Reverie

The soft yet irritating sensation moved up the length of my arm, sending goose bumps erupting down my spine. I mumbled softly in protest, rolling away from the feeling that had stirred me from my dreamless sleep. A light pout formed on my lips as I felt the criminal leap effortlessly over my turned body instead of admitting defeat; a twitching, cold nose pressing itself into mine.

I opened one eye and glared. "Honey, get away," I whined, rolling onto my back and wiping my nose with the back of my hand. The tortishell cat just mewed at me happily; tail lazily swinging from side to side as she watched me. I pulled my arms down from covering my face to fall at my sides, as the bright morning light streaming in through the open curtains caused me to squint down at the small cat beside me.

Honey padded closer, pressing the side of her body up against me again as a low purr grew in her chest. I rolled my eyes but smiled lightly as I stared at the ceiling, my hand resting on her back and scratching at her fur lightly. The purr grew louder and I turned my head to the side to look over her, rubbing her skull into my elbow.

"Where's your Daddy, huh?" I spoke softly, withdrawing my hand a little to scratch behind her ear. She didn't respond, of course she didn't. She was, after all, just a cat.

Taking a deep breath, I sat up slowly, the sheets rippling around my waist as my arms stretched above my head. Honey was still relentlessly rubbing her body against mine in her cry for attention, currently nuzzling her nose into my thigh. I shook my head as a smile played on my lips, pulling the thin sheets from around my bare skin and tossing them lightly over the small cat's body. I chuckled to myself as I climbed out of the bed, watching in amusement as the sheets wriggled about until Honey's petite face appeared, looking at me with a glint in her eye that told me she wasn't impressed.

"Sorry, Hon," I started earnestly, grabbing a dressing gown from the back of the door and wrapping it over my shorts and tank. "I suppose your lazy ass father didn't feed you," I reasoned, my tone holding some resentment for the man in question. He would repeatedly say it slipped his mind, but I think I knew he just couldn't be bothered at such a fragile hour of the morning.

I wandered through the still house to the kitchen downstairs with Honey bouncing around behind me, her bright eyes twinkling in the half light. As my feet wandered over the cold tiles I shivered a little, but continued about making some breakfast for my beloved pet, before starting about to make my own. Thinking about it then, I could still remember the day that I had bought Honey. To be quite honest I don't think she had ever grown out of her kitten phase, because she was still extremely bubbly and slightly pint-sized compared to most her age. It was nice, though, to have her around. She kept me company on the many cold, lonely mornings and nights that I had a habit of facing.

After placing Honey's food bowl back on the ground (which was very happily received), I started about my usual, slightly boring morning routine which started with toast and a sweet tea and ended up with me out of the door and looking vaguely presentable in time for work. That was always the plan, but of course it doesn't go as smoothly as I would hope all the time. Today, for example, the toaster decided to malfunction, which resulted in me having extremely char grilled toast. It didn't put me out too far, but it did leave a dreadful taste in my mouth.

I distastefully flicked the last of the crust of my burnt toast onto my plate resting on the breakfast bar. Honey sniffed at it from where she was currently stretched lazily out across the granite surface, before she recoiled and licked her nose. I smiled as her scrunched up expression matched mine. "Bad, huh?" I murmured as I downed the rest of my warm tea, giving her a quick scratch on the head before dragging myself away from the cold kitchen.

I took a quick, hot shower, not bothering to wash my hair this morning, and then pulled on the first clothes that I claimed from the wardrobe which didn't look too casual, and that co-ordinated on some level. In truth I didn't even consider whether or not they co-ordinated, but as I had gone for plain black jeans I assumed whatever I matched with it wouldn't look too terrible.

Once I was presentable, I glanced at my watch to discover it was a little after 8, which gave me enough time to sit around for a while before I left the house. This was where it always went wrong, somehow. I'd always be ready too early, but then get caught up in some story on TV that I couldn't possibly drag myself away from in time.

I shook my head at the thought, and then decided to do something different for once; I had woken up in a pro-active mood this morning, and I was going to do it justice. Instead of setting myself down onto the large, cream leather sofa and losing myself in the morning news, I done a quick sweep of the room, picking up numerous objects on my way before exiting back into the hallway, Honey's confused gaze following me all the while.

Once beside the door I slipped on some shoes and my spring-time jacket, plucking my worn, grey messenger bag from beside the shoe rack. I threw in the random objects I had collected, including my organiser and my phone, before tugging it over my shoulder and pausing.

