Morning all and welcome to a sunny Monday morning. I feel much more awake than usual because I got up early to water. My body is somewhat surprised by the early morning exercise actually. I am also wondering how the hose managed to turn itself into a Gordian knot. Wrestling it was far more exercise than actually watering. But at least now the plants won’t die. So lets see how the awakeness affects the writing prompt shall we?
Why do I feel like this is the creation story of a super villain?
Monday, May 22nd: You are as useless as all of the others.
“You are as useless as all of the others,” he growled. He snatched the clipboard from her with one hand and grabbed her shoulder with the other. With ease he sun her around to face the open door and took a step towards it. He dragged her along until they were in the doorway then he stopped and continued to drag her forward. He shoved her through the door as though tossing her away and let go.
Before she could do much more than stumble into the hall, he stepped back and closed the door. She heard the slide of the bolt as the door locked. Susan opened and closed her mouth a few times. It had happened so fast. She was unsure what to actually do. She looked down at her hands, still seeing the clipboard.
More importantly she could still see the information that had been clipped to its surface. The experiment was a failure. A dangerous failure. She turned to look at the closed door. She remembered his face, twisted with rage and disgust as she presented the readings to him.
He wasn’t in the mood to listen.
She wasn’t sure who the others were who were useless or if they were in fact useless or had simply presented him with results he didn’t like. She remembered the manic look in his eyes. Normally she would have gone back in and knocked on tried to talk reasonably to him. She remembered the locks on the doors.
‘Or at least knocked,’ she said.
She knew it wasn’t going to help. As much as it made her feel a bit like a tattletale, she knew she had to report him to someone who might have a hope of getting through to him.
‘Or at least evacuating the building,’ she amended, thinking of the results. If he pushed too much farther without changing anything, there would soon be consequences for more than just his experiment. Trying to decide who the best person for the job would be, Susan turned away from his door and continued down the hallway. Her pace was brisk as she mentally scrolled through the faculty list.
‘Dr. Martin,’ she decided. He was usually able to calm down situations and he had the authority to evacuate the building if need be.
Susan made it through the maze of corridors to his office. She knocked and it was opened. It was almost a relief to see the pleasantly smiling man after the snarls and insults of Dr. Calvin.
“Um, Sir,” she began. “I have a bit of a problem.”
“Oh,” he said. His eyebrow lifted.
“With Dr. Calvin.” She clarified.
“Ah,” he said. “Has he done something …” he looked her up and down. “Unfortunate?” he asked.
Susan blushed. “He hasn’t molested me,” she clarified. “I think he is about to blow up the lab.” His eyes went wide.
“Explain.” Susan nodded and began to explain the findings that caused Dr. Calvin to kick her out. As she spoke, his face grew dark with concern.
Ten til Midnight 