Ephemeral (#Wattys2016 #JustWriteIt)

Chapter 9

My phone rings away for the tenth time and I finally decide to answer it.

"What?" I ask harshly through the phone without bothering to look at the caller ID.

"Violet's not here. She wasn't waiting downstairs when I arrived and theres was a note under a rock and it says: 'Hey Anna, please tell Jonah I'm really grateful for all you both did for me. Don't worry about me, I'm gonna be staying at a friends house for a while. Have a good life. You guys deserve it'" She says into the phone and I rub my eyes.

"Anna calm down, maybe she's somewhere safe" Or back with her family and just decided to lie to us, but I have a feeling thats not the case. "Tomorrow we'll call her and make sure everything is okay" I tell her and she says an okay and hangs up.

*~*~*~*

I sit in my office chair, with my hands and fingertips on top of my keyboard, waiting for inspiration to come to me, but nothing happens. I pick up the small office phone and dial to Anna's office.

"Hey Jonah" She says and I smile, glad she doesn't sound busy at the moment. "What's up?" She asks me and I hear the clicking of letters on the computer and my smile drops. She is busy.

"Nothing, but you sound busy call me when you're done. Bye" I tell her and hang up before she can protest.

More time goes by and I'm still sitting on the same position I was in before. I listened to music, read my favorite parts of my favorite books, watched a few episodes of Friends, my favorite tv show, and still nothing seems to come to my mind.

Its finally lunch hour when I check the clock again, and I walk to the little hot dog store next to the office. I order and sit down, waiting for my food to be ready, brainstorming about possible ideas for a good book.

I finish eating and go back to my office, but still absolutely nothing comes to my mind.

"Hey sweetie" Anna says opening my office door with a smile on her face.

"Could you read this? I don't know if its any good but I was feeling inspirited and I don't know if I should hand it in to Mr. Lockwood" She says giving me a block of pages with multiple words on it.

"Sure baby, I'll call you when I'm done reading it and tell you what I think okay?" I ask her and she nods before leaning down and kissing me.

"Okay, thanks. I'm going to go grab something to eat. I'm starving and still haven't used my lunch hour" She says before walking out of my office and I grab the manuscript.

I start to read the first page, and I immediately feel myself being pulled into the book. It's really good. I pass the pages without noticing the time or the number of pages I've turned. I'm completely hypnotized by the story written on this pages.

A knock sounds on my door, snapping me out of my trance and I quickly put the manuscript on a drawer, scared that if Mr. Lockwood found me reading this he would take it away for reading, making Anna get mad at me for showing it while she asked me not to.

"Hey Jonah" Anthony, another guy from the branch, says while poking his head on my office. "Mr. Lockwood wants to see you" He says before closing the door, leaving me alone once more.

*~*~*~*

"Sit down Jonah. I'm afraid we have some things to discuss" He says and I do as he says, already starting to feel nervous. What if all this is because he wants to fire me? Because my last manuscript sucked and he finally realized it. "Remember the last manuscript you gave me? A few weeks ago?" And I was right.

"Yes Mr. Lockwood. What about it?" I ask him, rubbing my sweaty hands against my pants.

"Well I sent it to multiple editorials and other friend publishers to get another opinion, and they all gave me the same answer. The book isn't going to sale. I loved it, but apparently they don't think its going to sell. I think they gave the manuscript for young adults and no one liked it to the point where they might buy it. I'm sorry Jonah. Now, this doesn't mean I'm going to fire you or anything, I don't want you to think that, but I am going to need a good book by the end of next month, and you are one of our best authors here in the company. This one just wasn't that good. Can I count on you that you will give me a good book by the end of next month?" He asks me and I feel so relieved I'm not being fired, I want to promise him one for tomorrow, but I just nod my head and smile.

"Thank you so much for this opportunity Mr. Lockwood. I promise this book is going to be amazing. I won't let you down this time" I say shaking his hand vigorously while smiling wildly. I'm so happy I could cry. I excuse myself from the room and walk back to my office.

As soon as I'm in I start laughing to the point tears are spilling from my eyes. I don't even know why I'm laughing. Maybe because I'm relieved and happy like I never was, or because I just want to laugh, but I don't stop.

Anna walks into the office, and as soon as she sees me laughing my insides out, she starts laughing too, and thats how we stay for at least 15 minutes. Laughing. Laughing and enjoying each other's company and the sound of our laughs combined into perfect harmony. As soon as we're both cooled down I lean down to give her a kiss and she giggles in my mouth.

"I love you Anna" I tell her and a redness creeps to her cheeks, and I bite my tongue, realizing what I just said.

"I love you too Jonah" She says before kissing me again, and I couldn't be happier.