What if? An anthology

Icarus

Icarus' father Daedalus, a very talented and a remarkable Athenian craftsman, built the Labyrinth for King Minos of Crete near his palace at Knossos to imprison the Minotaur a half-man, half-bull monster born of his wife and the Cretan bull. Minos imprisoned Daedalus and his son Icarus in the labyrinth because he gave Minos's daughter,Ariadne a clew (or ball of string) in order to help Theseus the enemy of Minos, to survive the Labyrinth and defeat the Minotaur.
Daedalus fashioned two pairs of wings out of wax and feathers for himself and his son. Daedalus tried his wings first, but before trying to escape the island, he warned his son not to fly too close to the sun, nor too close to the sea, but to follow his path of flight. Overcome by the giddiness that flying lent him, Icarus soared into the sky, but in the process he came too close to the sun, which due to the heat melted the wax. Icarus kept flapping his wings but soon realised that he had no feathers left and that he was only flapping his bare arms, and so Icarus fell into the sea and drowned in the area which today bears his name, the Icarian sea near Icaria.
But what if Icarus hadn't gotten too close to the sun and arrived at Samos with his father Daedalus, as we wouldn't have the island Icaria, would it have been called something else. We wouldn't have had the myth of Icaria. Parallel worlds could exist, what if we didn't have Harry Potter but Harriet Potter a young woman who was defeating Voldemort. If we didn't have the Big Bang theory but with women, or the film Sliding Doors with Gwenyth Paltrow but with Minnie Driver. It's those natural beings in this world that makes us believe in the parallel beings of another worldly existence.
This is my story, I'm Elle and I'm telling you more of what could have been and I tell you more about Verse X and Verse Y. This story is about my decision to whether to pursue a relationship with my manager and my overwhelming thoughts on wanting to be a team leader.

Verse Y
October

I walk around the world as it's mine to own, I was walking to work after having been on jury service. I didn't mind it and I didn't hate it but i came in with my head held high. I applied for the role of team leader but I didn't get the role, I was originally going to have a one to one but he never got the chance to speak with me so he decided on a team leader assessment/engagement day. So I went in and sat down next to Glenn. It was halfway through and I was a little tired and we could have a break. So I got myself a cup of tea.

"Elle, you like wine don't you?"
"Yes."
"You have evenings off this week."
"Yes, why?"
"That's great you two can you go out and have fun then." He then went onto change the subject, yet I didn't know who he was talking about Jimmy was married, Mark is single but has never been been interested in me. Glenn couldn't have been talking about himself and Andy he's single, cute and handsome.
I kind of liked him, he was funny and good gentleman. This was the first time in my working life that I felt visible, as I always felt I was invisible at work. As he always wanted to struck up a conversation with me, it was a nice change.
At the end of the working day I wandered off down to the office, i knocked on the door with butterflies in my stomach. He opened the door.

"Hi, can I talk to you?"
Andy smiled at me as did I.
"Sure come in."

I still had butterflies in my stomach, I didn't know what to say and yet alone do. I was scared and happy at the same time.

"Actually can I ask you something?" He asked
"Yeah of cause you can, in fact I wanted to ask you something."
We both went in, my nerves were getting to me but he started to talk to me.
"Are you free tomorrow evening?"
"I am."
"Good, there's a new bar in town in Canterbury. We can leave after work tomorrow, I don't mind finishing early."
"Sounds fun, can't wait!"

***

I changed into a nice dress and tights and met Andy outside.

"You look beautiful."
"You don't look too bad yourself."
We were on our way to Canterbury we parked outside his flat and walked into town. We were at the new bar, he bought me a glass of wine and him a beer.
"Well isn't this nice." He smiled.
"It is."
"I think you need another drink."
"Do I?"
"Yes."