Stepping out
Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine, but belong to Impossible Pictures™.
The woman was young, tall, and curly. Her clothing was fashionable, and her earrings quite sizeable. Judging by her appearance, one would expect her to possess a lapdog, a pug or a Chihuahua, made popular by various Hollywood stars and starlets. Instead, however, a massive Brazilian mastiff was located at the end of her leash, looking rather possessive out and around its mistress, looking like a proper watch or guard dog of all things. Abby Maitland took a deep breath, gave the big dog a wary look and stepped forwards.
"Hello, Caroline," she said quietly.
"Abby," the other woman recognized her almost straightaway. "Why are you here?"
"It's – it's a funny story," Abby muttered, still feeling rather less sure of herself than the usual, "but have you ever heard of a saying that I just wanted to say hello? Well, that's all what I wanted to do: to say hello. And now that that's done, I'm gone."
"Fair enough," Caroline agreed, "can I just ask you why you wanted to tell me hello?"
"Just to be sure that you aren't gone, as so many people in my life are," Abby explained, reluctantly.
Caroline blinked once, then again, and then turned thoughtful. "You want to tell me a full version?" she asked, not backing down.
"Um, not really. It's just that my life, well both my life and the lives of my co-workers and friends, is going so fast, so quickly, so many people are gone and fallen behind... I guess I'm just afraid that I am losing my mind, or something," Abby explained and exhaled at the same time. "I guess... I just wanted to check up on you to be sure that what has happened in the past has really happened, that Stephen Hart really did exist and die, as Nick Cutter died later on... It's stupid, I know, but you're, possibly, my only link to life outside ARC, not counting my brother, and I'm not about to involve Jack again, and I am rumbling on, and-"
"Stop," Caroline exhaled with a sigh. "We're not friends, Abby Maitland, for the obvious reasons. However, care to join me for a cup of coffee and listen to me babble about something not related to your job, for a change?"
"Could I?" Abby said gratefully, and the two women left, worries of the Centre left behind – at least for a while.
End