All Your Insides Fall To Pieces

She was beginning to regret letting Liam have the day off. She had practically ordered him to take a whole day off and he had responded by telling her in great detail how he would spend the time with his wife while she faked nonchalance. She would never let on that hearing about his drip of a partner caused a spark of jealousy.

Liam would never know when she rarely admitted it to herself. And so she ignored it just like she ignored her business partners childish and often daft ramblings. It had been getting to the point that she could not concentrate being in such a small office with a man that insisted on spinning noisily on his chair for hours on end. Realising that it would actually be easier if she just did both their work loads alone.

It had all gone according to plan earlier in the day. Of course she had slept in as long as possible and had no time for breakfast and was consequently feeling a little dizzy but nothing a strong coffee would not fix. Janice had even managed to arrive at work early and Carla had happily shut herself away with her work and the radio.

Only now she had a new client on the phone who wanted his order ready a week early and a sharp pain forming behind her eyes that got worse as she got more and more frustrated. It was probably silly to ignore the pain but she carried on typing and just hoped it was not the start of a nasty migraine. That would be the last thing she needed, she had been felling a little odd in recent weeks, a little off and not quite her normal self assured persona. She had noticed a new tight breathless feeling in her chest and the way her fiancé had become a little too smothering for her liking.

Liam would have been the only person she would want to share these recent developments with. Only she would see him kissing and laughing with Maria and the words would freeze on her tongue and a sudden urge to scream would almost overtake her. Even with Tony always around she had never felt so alone and it was terrifying to doubt how she felt about the man she planned to marry. He was currently away on an important business trip and Carla did not know what was worse; having to hide her relief at having her home to herself or the way she missed him and hated being left alone with her thoughts.

She placed her mobile down against her desk with more force than was strictly necessary after being put on hold by a snotty sectary once again. It was so typical that when she wanted to renegotiate the contract the client seemed to be avoiding her at all costs when only days earlier he had happily leered at her. To make matters even more annoying she could not remember the idiot's name, she had been unusually forgetful recently. But she refused to bother looking it up when the man had caused her more grief than anyone possibly could in three hours, except for maybe Liam.

All she wanted to do was to crawl onto her soft sofa in her dressing gown with a large glass of red wine but she was too stubborn to call Liam and ask him to come in and cover for her and she would never trust her staff to actually work unsupervised. There was an unopened whiskey bottle in her bottom draw but it wasn't quite lunch time and she knew from experience that it would only turn her headache into something more debilitating.

The letters on her computer screen seemed to refuse to form actual words so she saved the document before she broke something in frustration. She pushed back with her feet and let the wheels of the chair carry her a short distance backwards as she leaned backwards and stretched. Sleep had not been easy the previous night and with Tony away she made no attempt to hide her restlessness. She must have eventually fallen asleep in an awkward position because not her neck felt stiff and a little sore.

"Oh sorry Miss C." Sean burst into the office without pretence causing her to physically jump and open her eyes startled. His electric green jumper caused her to blink repeatedly half because it was actually painfully bright to look at and half because it was such an odd colour to wear with his skin tone.

Sean placed his hand on his hip and carried on talking as if he had not even noticed her reaction. "Me and the girls were wondering if we could go to lunch now. I'm surprised you can't hear Kelly's stomach rumbling from in here."

"Well I might not be able to hear her stomach but I can defiantly hear her voice…constantly." Carla arched an eyebrow and wondered if Sean was intentionally pulling a face like a kicked puppy.

"Go," She sighed as Sean smiled. "Just make sure you are all back in an hour. I think we could all do with a break."

"Cheers Miss C!" Sean shouted over his shoulder as he left in a hurry.

She really could do with a break, although she did not feel all that hungry it probably time to actually eat something even if it was just so she would be alert enough to yell at the sectary when she tried ringing again.

As the rabble filed out she did the same, grabbing her cardigan and bag but forgot to switch the computer off. She decided to head home for some painkillers, some quiet and a file she might need later.

She swore under her breath when her key stuck a little as she locked up the empty factory. Deciding that somehow this was yet another thing she could blame on Liam. Even if she did not like it she still somehow ended up wondering what he was doing. His wife was not the most mentally stimulating companion so it only made other activities more likely. What she hated the most was her business partners ability to get in her head and under her skin, it was meant to be the other way round and she was uncomfortable with the way it made her feel so unsettled.

It took a second for her to realise the harsh buzzing coming from her bag was her phone. Someone was ringing her. Even if she had just placed the damn thing in her bag it had somehow disappeared into the darkest corner where she could not find it without catching her hand on the sharp point of an old nail file.

She was still looking through her bag and about to move down the concert steps that led up to the factory when another wave of dizziness hit and caught her unaware. Her vision blacked out as if someone had put a blindfold across her eyes and she swayed unsteadily.

Then suddenly before she could think enough to panic she was falling, various parts of her body hitting the hard ground as she tumbled down. She landed in a heap as a hiss of pain escaped her lips...