Barely There

Chapter 15 - Broken Clock

Gemma's lean fingers typed on the vibrant keyboard as children played beyond the room. The muffled clatter and banging of toys seeped through the walls. Leda eyed the sun-shaped clock on the wall, noting it was broken. 

"Alright Ms.Dehkordi! Clementine will be out shortly."

"Wait what? Don't I-"

The woman turned around abruptly, her long, floral skirt flowing behind her as she entered the main play area. Leda leaned against the sturdy desk for support, finding it rather difficult to remain standing. The clock stared at her patronizingly as the seconds dragged on to become minutes. Her brown eyes stayed on the broken hands when the door opened again. Clementine stumbled towards the anxious girl, clutching her hand softly. 

"Hi Clem!"

"Hi Laila."

The fairy-like woman at the wooden counter raised her eyebrows in slight surprise as she smiled affectionately towards the pair. "Aww. She hasn't learned your name yet?"

Leda chuckled easily as she felt herself melt into the small child's hold. "Not yet, we're working on it!"

Clementine leaned restlessly on Leda's leg, yawning. Gemma's kind eyes softened on the child. 

"Aww, well bye Clem! I'll see you again soon!"

Using all of her meager strength, the tired girl raised her head up as she smiled deliriously at the energetic woman. "Bye miss Gemma," Clementine mumbled, dragging Leda slowly out of the building. 

As the sun began to set, the warm sunlight bathed them in its mystical fiery rays. Leda picked up Clementine as the girl began to stumble over her own feet in exhaustion and held her against her chest, basking in the warmth. Clementine's breathing began to shallow as she fell slowly down the path to sleep. Still not waking even when Leda set her down in the car seat, the brunette exhaled a relieved sigh. 

After basically throwing herself into the driver seat, Leda stretched her arm to the glove compartment in an effort to hunt down a silver disk in order to play some music. Reaching under the mountainous piles of junk in the cramped box, she took out a dusty CD. Clementine shifted in the seat and the girl held her breath before inserting the somewhat scratched disk.

The musical disk spun within the car before silence rained down again. Leda frowned at the radio until the simple musical symphony sounded out softly.

Oh my darling, oh my darling

Oh my darling, Clementine

The ancient voices and music continued, crackling through the air as Leda's chocolates eyes squinted faintly.  

"Hey, my daddy plays this for me all the time!" the enthusiastic voice poked against Leda's ear, piercing through with its high pitch. The brunette jumped up in her seat, her heart racing rapidly at Clementine's sudden wake.

"Clem you scared me."

The small girl stretched in the tight car seat as she tried to lean closer towards the source of the sound. 

"Wait, did you say your dad listens to this song?" Leda questioned, rubbing her face with her palms. 

"Yeah, he plays it all the time and told me my mommy used to listen to it too!"

Leda's mind wandered as she tried to piece together the ever-growing puzzle, each piece separating into a million different pieces. She groaned exasperatedly before pressing her foot down on the gas pedal. The car cruised smoothly along the dark pavement as the sun fell down into the horizon.