Up in the air with H.

Part 1 - Fatigue

The thread  that was hanging out of the black handbag was my only point of interest for the past 20 minutes. The famous airport coffee kiosk behind me had been visited more than the currency notes that I had in my bag. I was contemplating whether sipping cappuccino would take more time than going to the restroom. 

My legs refused to move, which wasn't surprising. They never moved much. In fact nothing in my body moved. At this moment, my brain which was slightly more functional than any other body organ, was frozen as well. 

I blamed the presentation  in Zurich , which didn't go well in every aspect. From the timing that was announced to the draft version of the slides that showed up, everything went wrong.  When the client asked for the numbers, I realized Mathematics  that was taught in school had gone down the drain. We add written that appropriate savings were 25 times the original with our well  thought--poor drafted plan. The actual was nothing less than 0.25 times. 

I knew my manager wasn't happy, or the team lead. In fact, I wasn't happy with what I had achieved in past 48 hours. I would be the source of grapevine in my office; piece of gossip at every lunch table. All the cheap tricks of boot licking of my colleagues would be hidden in my failure. 

I re-ran the moments of failure again in my head, when sudden commotion at the end of the airport passage disturbed the scene when the client frowns. I realized I was frowning too. I quickened my expression to normal complacency. I could achieve that. I didn't want to waste any energy in any of the drama- be it in happiness or sadness. Or even failure. I was mentally exhausted and body began to rust. I got up from the seat suddenly sending shocks all over my body. I glanced towards the commotion and conveniently ignored it.

"I am tired. I am sorry. I am. Please excuse me" , husky voice sounded at the far end. 

The sparsely populated airport turned towards the passage. Some shrieked and yelled or something similar. My head refused to comprehend anything and was screaming coffee. I felt sorry for the source of voice, which seemed like begging for some sleep. The subject was clearly tired. But, as human beings, as they always turn out to be irrational or sympathetic, screamed and pushed themselves to tire the voice more. I just felt seconds  of sympathy for the beautiful voice, which was washed away by a sound of another robotic voiced woman.

"The flight to Vienna ... delayed... two hours.. sorry..inconvenience..."

This is all my head took. It could understand the situation completely with just few words. The body listened and began to rust again. 

Trying to take a look at the source of the voice, I stood on my toes. I silently prayed that it was Roger Fedrer and I could ask for a autograph for my sister. Realizing that his voice was way different from what I heard, I kill the idea in my head.

I was completely exhausted. Drained.

I moved towards the ATM.