GITJ Post 361: That was Then, This is Now, p13

How had I let myself get so distracted?!? Melissa Monroe, new Office Manager for what was at the time still Far Horizon Medical Associates, scolded herself as she waited for the elevator. Dammit. Dammit dammit dammit! she nearly sputtered, bouncing on her toes impatiently, Why didn’t we put in emergency stairs to this level?!?

She’d been, she knew, too wrapped up in her visit with the boys, her admirers, the devotees she had downstairs. Most of the crew were hard at work on the construction, finishing what needed to be finished, but some were down here in the lowest sub-basement resting, eating, hanging out. A few were in the chapel already. It made them feel better when she dropped in, and she had to admit she secretly liked all the praise and admiration and kneeling. One of them had come up with a little chant for the others, which sounded sorta like a prayer. That made her tingle.

No! Stop it! You have to stay focused! she thought, taking herself back to task as the elevator door opened and she entered, violently mashing the button for the lobby level. He needs me!! She could feel it now, plainly, like it was vinegar on her tongue: he was in danger, he was upset, and she wasn’t there. Thank gods Aubrey had called her, used the emergency alert on her phone, or else she might not had known until it was too late, distracted as she was by her devotees and their humming. She hadn’t been aware at all! Aware that he needed her! Oh, Jay! I have to keep you closer! From now on I'm not letting you out of my sight! Ever! This world is too big and dangerous for you. I need to keep you with me!!

<Ding!>

The doors opened, and Melissa Monroe - now on the Atrium Level - took off like a blur out of the elevator. He needed her! And she was going to save him!

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thanks to my editor RiF