Golly prompt: Gail gets a new Bulletproof vest and Holly finds the old one and the message inside for her
This one is right up my alley. Hope you enjoy. Thank you and Merry Christmas.
Closing the laptop in front of her, Holly leans back into the couch and exhales. What a day. She lethargically removes her glasses and rubs at her eyes. She was so done, tired wasn't even the word having been working non-stop for many hours. Too many hours in-fact, but the most important thing is that it's now complete.
She can submit the report and wash her hands of it.
Looking to her watch with her glasses now back on, she wonders where Gail is at. Actually, she had been rather quiet with her all day, aside from the one text early on in the day that was sent around 10:45am and it was now- blinking, Holly makes sure it's correct, 19:21pm.
Something felt off.
She picks up her phone then. Looking back on their messages, she realizes Gail never actually replied to her response.
Tapping on the screen to retrieve the keyboard, she quickly types out:
Hey, everything okay?
She sends it before she has time to think it over, willing for an answer to be shot right back so she can berate herself for acting so paranoid. She waits for the notification to show that it has reached her phone. She waits for it to be shown as read. She waits for some form of response.
She waits with no change.
The minutes are nothing to start with; she almost feels this out of body experience when it flashes from 19:23pm to 19:24pm. Yet the more time continues, the more she finds it drag, with greater distance between 19:21pm. It's agonizing, just looking at a phone, waiting for some acknowledgement – for anything to signify all is alright.
She gets up then, forcing the phone into her back pocket as she decides to race upstairs to find her car keys.
She's half rationing the idea everything is okay; she must have just got caught up with some paperwork or another, maybe she was still on the job for whatever reason? The other half is snowballing, collecting any and all bad things that happened in the past and presenting them on a platter.
It's only when she picks up her keys she notices the bulletproof vest laid atop their bed. This was unlike Gail, so unlike her to leave something important on display, let alone at home, when it's vital to the job. She places the keys back down onto the side table and makes her way over to the vest. She hadn't seen it this morning.
In all truthfulness, she had gotten up before Gail and gone downstairs to do some work. It was stupidly early, and it was only then that she remembered she had left something in the office that she needed to document. So she had gone back upstairs, gotten ready, kissed Gail on the forehead and gone out. It was when she reached the drivers door she realized she had not taken her car keys with her, so instead of going back to get them, she decided to walk there, as it wasn't too far. Admittedly she felt bad for having not done some morning runs as of late, so she felt this was a compromise in that department.
By the time she had gotten back, the apartment was empty. She knew because Gail had work. She hadn't bothered looking upstairs, not when after sometime settling in the lounge with her coffee, documents and laptop, she received a message via WhatsApp:
Gone to work, love you. Oh, and we're out of cheese puffs… :(
It was nearly two hours later by the time Holly had replied, earnestly:
Love you too. Aw, I'll get you some more, promise :) This report is taking forever, can we order in tonight and just snuggle on the couch? X
No response.
She should have noticed sooner, should have paid attention. She knows she had gone to work but it's been radio silence since. Why would she go to work without taking her bulletproof vest with her? It makes no sense. She would never, heck, no one would ever.
Holly takes a moment to breathe.
She had seen this vest so many times, in so many situations, on so many people, yet it's something different when this was one that protected her love; something else entirely when it was used in action, and then when the day was over, taken off to be put aside for another day. She had taken it off a handful of times, helping Gail with it when she struggled due to injuries or exhaustion.
She had never pried, though, had never looked into it further.
This felt different. This moment was charged. Her person was not safe out there. She's existing in a world, in the line of duty, without a layer of protection. It made things different, it just did.
Holly doesn't hesitate picking it up, the weight so real she holds it tighter. She removes the part which matters most, curious, anxious and lost, needing to know, wanting some assurance in a time of uncertainty.
Her heart thrums loudly in her chest; she can feel it pulsate throughout her anatomy in stages until swells into a symphony. The adrenaline is torturous, she's sick to her core but she can't- she won't look away.
Holly,
Suppose that's me.
Not exactly a fairytale, still kind of beautiful though.
I wouldn't change a thing.
She doesn't know what she was expecting but she knows it wasn't this. To have her heartstrings pulled at; to feel so overcome with emotion she clings at the material with tears seeping out.
Dear god, how it hurts.
The slam of the front door makes her jump, too stunned to move from her position until she hears the usual mundane sounds from downstairs - the normal sounds of a home. Shoes being removed, jacket being thrown, keys landing down with a wallet.
"Hey Hol, you in?"
She wants to speak, she wants to answer, but there are no words. She manages to turn around, standing on the other side of the bed, facing the doorway. She hears Gail make further noise, moving around the space with familiarity.
"Ah crap." The words stump Holly; she doesn't know what it's in response to, though she soon finds out when she receives a message, her phone vibrating in her back pocket. She gingerly lowers one hand to pull it out:
Hey, sorry, been busy today so this is the first time I've been able to look at my phone since this morning. I'm so up for snuggles, as long as I can be big spoon tonight :) Where are you at? X
Sometimes it comes to her anew; the fact Gail is out there, serving. Her life on the line, everyday, she gets so used to the routine of it, that moments like these come as a shock to the system; as seamless as she arrived into her life, she could so very easily leave it too. It's not something she ever wants to experience, yet she has no choice in the matter.
The feeling is a united one, she gathers. She's not alone in feeling it.
It takes her a few more moments to compose herself enough to discard the vest, making sure to put it exactly where she found it. Her fingers swipe away the stray tear that must have persisted long after she thought it was over. She doesn't like to feel this way, it's so powerless, and so she is adamant to pull it together so she can affirm that her person is home, is looking for her; is loving her, is perfectly alive and well.
She can breathe easier now.
"Hey, did you get my message?" Soon Gail is at the doorway, standing without the faintest of an inclinations of what occurred here mere moments before. It takes Holly several seconds for her to register, but she sees it.
"You have a new vest."
"Yeah, the old one was getting worn, didn't want to risk it." She takes it off with ease, and it helps Holly to breathe, watching her undress. She places the new vest down beside the old one, admiring them both side by side.
Holly looks down to the vests too, trying to distract herself from revealing too much. She's still vulnerable, after all. She needs to pretend like nothing happened; she wouldn't want Gail to realize she betrayed trust her by reading the message.
She knows it was an invasion of privacy, but she couldn't help herself. On some level, she knows if she were to come clean, she would understand why she did it. She won't though. Wrapping her arms around her midsection, she tries to act flippantly, like this is just talk and not squeezing her heart from within.
"Guess that means I can read the message you wrote, eh?"
"Hopefully you never will." She looks to her then, the real stakes coming at play again. Even though she's actually staring at her this time, and not losing herself to what-ifs, it doesn't repair the knowledge that it may happen, someday. That she may not be able to see her ever again.
Gail must sense the shift because she's busy picking up the old one, looking at it with some semblance of consolation.
"And besides, I wrote the same thing. Still relevant, always will be." Her heart sinks slightly at the thought, and yet beats to a drum which makes everything worthwhile.
Humming, Gail moves the vests away from the bed and to the corner.
"Though I did add something to it, gotta keep it fresh, right?" With a wink, she exits the room, heading back downstairs. "Now, what do you feel in the mood for tonight? I was thinking we could try that new Japanese restaurant on Just Eat?"