บท 30: Emotional Control
For the first time in a long time, when Emily woke up in the middle of the night, it was not because a nightmare was chasing her out of the realm of sleep. No, what woke her from her precious sleep, was not a bad dream, but a phone call. Grumbling, it took a bit of effort for Emily to come awake enough to start searching for the blasted thing, her hand sticking out from the covers and rooting around her nightstand as she tried to find it.
When she finally found her phone,she grabbed it and pulled it under the covers with her. Placing the phone to her ear, she answered without even checking who it was.
"'ello?" There was a pause, then her boss's voice came through from the other end.
"Emily, I need you to come into work right now," She grunted, a very unladylike sound.
"Derek, I have no idea what sort of dream this is, but no matter how bad things get. I would have to be out of my mind to want to head into work in the dead of night. How about the two of us meet at the ocean and go swimming instead," She laughed, the sound coming off as though she were high.
There was a sigh on the other end.
"Emily, this is not a dream. I need you to shake off the cobwebs of sleep. My uncle has finally struck," That cleared all of the sleep from Emily and she shot up in bed.
There was no way, she would ever dream of Derek saying such a horrid thing. Phone still pressed to her ear she pinched herself.
It hurt, and also worked to dislodge the last of her sleep.
"Derek?" She called, and he answered back.
"I take it you are fully awake now, good. Get dressed and head into work, my uncle has made a huge mess," Kicking the covers off, Emily stood.
"What did he do?" She asked, keeping her voice low so as not to wake her mother.
"He has sown the seeds of discontent in the solar panel plant employees. It's a situation bad enough that, we are looking at a possible strike,"
A strike…oh that was bad. That was really bad.
Phone between her shoulder and ear, Emily pulled on some jeans. And she continued to listen to Derek outline exactly what his uncle had done, as she pulled on a blouse and threw a coat over it.
"…that is the general look of things. I will send you the entire document that he circulated, you just make sure to head straight to work…" Emily was busy nodding along when she suddenly caught sight of the clock and her mind screeched to a halt.
"Wait!" She whisper yelled.
" I won't be able to find a ride easily, it is one o'clock in the morning," She said.
"Oh," His voice was soft, like that was just occurring to him too.
"Give me directions to where you live," That made Emily pause for a bit and then she shook her head and rattled off the directions. She might have known him for two years, but he was her boss, there wad no reason for him to know where she lived. But it still felt odd realizing how much they knew about each other while at the same time knowing so little.
With the directions given, Emily hung up and finished getting ready. She splashed some water across her face, tied her hair in a messy bun, put on some boots, and she was ready to go. She only stopped once in the living room, and that was to scribble a quick note to her mother so that she would not worry she did not find Emily at home in the morning.
Her phone vibrated shortly after, a message from Derek, telling her that he was outside.
His car stood out in her neighbourhood. It oozed money and power, a low lying beast amongst vans and tiny sensible cars. Had the neighbourhood been awake, it would have garnered quite a bit of attention. But there was no one there to witness her getting in, and the car speeding off.
Once inside, Emily was a bit surprised to look over and see Derek looking as unflappable as always. He was in a shirt and slacks, and his hair curling softly, evidence of a shower. But other than that, he did not look like someone whose sleep had been disturbed. But then again, how would she know what people who were used to getting a good night's sleep looked like when awakened. She had nothing to compare to.
"How bad is it?" She asked him, he took a deep breath and she noticed for the first time that he was not as well put together as he seemed. His fingers were bone white against the steering wheel. His grip so tight that Emily was certain that,if it had been a cheaper car, the material lining the wheel would have been torn apart.
Despite his calm demeanour, Derek was furious. And he had every right to be. But angry people often made stupid decisions. She could not let him go in and try to resolve a crisis when he looked like one wrong move and he would snap.
Making a split second decision Emily acted.
"Pull over," She said, and he gave her brief look before looking back at the road.
"We are in the middle of a crisis, there is no time," He said, but Emily insisted.
"This is important," She told him, and he finally gave in. The moment he stopped, she shrugged off her coat, he looked at her, a bit of that anger now directed to her.
"Did you just make me pull over so that you could take off your coat?" Ignoring him, Emily balled up the dark blue fabric and handed it over.
He took it warily, not really understanding.
"Scream into it. Your screams will be muffled and you will be able to release some of your rage,"
"Really?" He scoffed, reaching to hand the coat back, but she gave him a look, her arms folded.
Cheeks red, he brought the coat to his face and gave a half-hearted scream.
"Again," Emily said, and he did it again, with more effort this time.
"Again," She said when he was done, and this time when he screamed he did it with his eyes closed.
He did not need prompting for the next one, or for the ones that followed. By the time they got on the road again, he was calmer, the steering wheel no longer being squeezed too hard.
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