Reset

Prof. Sky Alton
Writer, Gryffindor

When the Worst Happens

She was mopping the floor when she nearly crashed into him. He was frozen in place in the entrance to the shoe department.

“What’s up with you?” she asked.

“It’s happened,” he said, not looking at her.

She let the mop drop back into the bucket and stared at him blankly. Any number of terrible things could turn up when resetting a shop after closing time but she wasn’t sure she’d ever seen anyone this traumatized before.

  Wordlessly, he lead her over to the t-shirt section with it’s stacks of stock on low tables.

“Someone… has… unfolded… everything,” he breathed.

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Prof. Sky Alton
Writer, Gryffindor

Fatigue

She stared at the screen. The letters had stopped making sense a while ago. Now they were mocking her by dancing around: she was pretty sure that U had just done a giddy cartwheel.

She pushed herself back from the desk, rubbing her temples. This was no good. The deadline was looming and yet she just couldn’t force any more information into her brain. She couldn’t even remember what she’d read half an hour ago. She jumped to her feet and didn’t stop walking until she was out in the garden, taking lungfuls of frosty air. She needed to reset.