If...

[elizathemekhet.livejournal.com]

I sighed as the train pulled out of Glasgow Queen Street.  Pretending to sip at the coffee I had bought at the AMT stall beside the electronic barriers, I studied my laptop screen with impatience.

First things first.  Getting to Inverness would not be as easy as simply boarding the train.  There were other factors I had to take into account now, like daylight.  This train would take me to Aberdeen and I would have to wait for nightfall to get a connection to Inverness.   I winced inside at the thought, remembering another journey taken under similar circumstances...


Early January, 2009.

"Okay, Eliza, enjoy the conference and I'll look forward to your report when you get back".  My Director of Studies - more of a friend than anything else these days - concluded our call and I put down my mobile.  Checking that I had everything I needed for the journey to the Mediaeval Conference I was attending, I looked round my flat. 

Rucksack - on my back.
Handbag - tucked inside my heavy winter coat.
Mobile phone - on the hall table. 

Picking it up, I slipped it into my jeans pocket before one final look.  If I didn't leave now, I would risk missing the connecting bus from St. Andrews to Leuchars. 

As the train pulled out of Leuchars station, I reviewed my notes for my forthcoming book and began to work on tightening up various chapters.   There were various bits and pieces that did not quite sit right and I had acquired fresh information over the Christmas break that would really add depth to my theory.  

The next afternoon, I shivered.   My breath steamed as I wrapped my scarf more securely around my neck.  My overnight stay in Aberdeen had worked out well as I had managed to fit in a brief visit to the Marischal museum before catching the connecting train to Inverness.  The only problem now lay in the fact that the bus to my conference was an hour late and at this rate I would be lucky to get registered and organised before the evening meal.  It looked like my plan for further updates on my book would have to wait a little longer.  Dammit.   The sooner I had the second draft amended the better.   The sooner I could get away from Scotland the better - the cold winter weather always made me want to be in warmer climes... and I had been promised the opportunity to travel to other Mediaeval Departments after graduation. 

I mused for a short while on if I would leave Britain to work abroad if the right job opportunity presented itself.  Then I snorted at my own stupidity.  Right, like I'd stay anywhere that my talents would go to waste.   And then, of course, there's the minor matter of my money - my millions, I should say.  Like any University Department would be unhappy about taking on a member of staff who really didn't need a salary... I considered the merits of various Departments in several countries for a few minutes, trying to ignore the fact that it was getting colder and darker.

Taking in a cold breath of air, I coughed.  Now was not the time to come down with a cold.  I would find somewhere that had coffee.   If there were no facilities at the bus station, I would find a coffee shop in town.


October 2009


My lips tightened slightly as I looked back at my memories.   Why can't I remember anything beyond that? 


What did my sire do to me?


Maybe, just maybe, going for that coffee had been my mistake.

October writing challenge

[elizathemekhet.livejournal.com]

Brina studied the calendar on her wall thoughtfully.   Was it really only fifteen months since she'd learned the truth about what she really was?   Fifteen months of freedom.  

Damn

It was just as well that their last conversation had been over the phone.  It might have been a little difficult to hide what she really was had he been home when she Changed.   Not that she would have minded ripping him to bits if she had been in Garou form.  

Brina looked down at her hands, flexing them carefully.    Would she rather have remained in ignorance, and in the grip of her abusive ex?

No.

She considered what her life would have been like had she broken free of him earlier, had she seen the manipulation and the abuse for what it had been.

'But then,' she thought, 'I might not have changed under the Half-Moon.   Would I really rather have been something other than Elodoth?'

No.

If she had changed sooner, she would not be the Uratha that she now was.  

Smiling to herself, Brina went to put the kettle on.   There was no point in dwelling morbidly on the past.   She had far too much work to do to indulge herself in mawkish behaviour.

Her first-year tutorial group would be at her door in fifteen minutes.  She had enough time for a coffee before then.

October Challenge

[belak-krin.livejournal.com]

It occured to me that my previous post was more of a 'what if?' than Elseworlds, so I decided to try and write something that showcased other characters in a slightly different style. A bit longer than my other submissions.

( Cambridge Requiem: Hardboiled )