Designing Destiny – Ch. 02 (Tier 2+)

It was the same inane question as usual. Asked by the same inane coworker. Wearing that same inane grin on her face.

"So, how was your weekend, Fern? Do anything… special?"

Of course she couldn't say. Of course she couldn't tell Laura the truth: about how she'd gone out on a date last Friday evening, almost like a normal human being. About how she'd blown it… come home crying… spent the weekend curled up at home in her PJs and binge-watching old episodes of The Office…

"Uhh, no," she managed. "Nope, not really… how about you?"

Thank goodness Laura was vivacious and extroverted enough not to notice her reticence. "Well, actually, yeah! See, remember how I told you about that guy I met online? Not the one with the dogs – the one with all the tattoos? Well, turns out that he's into craft beers, too! So, like, he sent me a DM the other night, and…"

On she prattled in the empty breakroom, as the coffee maker brewed and Fern shifted silently from foot to foot, trying to pretend that she really cared. Laura made it all look so easy, she mused amid the torrent of words. So simple. And yeah… maybe so disturbingly empty. Were relationships these days really nothing but online simping and month-long flings of getting drunk and fucking one another before breaking up and moving on… just to repeat it all over again?

She was still mulling things over hours later at her desk. Her job was nothing too crazy – collecting and organizing data from the company's recent advertising campaigns – so amid all the mind-numbing routines of spreadsheets and graphs, her mind was free to wander wherever it liked. Which today happened to be over her embarrassing late date. James… ugh! Please dear god, don't let him show up today! I wonder if Laura ever runs into exes? Would she even notice? Hmm, maybe Laura will end up with James someday? Talk about awkward for me…

"Hey there."

The soft voice came from the entry of her little cubicle. Startled from her reverie, Fern jerked, swiveling around in her creaking office chair with wide eyes to find herself face to face with… whom, exactly?

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," the woman said simply. There was no sign of a smile on her face, but neither was her low, British-accented tone unkind. "I'm new here, and I'm just touring around the office to say hello and introduce myself." She extended a hand with simple candor, and Fern found it closing on hers almost before she'd realized it. "Name's Destiny."

Destiny. Fern stared up into the woman's face, fumbling for words as a sudden sense of shyness overcame her. Destiny. "Nice to, um, meet you!" she managed, her gaze flitting from her visitor's shoulder-length, bubblegum-pink hair, down over the professional navy pants-suit, flicking back up to her admirably curvaceous chest, and finally darting back to her keen grey eyes. "I- uh, I didn't know we, uh, had someone new!"

And then, almost as an afterthought: "Oh, sorry – I- I'm Fern! I, uh- I do marketing stuff…"

"That's great… Fern," Destiny replied simply, and a shiver rippled through her listener at the sound of her name in this woman's mouth. It was as if every one of her blonde hairs was standing on end – electrified by this novel presence. "They hired me to do a bit of graphic design work," Destiny continued calmly. "Sounds like we'll be working together, hmm? I look forward to it…"

And then, with a quiet click of heels, she was gone: leaving Fern staring mutely after her in self-conscious surprise.

***

Despite that brief, strangely electrifying encounter, Fern might not have thought much more of the new hire after that. Not, that is, if it hadn't been for the incident in the parking lot that afternoon.

Years later, she found herself struggling to even recollect what had happened and how. She'd been heading for her little green Toyota, that much she did remember: pastel lunchbox and keys in one hand, the other slinging her Hello Kitty backpack carelessly over her shoulder. She'd been in a hurry to get going, for some reason – because of traffic, or an impending rain shower, or something other reason she later could not recall. Down the stairs she had trotted, headed for the tree-shaded lot – and then, somehow…

Her foot missed its place, and in a flash she was stumbling to the ground: hands flying out to break her fall, her lunchbox clattering and backpack thumping and pain shooting out from her exposed knees as they connected with the uncompromising asphalt.

"Oww…" She let out a pained moan, struggling to flip over off of her aching knees. But even before she could do more than catch her breath and reach for her fallen lunchbox, a voice sounded from above her. "Are you all right? Fern… are you okay?"

It was the new woman, Destiny. And as she knelt beside her, hands slipping over the fallen girl's shoulders and helping her sit up, Fern felt the same shiver race through her adrenaline-primed body. "I- uh, I'm fine," she managed, trailing off as she caught sight of the blood welling from her left knee. "I mean, it's just a scratch-"

"Are you sure, honey? Here, let's wipe that clean." Before Fern could protest, Destiny was plucking a large white handkerchief from her suit jacket and wiping earnestly at the dirt and blood of the injured knee. "Sit still and let's get this cleaned up. No sense in getting blood on that pretty skirt…"

She's- she's so… nice… Fern bit her lip as she watched, shivering amid the swirling emotions within. Here was this brand-new, obviously elegant coworker: kneeling over her, fixing her up after her own stupidly clumsy fall – and getting blood all over her handkerchief, too! "It- it's fine, really," she spluttered, trying and failing to pull away. "I'm really sorry! I- I'm bleeding on you- you know, your-"

"Relax, Fern." Destiny smiled at last, and at the sight Fern's protest died away on her tongue. It was the oddest smile: not full of contempt or ridicule, nor even of pity. It was almost of… interest? Amusement? Elation? She wasn't quite sure… but it was gone in a second, as her impromptu medic straightened and helped Fern up from the pavement.

"Here, let's get you to your car. You're sure you'll be okay to drive home?"

Of course she was. Of course it was all good. Fern stammered out her thanks, accepting her lunchbox and backpack from Destiny's hands with a blush and a silent prayer that this elegant woman wouldn't judge her for the cutesy, pastel design of those items. And before she quite knew what she was doing, she was in her car, headed out to the highway and the long drive back home.

Which also meant that she wasn't there to observe the strange, almost fascinated expression on Destiny's face as she gazed after her… then glanced down at the blood-stained handkerchief… and then back at the retreating car.

***

Pitch black. Silence. Utter, bone-chilling silence. Cold – cold as the icy nothing of space, colder than the chasms between worlds.

And then, out of the blackness, a voice. Strong – serene – infinitely calm and confident in its own power to compel. "Exsuscitare!"

The world flashed into existence in a burst of light. She was falling… tumbling… spinning… Until, with a sudden jerk and thud, she crashed down into…

What, exactly?

She had no way of knowing. All she knew was that as her eyes cracked open, they found themselves staring up into a pink-hued haze, within which glowed shimmering lines delineating a five-pointed star. And there, caught between that mystic pattern and herself, loomed a silhouette: the silhouette, she somehow knew beyond a doubt, of the one who had awakened her.

In the split second before she squeezed her eyes shut in terror once more, she caught, from within the depths of that silhouetted figure, the terrifying flash of a red eye… and the soft, rhythmic rise and fall of a sinuous incantation beyond her understanding…

(To be continued!)