Too Graphic

Lauren is sitting on the sofa of Josh's office. In her hand is Josh's laptop. She scrolls through the PFD files on Preview, taking notes as she reads. She is nervous, she doesn't know what to say to Josh, she hopes that Josh would lead the conversation.

Silence was hovering the whole room. Minimal arm movements make the sounds of giants. Both of them are quiet, as if they have never crossed path.

"Can you help me with this part right here?" Lauren murmurs, not even dare to make eye contact with Josh. He moves over, starts explaining the logic behind sugar molecules and their ability to form linkages. Lauren tried to focus on what Josh is saying. But she hasn't heard his voice in a long time, hasn't been in the same room with him for a long time, and hasn't talked about things in a non-personal matter with him in a even longer time.

The stranger-like atmosphere is something Lauren is not used to. Just about two month ago, they were close like anyone could ever be. The things that happened afterwards was something so catastrophic that Lauren purposefully blocked it out of her memory. Yet the scars still remain, in fact, it has not yet completely healed. Streams of memories resurface every now and then, like nightmares, but real.

Lauren returns the laptop back to Josh. "Thank you." Lauren starts walking towards the door. Josh caught up tightly behind. It is still silence, the same silence she faced two month ago. This seems so familiar. Lauren tries to think of something to say to break the silence. But nothing is coming up to her mind. 

They walk on until departing separate ways. 

"I'm gonna go." Josh turns around and starts walking.

It hurts, just like last time. Her tears are about to run down, throat starts to hurt. Her mind quickly seeks for other things that would occupy her thoughts; she looked down on her phone contacts for other people that would make her nights better. She reached out to her door with lighting speed and jumped under the sheet cover of her bed.

I am going to be very busy tomorrow at work, I better be prepared for it. What's good on TV? Eric...where is Eric? She looks down on her cell phone contacts, and dials Eric's number.

Watching the Withering Tree

It was a sunny sunday morning. Jamey got up early to complete her laundry before running out of cloth for the next work week. She looked at her phone, unable to see any good morning text messages from her long distance boyfriend.
"Oh well, he is probably sleeping still." She thought. Turning to her multiple loads of laundry nicely positioned in the middle of her bedroom, she picked up a bag, gruesomely moved towards the washer.
Sunday use to be a fun day for her. Sunday meant hanging out with family, lunch at a familiar restaurant, hanging out with friends, and hanging out with boyfriend. Until she moved for her new work position, sunday now meant chores, packing lunches for work, and emptiness.
She folded her dried cloth slowly and neatly, moving her robotic arms controlled by perfectionism. To prevent boredom, she turned to a random TV show to yield some stimulation on her minds. Among the ambient laughter and background music, rings her phone.
"Jay must be up." She slowly moves her body over to peek at the screen placed away from her. 'Good Morning' said iMessage, 'time to wake up'. "But I am already awake." she thought, turning back to her automatic routine. She placed her cloth away, and dialed Jay's number. It ringed twice, and:
"Hello?"
"Hey."
A familiar silence. She moved to her desk. He remained seated on his couch. She turned on her computer. He grabbed a blanket. She continued her TV show. He was watching a game.
"So what are you gonna do today?"
"Um...I don't know. Maybe I will hang out with my friends later."
"Oh."
Ambient music playing. Jamey stares at two women in the TV talking about things she will only worry about ten years later.
"They said they want to hang out and maybe watch the game later."
"Oh."
Another touch down! But not his winning team. The Bandettes are doing so bad this year.
"The game this afternoon is going to be big. It's their championship game."
"Oh."
"All the best teams are playing."
"Oh."
"Yeah, so I'm gonna go watch the game with them."
"Oh."
Jamey looked outside. A quiet residential area, occasionally locals walk their dogs to the nearby trail. Nothing was going on. She did not see any dog walkers today. Not yet.
"What are you going to do?"
"Oh, I haven't decided yet."Jamey looked down, thinking.
"Okay. Well let me know if you decide."
"Maybe cooking something so I can pack lunch."
"Cool."
"Yeah."
The ambient music turned more serious as the TV show changes its course. Will the protagonist be tricked by the shooter? Screen on Jamey's computer suddenly changed. Progressive, GoDaddy.com, StateFarm, are all companies she came to familiarity thanks to the amount of TV shows she watched. The sharp sunlight radiated in through the windows. Sharp increase in light intensity gained her notice. She looked outside. "It's afternoon already," she thought. Listening to the background noise transmitted sporadically through the other line. A few more commercials to tolerate: catfood, eHarmony.com, allegry pills. Next screen shows the shooter talking into a room never scene before. He knocked on the heavy wooden door, and another individual looking exactly like him opened it.
"What? who is this guy?" Jamey thought to herself, then said to the other side of her phone: "Okay, I am going to hang up."
"What? Why?" Jay slightly startled by the sudden rejection.
"I---have things to do."
"Okay. Call me later, okay?"
"Okay"
"I love you."
"I love you, too."