Sunkissed

Chapter Eleven

Still in her office in the dead of night and enjoying what appears to be the last ounces of cheap liquor; Sandra flipped through mountains of paperwork. Riders of the storm Played in the background. She flicked, swayed her body, along with the tune.

“ Girl ya gotta love your man”

“ Girl ya gotta love your man. Make him understand, the world on you depends” As she pointed both thumbs on her. She continued to sing and drink, while scanning through the mix of paper. It was all in the mixer now, incident reports, candidate profiles, all swirled around her. And, she’s riding on the storm, with a bottle of gin in-hand.

“ Or our lives will never end…” She took another swig, but the bottle was empty, but the music still played and the faces printed on the paper still looked at her. Staring at her every move. And even though the images where in black and white, in her mind, the supposed dark-shiny liquid on some of the images, colored in as magnificent streaks of crimson. Oozing, spreading and forever staining. And the faces, to her, they are just numbers, a statistic. A sample of a data that she needs to manage. And with some alcohol, this makes the whole ordeal easier to swallow.

She leaned back to her chair, as the gin began to buzz her head big time. And everything in her mind, asking for her attention, was gone. And all she could think of is getting some water. She stood up, slowly from her desk and walked, putting extreme effort into not stumbling down. She unruffled her blazer when she got to the water dispenser of her office. Perks of being an important person. She filled her paper cup, with cold water. Her mouth began to dry-out, as she felt through the paper, the cool water.

She let-out the most satisfying sigh, as she downed the cup of water. Sandra even, wiped her lips with her hand. There was no one around, she doesn’t have to meet everyone’s expectation of her. And this quiet moment, she felt alone. She got back to her desk, ready to work again, but she glanced at her fathers framed photograph.

“ I know what you’re going to say.” She looks at the photo.

“ This is so much easier watching you do it, dad.”

“ I hate you for leaving me.”