Who: Astra and OPEN When: Wednesday, August 17, around 5 pm Where: Bus stop, near the clinic What: Astra misses her bus and must now stand in the rain for an additional fifteen minutes. Warnings: zilch, and likely to stay that way
The weather wasn’t all that bad, not compared to her standards, at least. Muggy and hot and rainy. Familiar. Astra made sure to stay out of any puddles, though it was harder in this part of town where some of the pavement sloped strangely and all the water gathered there in small, rippling ponds. She had to be careful, stepping around those; she didn’t want to ruin her boots. They were nice ones, she was quite sure, square-toed with a bit of a heel and made of a supple chocolate-brown leather. They were shoes that didn’t hurt her feet, which had been the usual experience she’d had when wearing any type of footwear that boosted her height. She always felt she ought to wear them – heels – but she liked the boots too because they weren’t staggeringly tall, and wouldn’t pop her head out over a crowd. She disliked standing out.
She stayed protectively under her umbrella, the rainwater hitting it in a pleasant, soft pattering sort of sound, like dozens of little feet marching along. It was difficult to maintain, however, since she was currently trying to run down the sidewalk. She didn’t call out or shout, since she doubted it would make much of a difference, and she was right; if the bus driver had seen her, he clearly did not care. The bus trundled on, smoothing its way back onto the road, and Astra stopped and watched it pick up speed and go on its way without her.
She stood there, uncertainly, feeling a strange pause in both herself and the world around her, an unusual disconnect. She felt oddly dejected and she wasn’t sure why – it was just a bus – she had left the clinic late – everything worked on a schedule here – this could be foreseen and she had half-expected it – there would be another in fifteen minutes. Still. She shook her head a little, to clear it of cobwebs, her long brown hair fluttering about as if to reflect her uncertainty, and walked sedately the rest of the way to the empty bus stop to wait. A few years ago, this would not have bothered her. But back then nothing besides the hunger had ever bothered her.