I glanced over my shoulder into the shadowed hall, to be met with Honey's bright hazel eyes shimmering back at me, her head cocked to one side. I frowned lightly and sunk down to my knees, holding out my hand to her.

"I'm sorry, Honey. Hopefully Toby will come home for lunch and give you some company," I sighed as she moved into my touch, my fingers snaking through the thin hairs along her back. I knew that he wouldn't be home, but it wasn't like I was giving her false hope; like I said, she's only a cat. Though, still a cat who knows exactly how to tug at my heartstrings, I thought to myself.

"Bye, Hon. Be good," I cooed as I stood back up, turning to the door and tugging on the latch. She watched me bewildered for a moment before meowing softly. I threw her a sympathetic look and a small wave, before pulling the door closed between us, and starting the long and equally boring walk to work.

--

The large, glass pane doors swung softly closed behind me, as I marched into the office block, my heels clicking on the stone flooring. It was nice that I wasn't late for once; I'd usually be running along this corridor and heading straight for the elevator at least ten minutes later than I currently was.

"Mornin' Sephy!"

I smiled brightly as my eyes met with those buried behind slightly greying eyebrows. "Morning, Robert," I chimed back, giving a small wave as I passed the computer technician, who looked like he was on his way out. I shook my head lightly at the thought, hardly believing that something in the block already needed repairing before the day had hardly begun. That man was always on his toes.

Skipping the elevator which coincidentally had a large 'out of order' sign across it today, I climbed up the three flights of stairs to our main offices. I was thankful that we weren't higher in the building, dreading to think what the small injury lawyers firm on the fifth floor would think when they saw the broken lift.

I wandered down the hallway on our company’s floor, once again pushing open the glass paned door. My eyes travelled over the three men who were already tapping away on their keyboards and mice, each one’s eyes landing on me and sending me a small, individual greeting. I returned them all with a wide smile, before going across to my own desk area, pulling out the newspaper from tucked under my arm and discarding it on the cleared surface before taking my seat.

"Persephone, you're on time?!" I heard a female voice call over incredulously, making me chuckle as I glanced up from the front page of the Glamorgan Gazette. My eyes rested on the brunette who was standing in the doorway to her separated office at the far side of the room, a false expression of shock on her face. I smiled and shook my head to myself, turning back to the paper as Katie, the head of department and also an old college friend of mine, started across the room.

"Shocking, isn't it?" I asked lightly, my eyes wandering over some weather reports for the week on the black and white sheet before rising back onto my friend. "And it looks like someone's pulling out the stops, too," I commented at her sharp business suit. She usually looked somewhat smarter than the rest of us, but she never went so far as she had today.

She chuckled at me falsely. "It's a big day, Sephy. Si's coming down," she explained, her voice laced with disappointment and a little irritation.

I cringed, but smiled all the same. "Ouch. Sucks to be you," I teased, making Katie swat my arm.

"It's not funny," she stated in a matter-of-fact tone as I giggled to myself. "You got your references for today?" she added, making me pause to think about it. Katie was the type who had a habit of splitting up different topics and mixing them together, sometimes until it got barely understandable. If you weren't used to it, you could lose track pretty quickly.

"Yeah, ten through to twenty-two, and neatening up Martin's photo shoot," I reeled off, finding my computer had now loaded up. I put the paper back down on the desk and logged in, glancing upwards after a moment to find Katie still standing beside me. Her eyes were in my direction, but were looking through me.

"Kate?" I asked slowly, waving my hand in front of her gaze. Her eyes rose to meet with mine, her lips pursed childishly. I tried, and failed once again, to hide my smile. "It's not going to be that bad. Want me to get you a coffee soon?"

"Please," she whined softly, pressing her index and middle finger into the bridge of her nose before swivelling on her heels and wandering back to her office. I shook my head and opened up the first files for the day, flicking through the newspaper beside me absently, barely taking in the information on the page. There was never anything interesting to read about these days. Sometimes there'd be some interesting national news, or some fun facts about what big shows were happening all the hundreds of miles away over in London, but for Bridgend there wasn't quite the same excitement.

I paused mid-way reading over some story about a local shoplifting incident, as I realised the room had fallen strangely silent. The guys were usually quite rowdy on a Monday morning, especially after the rugby, but right now I couldn't even hear them tapping on their computers. Confused, I slowly sat up from hunched over the paper, my eyes curiously darting about as I looked over my co-workers who had all paled slightly in the face. My eyebrows knitted together as I followed their line of sight behind me, and it suddenly all became clear.

