All The Small Things

(Prologue)

Exiting out of the program that was running on her laptop, she shut the lid and took a moment glancing around her quiet office before grabbing her phone sitting on the desk and checking the time. She had began to realize that she had been doing that more and more as the time ticked on and sighed, realizing it hadn’t even been five minutes since the last time she had checked the clock.

Instead of setting the phone back down after finding disappointment at the time, she began to idly play with it to pass the time, trying to get her mind off of the meeting that was coming. She had been waiting for this day for a while now and with each day that brought her closer and closer to that moment, she had been getting even more nervous. This meeting could either make or break her and she was sick of waiting to find out which it would be.

She was never one to be patient and hated not knowing what the future would bring. She liked being able to plan and know what was to come and all these secrets and wondering was driving her nuts. All she wanted to do was figure out what the future had planned for her and get this worry and regret out of her system.

Actually focusing on what was currently displayed on her phone, she realized that she had randomly started scrolling through her many contacts. Continuing to scroll through, she found the number she had been relying on most to make her calm and not freak out constantly about this particular day and began to consider calling him just so he could get her mind off of what was going to happen so she didn’t go nuts. But she had called him enough to whine and complain about her current situation and he was probably sick of hearing her. Besides, with their current time difference, she figured that he was sleeping. And God knows he needed his sleep at the moment.

Exiting out of her contacts so she wouldn’t get tempted to call him regardless of his lack of sleep, she opened up her Twitter app and began reading every tweet on her timeline she hadn’t read since she had been on last. It proved to get her mind off of the meeting until she found a particular tweet informing her that her previous thoughts of him being asleep just flew out the window. She found a picture taken no more than three minutes ago of him and a few of their friends at a pub, drinking away and having the time of their lives. Now she wished more than ever that she was there with them instead of waiting for that dreaded meeting.

Going back to her timeline, she got to the top and then sent a quick tweet out before also exiting out of that and checking the time once again. That time, she was actually glad to find that she had wasted nearly seven minutes instead of just four and was tapping her fingers on her desk to a familiar beat while singing the words in her head. She could always turn to music to calm her down in moments like these and planned on using that tactic until she left for that dreaded meeting.

A sudden knock to her office door pulled her from the song she had suddenly realized she had been humming out loud and looked up, allowing the person to enter. When the door opened and the person stepped inside, she smiled knowing that it would be her assistant to be at the door, knowing the girls familiar knock technique she used whenever she needed to speak to the elder.

“They’re ready for you whenever you are,” the younger girl said with a small encouraging smile.

She nodded and stood from her desk, “yes, thank you. I’ll be right there.”

Her assistant just nodded as she turned and walked back out to where her own desk was just outside the door and closed her office door behind her.

Once she was alone again in her office, she took a deep breath as she smoothed down her clothes and stepped over to where her mirror hung on the wall. Checking her reflection, she tucked a few stray strands of hair back behind her ear or into the bobby pins that held her hair back into a neat bun and gave reflection an encouraging nod before turning away and taking a step toward the door.

All the thoughts of the meeting began to flood her mind again as she stepped closer and closer to the door, but suddenly that was the last thing on her mind as she stopped dead in her step. Suddenly the whole idea of worrying about the future was out of her mind as she gasped and doubled over as a sharp pain shot through her body.

Grabbing onto the back of the chair she was standing next to, she tried to keep herself calm as another shot of pain passed through her, even worse than the first. This could seriously not be happening. Not now. Today was the most important day of her life and now she was doubled over in her office suddenly in pain.

Glancing behind her at her desk, she began to wonder if she was able to make it back without falling and get to her cell phone which she had conveniently forgotten where she had left it when she had been playing with it. She could feel her heart beating rapidly in her chest as worry began to fill her. She could say that she was currently the most scared she had ever been in her life. But she forced herself to keep breathing steadily and evenly, trying to stay as calm as possible as she began to figure out the best way to get back to her phone.

Realizing that she better stop just standing there staring at the object that she needed while the pain got increasingly worse, she took her first step forward back to her desk. She had straightened up the best she could, but was still slightly leaned forward as she clutched her stomach and let go of the only object that was keeping her steady on her feet.

But thankfully, her feet somehow were working somewhat properly as she took another step forward toward her goal. They were shaky and threatened to give out with each step but forced herself forward to her desk. It got closer and closer and once it was finally in reach of her desk and gripped the top as hard as she could, using it as the much needed support for her failing feet.

Finally, she was sitting in her chair and pulled herself up to the desk, grabbing her phone with a shaky hand, trying to continue to keep herself calm. It was working still so far, but she felt the tears building up in her eyes as the pain got worse and more frequent.

Unlocking her phone, she began to shake more as she began dialing, almost pressing the buttons to the number she would be calling first under different circumstances, but he wasn’t even in the same state, let alone country. Instead, she dialed her second choice, pressing send and putting the phone up to her ear praying she would pick up quickly and not take forever to answer like she usually did.

The ringing stopped and before the other girl could even begin to greet her, she beat her to it.

“Kate, I need you. Something’s wrong,”