3 comments

Fiction Suspense

A single adult man wakes up, grunts, looks at the clock, "Ugh. . . why didn't my alarm go off?" He says out loud, "whatever, I'm usually early for work anyway." He really has to go to the bathroom, but it's cold outside, and he is comfortable under his blankets, but he knows he really needs to get moving. He tries to talk himself into just stripping off the blankets, bracing himself as if he's about to jump into freezing cold water. He says aloud, "One, Two, Three" and strips the blankets off, immediately getting a chill and getting out of bed. He stumbles over to the bathroom, struggling to walk, partly because of his headache, partly because his plantar fasciitis is acting up. He brushes his teeth, showers, gets dressed, looks at his phone, 30 minutes until he needs to be at work, it takes 20 minutes to get there, excellent he thinks. He walks outside, gets in his pickup truck, and starts it up, starts driving but this headache is lingering, "Ugh, I need some caffeine." he groans. The man turns down his alley, 27 minutes until he needs to be at work, fine, he parks behind his house, leaves his truck running, it'll only take a minute he thinks, "Dammit, my key is on my keychain." He shakes his head, runs back out to his truck and turns it off, grabbing the key. Walks back across the yard, unlocks the door, walks into his kitchen, opens the refrigerator door, and he sees only milk and water, nothing with caffeine. Looks at his phone, 7:36 AM, he needs to be at work at 8:00 AM. He runs back outside, slamming the door behind him, gets to his truck, at this point he's contemplating just taking a sick day, but it's February, and he only has a handful of sick days in a year, not wanting to use one that soon, he decides to get in the truck and start driving. The speed limit is 30 mph, he is going 37 mph, hoping to make up an extra minute at some point. A mile into his drive he sees a coffee shop, he could really use a coffee right now, but there is a line of 4 cars in the drive thru, so he keeps driving, the clock in his truck reads 7:42, but he knows it's a little fast and realistically it's more like 7:40, he's already gone a couple miles, so timewise he's alright, but this headache is surely because of his caffeine addiction, and he really needs something to fix this. He is now about halfway to work, his truck clock reads 7:51 AM, he sees another coffee shop, "Ok, only one car in line, It'll be quick," so he gets in the line, he knows he shouldn't because he is already on strike 1 as far as tardiness, but his headache is getting worse, he feels he has to at his point, better to upset the boss than work feeling like this. He pulls into the line at the coffee shop, and there is a minivan in front of him, no big deal, they've already placed their order, his is quick and easy, no problem. The truck clock now reads 7:52, he impatiently starts tapping his foot on the floor, the barista hands out a drink carrier that is full with four drinks, "awesome" he says aloud. He puts his car in drive getting ready to pull up, but the minivan is still sitting there, "Oh come on. . . what could be missing?" he groans, the drive thru window opens again, the barista hands out another carrier with four more drinks, he looks at his clock, 7:54, the minivan is still sitting there, two more drinks are handed out. "this is it, strike 2 at a new job, still in my 90 day probationary window, why, why didn't I wake up earlier? Why did I get in line at the coffee shop?" He butts his head agains the steering wheel, the minivan brake lights come on, and it drives away. He pulls up to the window, the barista says "good morning, what can I get started for you?" he replies, "One vanilla latte with an extra shot of espresso and extra whipped cream please." the barista asks, "hot or iced?" "Hot please" he responds, getting shorter in his tone, looking at his truck clock, 7:57, "What kind of milk?" she asks, now he has some irritation in his voice, "2%" then he immediately says, "I'm sorry, it's been a morning already." She smiles, and says, "Ok, I'll get that started for you, that'll be $7.25" He gives her a ten dollar bill, and says, "Keep the change," she smiles and thanks him, and turns around. 8:00 AM, he's screwed he thinks, he still has at least 7 minutes left to drive, and he still hasn't gotten his coffee yet, he starts rehearsing an excuse in his head to tell his boss. She hands him the coffee, and he puts the truck in drive, peels out and takes a drink as he does so, spilling coffee on his shirt, it's so hot, but he doesn't care, he's so upset, with himself and in general, then his phone starts going off, "Ugh. . . who could that be at this hour!?" He's very agitated at this point, he looks at his phone. It's his alarm. . . he then realizes it's Sunday. . . he doesn't need to be in until 9:00 AM on Sunday, he starts laughing, he pulls into a parking lot realizing he's now 45 minutes early, coffee stain on his shirt, and finishes his coffee. After he finishes, he drives to work, and there's not a single car in the lot, he digs through the back seat of his truck hoping there is a semi-clean work shirt back there that isn't too wrinkled, he finds one, and pulls it up off the floor, takes his shirt off in the freezing cold weather, puts on this cold extra work shirt, looks at the floor of his back seat, and under this extra work shirt. . . a can of red bull.

November 25, 2023 17:43

You must sign up or log in to submit a comment.

3 comments

Kate Winchester
19:33 Dec 02, 2023

This story is so relatable and I love your humor. Glad it worked out for the guy!

Reply

Max Reeh
21:17 Dec 13, 2023

Thank you, I feel like I come close to this scenario on occasion, and that it's something that will literally happen to me someday.

Reply

Kate Winchester
02:52 Dec 14, 2023

Welcome! Hahaha yes exactly

Reply

Show 0 replies
Show 1 reply
Show 1 reply
Reedsy | Default — Editors with Marker | 2024-05

Bring your publishing dreams to life

The world's best editors, designers, and marketers are on Reedsy. Come meet them.