Simon's eyes met with mine, and a cocky grin spread across his lips. Simon, Si, or Mr Durham, was the boss of our company. He alone was the entire funding behind a collection of small magazines amongst the most southern county's of Wales, and he prided himself in having utterly no involvement yet complete control over each. He wouldn't help you to keep your readers buying, but he would snap you off the second they didn't.

It still amazed me to this day how he got himself in such a position. He was only a year older than Katie and I, and we had all somehow gone to the same college. He had never forgotten it, either, but that didn't stop me from feeling the complete opposite towards him than every other employee he had. I wasn't scared of him in the slightest. To me, Simon would always be that slightly nerdy boy who thought he looked good while hardcore dancing back at the college concerts. I'm almost sure that's the reason Katie left him after their barely three week relationship.

"Simon!" I heard Katie call from across the room, sounding quite distressed. My head snapped back around to her, to see her trying to elegantly jog down towards us, though her heels made it seem quite awkward. I winced a little, turning back to my newspaper.

"You're early," Katie continued, her voice holding a painfully bright tone. "We weren't expecting you until ten."

Simon chuckled under his breath, that alone being enough for me to want to hit him. "I thought I'd surprise you," he replied dully. "Shall we?" he added as I threw a glance over my shoulder, to see him directing Katie back across the rom. "We have a lot to discuss about this magazine, don't we, Miss Hart."

I watched with a hard expression and pursed lips as Katie was shepherded towards her office. Simon continued to talk as they walked, and Katie's expression was enough to tell me she was already panicking on the inside. I felt sympathy for her, I truly did. I, more than most, was the type of person to give utmost respect to whoever I faced, but somehow Simon was one of the few people who slipped out of that group. It wasn't right that he could make everyone quake with a single glance.

My eyes wandered back down onto the newspaper, folding it in half and resting it on my desk before turning back to my computer. It was going to be a long day, and even beneath the early morning rays I could already feel the office starting to warm up. With it being deadline day, and with Simon around, this place would no doubt heat up to uncomfortable levels before the day was out. It probably wasn't helped by the fact that the heaters in the whole building were rarely switched off, and each floor was surrounded by windows to allow as much natural light in as possible. Everything that could be made of glass in this building, was.

My attention was torn from the pages on the screen down towards my bag, as I heard my message tone ring out from its depths. I quickly rummaged through the masses of receipts and writing materials, tugging out my phone to find two unread messages. The first was from Toby, who had wished me a happy morning, and threw in a few kisses for good measure. I smiled to myself and moved on to the other, which simply read the word ‘coffee’ in capital letters. I chuckled softly, dragging myself to my feet to go and make a drink to keep my manager going.

"I'm getting drinks, you guys want in?" I called out into the room to my colleagues. I received three very stern shakes of the head which made me roll my eyes before exiting the room. They really needed to get a backbone, sometimes.

I bounced down onto the floor below ours, heading towards the staff lounge room. I smiled to myself as I saw a large pile of papers emerging from the stairs at the other side of the corridor, the persons face masked by the white sheets but a familiar pair of black scuffed DC trainers telling me all I needed to know.

"You okay there, Gavin?" I asked softly, making the large pile of papers on the boys arms shudder wildly. I tried to hide my smile as we met midway down the corridor, the young boys eyes spying me; though between the glaring white paper beneath and his messy hair above, I doubted he could very see much.

"Fine thanks, Sephy!" he replied in strained tone, slightly out of breath. I had this terrible feeling he had just carried those pages all the way up from the ground level. I remembered what it was like to be an intern, and how you usually got all the filing jobs that no one particularly remembered nor cared about. Either that, or you made coffee all day. Coffee wasn't one of Gavin's strong points, unfortunately.

I pulled a sympathetic face, which I was happy he couldn't see clearly. "Alright, keep up the good work, then!" I chimed as I continued moving past him on the way to the staff room.

"Thanks, Seph -- Oh, fuck."

My steps halted, the sound of spilling and fluttering paper filling the air. I closed my eyes for a moment and bit my lip softly, shaking my head to myself before I continued walking. I didn't dare to look back for fear of what I'd see, but I'd lend Gavin a hand once I headed back to the office if he needed it... which I didn't doubt he would.