Eastern District School

Chapter 16 - "hear me out..."

Try as she might, she could not sleep. She had been tossing and turning for at least an hour now. Even the bed-covers were suffering now, in evidence: the sheet had come untucked on two corners.

Events of the evening played around and around in her head. Rich had paid for yet another meal together. They, or rather she had chosen a Chinese food stall, and Rich was right about the all you can eat buffet, and for the second time that day Rose had almost rolled away somewhat full and leaving still a lot of food on her plate. 

They had talked about their own lives. Stories of their childhood. Rich had mentioned his Grandmother many times during the evening, he had even suggested once that she come with him to meet her, but the subject had not gone any further and the thought of such had left her feeling rather uncomfortable, so she hadn't even tried to bring the subject back around.

A peace came over them as they spoke that evening. There was no mention of things, or people that were missing, only the talk of things that existed in their lives.

She discovered he was four years older than her, and had been mainly in business with his father since his early twenties. Eastern District would be his second biggest investment on his own backing. They talked a little too of the projects ahead, although somehow they managed to avoid the subject of the dreaded lift, much to Rose's relief.

Pressing the top of the alarm clock, it lit up with the numbers: '01:15'. She heaved a deep sigh and threw herself back onto the pillows spreading her arms out as she did so and stared at the ceiling.

She had also wasted another evening of not calling her mother. Although she wasn't sure if she was sorry for this or not. She still had to find the right words, and the fewest questions to present to her mother. If, of course her mother was actually hiding something, then she didn't want to scare her with questions that might threaten her in some way. 

Her mind so to and fro of thoughts of the day: of the past and of the future, there was no wonder why she could not settle her mind or body. She thought of going over some more work, but she didn't want to be near her laptop. It was such a stupid point of view, but she could not get the thought of someone else touching her laptop. In future, she would not let it out of her sight! 

She thought about having a hot drink...but a coffee at this time of the morning was not a good idea, even she understood that drinking caffeine when you were trying to get to sleep would not help at all.

Another thought came to mind, was the fact that this mysterious person had come to warn her. When she thought of the words again, she realised it was not a threat, but rather a third party trying to warn her. To be more careful: to be more careful of what exactly? Were they not being careful enough as it was? This third person...was it someone on the site? Was it someone who had sneaked past everyone and was creeping around on site? Were they warning her to be more careful around Rich?

Too many questions Rose.

The only thing she could do, other than roam the hallways, which she didn't want to do again in a hurry, was either watch a film or listen to some music. Again this was with her laptop...

She forced herself to sit up in the bed, and reach for the bedside table lamp. She had to put up with any thoughts in her head of things that could not be resolved, especially from her bed right now. Watching a film should deter her worrying mind, she thought as she opened up her laptop. Resting it on the bed in front of her, she sat cross-legged, as she scrolled through a list of new films that had appeared on the site. She found one that looked interesting and started it up, as she leaned back against all the pillows to find a comfortable position to settle down.