Contessa

Prologue

I went rushing towards his office with an important update. It was news he waited thirteen years to hear, and I had to be the one to deliver the news so that I might witness the expression on his face in person. The image of the lights in his eyes came to life as he processed each word. How he would fight the internal screams of joy from bursting out of his throat because of his pride. The overwhelming sensation of peace would drape over and give him the much-deserved happiness he craved.

The memory of the day we all lost the man we respected most was the same day we learned of the little miss being lost to us in space after a failed mission. We could see the life fade from his eyes as he read the report that day. Each year that went by we witnessed him staring at her photo and whispering a silent prayer to her dead mother begging to bring their daughter back to him. He spared no expense when it came to finding a way to get her back. That was why many of us took on the project and worked so hard, to give him the answers he needed most.

Three years after she had gone missing we found her location. It was a miracle that had been bestowed upon us by the Deity herself. The easy part was over and our work had just begun because the tough part was how did we bring her back home without causing a massive disturbance. The lengths that we went to get to such a conclusion. Hours of mindless chit-chat, the countless theories, and hypotheses. The answer to all of our troubles had finally come to us after so many long sleepless nights. It was the breakthrough we were searching for and that he was hoping for.

My pace quickened as I went from a brisk walk to more of a speed walking sprint. Down the hallway, I saw the elevator open and raced through the lunch rush traffic making it just in time before the door closed. There were only four levels to the building, but it felt like each floor we stopped on time went slower and slower. I couldn't understand it at first, as time usually slipped by like a comet and now it was as if we were in zero gravity just floating with no rhyme or reason. The sound of the ding brought me back from deep thought and the doors opened. I pushed past the line of people trying to make it onto the elevator shouting that they should at least wait for people to get off before trying to squeeze in. No longer able to control myself I went down the hall at full speed. After a few sharp turns, some rather unpleasant curses from people I bumped into, and lots of awkward stares as my figure whizzed by, I reached the door to his office panting for air. My hand touched the scanner to announce my presence and I flung open the door. With a loud thud, it hit the wall and I stood there as the sound echoed throughout the room. My shoulders scrunched up to my ears and I peeked at him from behind the folder to see his reaction. Why he opted to have a swinging door instead of a sliding one I couldn't ever understand. Sliding doors made less noise and they opened by themselves, much more practical, in my opinion. Once it had quieted down I walked up to his desk and cleared my throat before stammering,

"G-General," the shakiness in my voice surprised me as I stood there with the folder clenched up to my chest, "We have the final project report for 'Emerge'."

He turned around to face me; his grey eyes were red and puffy, and he might have been crying. Or it could have been a lack of sleep, as he was known to stay up for weeks at a time before crashing to the floor from fatigue. His tall figure stood as straight and steady as he could with his hands behind his back.

"What is it?"

The horse voice he whispered broke my heart and I fought back tears as I walked closer to him. I hesitated and looked at the folder in my hand; I wanted so much for the general to come back to us. The man that I admired to be one day with my own set of people following my lead. His career in the military was legendary and if he had not taken such a blow to the heart he would have made it to Head Elder's Adviser. That folder was his last hope, and I prayed it would help bring him one step closer to filling the hole that remained engraved into his heart. After losing his wife to have such an event take place on the eve of her death anniversary. I looked into his puffy eyes, the dark circles reminding me of his last fainting spell.