Spinning Earth, Rising Sun

Viciously cutting around the corners of the back rooms, Jill balances her iced latte in one hand and her key card and phone in the other. Again, running late. She tries to hold the pieces of herself together as she races towards the clock. It’s a one-woman race that she does every morning because she can’t seem to grasp the illusion of time despite waking up two hours earlier than necessary to drive an hour to work. Her only comfort is the sunrise coming to peek at her as she drives east-bound on a never ending highway toward her never ending work life. The butterflies dance around her head every morning when she walks towards the building, and the world keeps spinning around her.

“Do I really work here? They must’ve mistaken me for another candidate and haven’t noticed yet,” she thought to herself, holding back tears of irritation and anger for her persistent lack of time management. All the clocks in the world couldn’t out-tick the rhythm of her clogs striking the freshly mopped tile. She barely noticed that the orchids lining the walls had finally bloomed. Her early morning anxiety carries her through the cold morning air, steeped in fresh bleach.

As the time clock flashes green with acceptance, Jill allows herself her first full breath since she opened her eyes this morning. Today, she will meet the overnight agent, who will soon be transferring to the early morning shifts to work with her. She’d never admit it, but she needed the extra help badly. This would actually be her first time working the notoriously busy early morning shift. This was to be her new normal for the foreseeable future. Entering the main lobby, she set her eyes on her desk and made a beeline, praying no one would stop and ask her any questions lest that poor, undeserving passersby be on the receiving end of her irritation.

Standing behind the service counter, she rolled her shoulders back, dropped her shoulder bag and unlocked her cashier’s box. She stopped and rested her hands in front of her. Looking up, she was grateful for the sun this morning. The sun is the only thing Jill could ever count on. The sun - never in a rush, yet always on time - was her first love. As long as the sun rises, she knows she will be alright. Its golden rays reflect off of the walls of the lobby and race through the air to kiss her face. She stood there a minute more. Jill would have done anything in that moment to be closer to the sun. Maybe she could hop on a spaceship and fly out of this job and towards the sun. Then, she definitely wouldn’t have to come back here.

She assumed the overnight agent must have left early again. Then, the wind came around the corner bringing with it a young man about her age. He introduced himself as “Jack". She looked at him with curiosity. She was somehow spinning and sinking into the ground all at once. And, strangely, the sun rose again, only brighter.