An Extra Glimpse— Ava Version (Patreon)

So, I had a few people asking me if I would be willing to post one of the scenarios that I wrote while visiting my mum in hospital.

I choose this one because it's not too...intense, hehe! But it certainly gives a glimpse into how emotions can affect our creativity in the moment.

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It’s too much.

Phones scream from desks, printers chew out new cases, and computers curse at the lack of attention to their notifications.

It’s just too much.

I dash about the facility’s office, trying to gather as much as I can, banging into other agents who are doing the same.

Whoever this villain may be is doing enough damage to have the whole facility in furor.

I’ve barely slept for a week, mostly because when I close my eyes I see the memories of the destruction I witnessed burnt into the backs of my eyelids.

How can I defeat someone I have no grasp on? No idea of where they are? No sense of—

“What are you still doing here, Detective?”

The commanding tone of Ava’s voice demands an answer, but I’m too exhausted to say anything more than, “Because I have to be.”

I ignore her worried stare that I can feel like a concerned caress against my shoulders, and rip some of the reports from the printer. Fatigue makes my fingers ache and my grasp tremble.

A firm hand wraps around mine. “Let them go, Detective.”

My stubbornness leaves my grasp unyielding for a moment longer before I unfurl my fingers and let the crumpled papers drop.

The small gesture of defeat carves a crack through the dam I had built this past week. I fall forwards, slamming my palms onto the desk to keep me upright as I choke in a rasped breath.

“Take a moment.” I’m expecting it to be an order but instead the words are soft and instantly soothing. “You will not drown under this, [Name].”

“How do you know I won’t?” I stutter out as my lungs clench in my chest.

Her hand strokes long trails down my back. “Because I will keep you from doing so.”

I’m not sure if it’s a sob or a laugh that chokes out of my throat then. “You keep making promises like that, and I’ll start to believe you.”

She turns me gently to face her, her hand curling onto my neck and her thumb pressing against the rapid thrum of my pulse to calm it. “No matter what strife, difficulties, or pain may lay between us, I will always remain at your side.” Her brows twist downwards. “Even if that’s the only place I will ever be able to be.”

The last of my defenses crumble like sand against the wave of her words.

I tip forward, resting my forehead against the solid broadness of her shoulder. She doesn’t move, doesn’t even flinch, just offers the exact support I need in that moment.

“I’m sorry,” I murmur as tears slip free and soak into the fabric of her shirt.

“Apologies are unneeded. What is needed is for you to allow me to help you.”

I manage to suck back my tears and tilt my head back up to meet her eyes. “Will you always be my support?”

Her gaze pierces mine with an unwavering strength. “Always and without question.”

She wraps an arm about me to offer a little more stability to my tired, hunched body. “I will see you home.”

Home. As we walk together so closely, I wonder if home really is a place…or the person beside me who can soothe and hurt me in such equal measure.