Jennifer glares at the clock above the door to the server room, wasting precious time she can't afford.
"No, no, no! I'll never make it to my appointment if this keeps up. Damn!" The clock, undeterred continues to wind toward evening.
Jennifer turns back to her computer with a sigh. When web server 2 crashed earlier she assumed it would be a quick fix. Redundancies were in place and all traffic should have automatically shunted to server 3 without a hiccup, but that's not what happened. Now she was getting calls from the sales group every fifteen minutes saying that the website was down and could she please get it up and running ASAP. Like she wasn't already working on the problem as fast as she possibly could. She wasn't sure why they thought pestering her and interrupting her troubleshooting would improve the response time on solving the problem. Maybe they thought she would work faster if she was more annoyed.
"I swear, the next person who tells me the site is down is going to get a thorough review of their surf history sent to HR," she mutters. Another glance at the clock and she realizes she's going to have to make a call herself.
"Tarot Tattoos, how may I help you?"
"Hi. Can I speak to Tara please? This is Jennifer. Jennifer Stephens I have a 9:00 o'clock appointment for a tattoo consult."
"Hey, Jennifer its Tara. I'm looking forward to seeing you tonight. I think you're really going to like the designs I came up with for you. I did up a couple of different schemes and sizes so you'll see what I was talking about the other day. You can pick one of the ones I made or mix and match, whatever you want."
"Uh, Tara I'm so sorry, but something came up and I'm stuck at work. It looks like I'm going to be here for the next several hours."
"Really," Tara asks, "there's no way you'll be able to make it."
"No, I don't think so," I answer, guilt tightening my stomach at the odd sound of disappointment in the young woman's voice. "I don't know where the problem is and they pay me a lot of money to make this sort of thing go away as quick as can be. I know you set aside time to do this tonight and I'm terribly sorry. You already have my credit card info so please charge me for your time. Maybe you can text me with a time next week we can get together?"
"Yeah ok. I'll check my schedule and get back to you tomorrow."
"That sounds good. Ok 'till tomorrow. Bye and sorry again."
"See ya..." Tara replies and hangs up the phone.
Odd Jennifer thinks. Tara seemed more upset about that than I would've thought. She must have been pretty keen on her designs. Oh well, gotta get back to work.
Jennifer closes up her Dell and glances at the hated clock.
Not terrible, only 8:50. I wonder if Tara is still at the shop. It's on the way home, so I guess there's no real reason not to swing by. Doubt it though.
Its 9:40 by the time she pulls up outside Tarot Tattoos. The windows of the shops on either side are already dark, shop owners and patrons both having already headed home to spouses, significant others or perhaps their individual vices. Tara's shop is still lit though the open sign has been turned off. Looking through the window gives no real indication if there is someone still there or not, the shop lobby/waiting room is filled with empty chairs. She approaches the door, placing her keys in her purse and reaching for a pen and post-it. If Tara has already left she'll leave a note.
Jennifer pulls the door handle, surprised to find the door is unlocked.
Wait the deadbolt's been thrown! "
Mmmmmm... mmmmmm... unh... mmmmm."
Shit! What's that sound.
"
Mmmmmm... mmmmmm... unh... mmmmm."
Maybe I should just leave. No, can't do that. What if someone broke in; Tara said she's usually alone here after nine. There've been some attacks in the area here lately.
She backs away from the entrance, grabbing her phone out of her purse.
I'll go back to my car and call the police. They get paid to take risks! God! I'm such a coward. What if that young girl is in there being raped? It'll take the cops at least ten minutes to get here. Fuck it. I can't just stand here and do nothing.
She gathers her courage, pulls the can of mace from purse and presses 91 on her phone. Quietly, cautiously she prowls forward, hoping to stop whatever kind of assault is taking place, hoping her presence will be enough to drive the attacker off. To her left, the wall separating the lobby from the main part of the shop ends. Jennifer presses her back against the wall, leans to the side and pops her head around the wall. Movement in the far corner draws her attention, but Jennifer is too afraid of revealing herself to get a good look. Grunting and muffled moans/screams echo in the mostly empty space of the main room.
Jennifer curses herself for a fool; the smart thing to do would be to run outside and call the cops, but she imagines herself in a similar situation. She would want help immediately, not in five or ten minutes! She quietly puts her purse down and crawls between two reclining chairs mounted on swivels. She eases over to the last mounted chair, pops her head over the back andβ