Busy Busy Busy

Yes I've been busy. With what you say? Oh I'll give you 3 guesses.....

Yup, work again. With month end comes reports involving lots of numbers, pie charts and bar graphs. I hate doing those. They are fiddly and I need a solid chunk of time to really accomplish anything. But with the job I have and the many hats I wear throughout the day, that just doesn't happen. I get home and feel so uninspired, tired and cranky that I just have nothing to write.

So I didn't.

Saturday I had to go into the office to act as a point of reference for some engineers that were installing some hardware/software or what ever. Of course it was a lovely sunny day and I was stuck inside. However, the job was done before 3:00 and I headed out the door to go back home. It was still warm but then this wicked wind blew up and there was this moment when I was crossing the street that I was unsure I was going to make it without being knocked over. Only in Scotland.

Sunday the rains came and I woke up feeling sick. Sore throat and the beginnings of a migraine. I skipped church to try and get the headache under control but to no use. I ended up calling in sick on Monday and stayed in bed the whole day. Tuesday I felt a little better but couldn't allow myself the luxury of staying home another day because of the reports mentioned above. I felt like death until about 3:00 and then the pain seemed to lift away.

Woke up this morning again feeling like death but the tension in the neck lifted before noon so I think the worst of it is over, phew!

I left the office before 5:30, leaving the laptop where it belongs - on my desk. Came home, made dinner and then had a nice long soak in the tub. Ahhh, I can feel the tension melting away.

Only 2 more days before it's the weekend!! I promised myself I'm going to get out there and take some pictures if it kills me.

Oh, before I forget.... I had written another short story for a contest over at The Clarity of Night blog. I've posted it below, but be warned it's pretty dark (I think I've watched too much CSI in the past). No I didn't win, not that I was expecting too, but I did get some positive and encouraging comments.


The Dream

She awoke with the sun's warmth on her face and breathed in the dampness of the earth.

She tried to sit up but couldn't feeling the sharp pain in her ribs. She tried again, but this time rolling over on her side and pushing up with her left arm. The blood had dried to a dark rust on her skin and the forest floor was matted in her hair. A centipede crawled across her shoeless foot. Had this been another time she would have flinched, but not now. Right now, all she could feel was fear and humiliation.

How had she got it so wrong? The evening's events started to flood back and she found it hard to breathe as she remembered. The flirtations at dinner, the suggestion of a moonlight walk. It all seemed so perfect, so innocent. Until the other two arrived.

They circled her and as she turned to him for protection she realised he'd stepped behind her and was twisting her arms. She didn't think she'd had that much to drink, but maybe he'd slipped something in her glass. Soon after it began she must have blacked out.

Now she was alone, sitting on the forest floor in a sunbeam. How could a place of such beauty and warmth be witness to such evil. How could she.....

5:55 AM she is jolted awake with the mornings news. A young girl's body has just been found in the University endowment lands.