia choked on her remaining words. “It’s okay. She will be fine,” the nurse took a peek at the sleeping child, “possibly fell from the swing and landed face to the floor. She hurt her chin and bled a bit from her mouth, but it’s nothing a few stitches and candies can’t fix”. Olivia managed a small smile, “I hope so”. She looked up at the time, “I’d better get back to the others and see how well they are doing, I will be back”. The nurse nodded her head, “Sure”. Slowly, after taking a final look at the child, she quietly walked back to her class, preparing for the worst and that was Nancy’s father.