Hide N Seek

5 Minutes

Alice doesn't know now, but she is five minutes away from the most horrific meeting of her life.

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Alice now has four minutes to make her train. If people would get out of the way that would be great, she thinks. She pumps her legs as fast as she could, constantly pulling down her skirt that kept riding up. God, I hate these things, she thinks.

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Three minutes. At this point she doesn't care about how much she's sweating or how many people are staring at her. She needs to make this train.

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Two. Minutes. Alice is starting to lose all hope of getting to this train. Her favorite blouse is drenched in sweat and she is about two steps away from breaking her ankle in the heels she's wearing. Her boss told her to wear them because it makes her look professional. Professional my ass, she thinks as she smiles to herself.

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Alice sees the train up ahead, just ten steps away. She puts all her energy into making those ten steps count. Her heels make loud clicking noises that resonate through the station, everyone able to hear her determination.

She is just three steps away. One. Two. Thump!

Alice is one step away when some idiot decides to keep their foot out in the open. As Alice falls, her jacket flies from her hand and gets stuck between the closing doors of the train. The train whisks away moments later with her jacket as well as her pride.

Alice wants to cry; just keep her face on the cold, dirty ground of the train station and create a river of tears. As she thinks about how late she is going to be she heard a voice call out. "Oh my goodness! I am so sorry! Are you okay?" Alice lifts herself to her knees to look at the stranger talking to her.

He looks about twice Alice's age; suit and tie, combed back brunette hair with thin strands of silver and saddened green-gray eyes. He offers his hand to her and she takes it willingly. Alice rubs her forehead to see if there is a bump forming. There is.

She smoothes out her skirt and fixes her messy black curls, trying to seem presentable in front of the onlooking crowd that was starting to dissipate.

"Are you sure you're fine, miss?" The man asks, persistently. Alice nods once again, not wanting to speak. Through the pounding in Alice's head she thought to herself. Why does his voice sound familiar? Alice is really good at remembering things most people wouldn't care to.

"Is there anything I can do for you miss?" Alice looks at the sad man. 

"Well, for starters, you can stop calling me miss. Secondly, I would just like to sit down." The man nods. He slowly guides her to a nearby bench and tells her to wait there. She does as she is told, although not really needing anyone to tell her to rest.

The man comes back a few minutes later with a water and a small bag of ice, which Alice doesn't know where he could've gotten it from. She takes the water and takes a small sip and applies the ice to the ever-growing bump. "Thank you," Alice says, eyes closed. 

"No problem mi- um," 

"Alice." 

"Alice." The man paused when he repeated her name. He looks at her face, really looks at it.

"I know this sounds a little strange but do you by any chance happen to be Alice Wilson?"

Alice's eyes shoot open at the sound of her whole name. She sits up and stares at the man. She slowly nods her head, her foot placed behind her ready to sprint if this man was a creep. "I think I had you in my history class when I was a student teacher." Alice relaxes as she hears his words. 

"Mr. Bennett?" She asks. His eyes lighten as he hears his name. 

"Wow, what a coincidence running into you here, of all places."

Alice nods in agreement. " It's been almost ten years since then," Alice doesn't know whether she should hug him or not, so she sticks her hand out to give him a firm handshake. He takes her hand and shakes it, smiling wide.

She removes her hand from his and stands up. If she sits any longer she will lose her job. "Well, it was nice seeing you," Alice says. 

"Same here," he replies.

Alice gets onto the next train, which is freezing by the way, and the melted bag of ice doesn't help either. Alice finally makes it to her job looking okay but beaten up a bit. Her friend, Zuri, gives her worried eyes from her desk. Alice walks into the meeting room and sits down quietly at the end of the table. "Thank you for finally joining us, Ms. Wilson." Her boss says with a snappy attitude. Alice just keeps her head down and takes notes.

At the end of the meeting, her boss pulls her aside. "Why were you late, Alice?" He asks, nicely this time. 

"I'm sorry, I just got caught up in traffic and I was late to my train." 

"And the knob on your head?" Alice puts her hand to her head. The bump has gotten bigger even with the ice. 

"I, um, fell when I tried to make my train," Alice looks down in embarrassment. Her boss shakes his head. 

"Just don't let it happen again, okay?" She nods and heads to her desk.

Alice shuffles her papers around her desk before she lays her head down. "Girl, you better get your ass up before Adam chews you out." Ah, yes. Zuri. Her very head-strong friend. Alice sighs.

"Not like he hasn't before." Zuri shakes her head.

"That's what's wrong with corporations like this. Always making women feel weak and undermined. Especially black women such as ourselves." Alice's head is still on her desk when she shakes her head. 

"It's not that I'm weak. I would rather deal with consequence than talk back and end up jobless." 

"Uhn, uh, girl. You've fallen into their trap."

Alice gives up and stops responding. A few minutes pass by when Zuri speaks again. "Anyways, why were you so late?" Alice holds herself up with her elbows on her desk; her head starts to throb and she can't concentrate.

She knows that if she asks Adam to go home early after being late to work, she would not be in his good graces. "Well, I was stuck in traffic on the road, people were walking like grandmas and there were accidents like no other, and by the time I made it to the train station, I only had five minutes to make my train. As I was running I fell a hit my head. The guy who accidentally tripped me was actually a student teacher from my old high school. What a strange coincidence," Alice says, losing train of thought.

Zuri doesn't do much but nod.

As the day droned on a thought popped into Alice's aching head. It's so strange what a coincidence that was. I mean, a man from nine years ago is the man who tripped you. Hmm. Alice looks back at the documents on her desk and sighs dramatically. This is gonna be a long day.

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Hey guys!!!!!! I'm starting a new story because the last one isn't going so well. I'm debating whether I should stop it completely or take it down and edit it, then put it back up. Help me decide if you can! Hopefully you enjoy this new one!

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I'm back and updating the two (wow) chapters I have written. I would advise going back but if not, keep going if you would like. Hopefully I can put forth more effort into this story a second time around. Thanks for reading!