A TIRED RACE

Waking up that day, I honestly did not want to get out of bed. Sick in my stomach and bones, the day was already going bad because I had just woken up from a horrible dream where my boss was asking me about the ARP documents he wanted me to prepare for the audit and I stood there frozen with no words to answer in the presence of the auditors who were even requesting for it at that time. I wished the ground would open and swallow me at that point when my alarm began to ring and the only thing that came out of my head was thank goodness it was all a dream. Opening my eyes however, the only thing I wished I could do was rewind time and go back to sleep without having to dream any scary dream, but I couldn’t afford to be late for work that day since we were going to be having an external audit.

Slowly I picked my lazy self up as I struggled through my morning routines which I was devastated to be doing at that very time. Every push up I did was as if I was lifting a truck placed on my back, but it was my body I was lifting which technically speaking felt as heavy as a truck. I could only afford to carry 3o loads of trucks that morning which counted for the number of my body allowed to carry it. I was 20 below my normal count but I was too lazy to mind even though I knew I could pull up my socks and go a little further. By the time I had taken my bath, my body was a bit responsive and so that was how I started heading to the office. Just when I thought my body was now responding little by little, I was struck with a load of surprise.

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On reaching the bus stop, for the first time I saw a lot of people standing there. Normally there used to be a lot of buses lined up for people to enter. The only worry I used to have was praying to meet a bus that was nearly full. But this time, there was no bus talkless the one that was almost full. It was as though the day itself was a weapon fashioned against me when the bus that finally came went ahead to park far away from the bus stop only to see mature men and women running to catch it and struggling to enter. I could only stare in awe of the scene playing right in my very before and wishing I had wings.

After about 25 minutes which left me with only 10 minutes to get to the office, a bus stopped right in front of me and I didn’t even realize until I sat down that I had charged into the bus the same way I saw people charging in for the first bus. Just like the first, a lot of people missed this one, and I was just glad I wasn’t one of them only to start looking at the time and wishing the bus could just move a bit faster. To my disappointment, the reverse was the casein I was eventually 12 minutes late walking into a meeting that was already going on. Thankfully it wasn’t the audit, but when my boss saw me, the first thing he asked was for the ARP he asked for in my dream.

At that spot, I was eager to not make the same mistake I made in my dream by freezing up, so I said the only thing that came to mind immediately he asked. “It’s almost done sir, I just need to add a few finishing touches to make it look presentable. I will show you once I turn up my PC”. In the real sense, I had not even started, and was happy he had a lot on his plate in preparation for the audit. He simply told me to send it to him as soon as I could, of which I immediately started working on it. If one should see me at that point they would only pity me with how the veins in my head were popping out as I was eager to finish a three hour work in under 5 minutes.

I managed to finish it in under an hour, but when I submitted it to my bus the reaction on his face said it all. He had relied on me to pull up my socks, but I didn’t because I had been feeling lazy since the previous day, procrastinating all day long. He sent me back to do it again, and again, and again until I finally got it right. At the point I got it right, it was met with too much disappointment. I was disappointed in myself knowing I could have done more, and my boss was disappointed in me knowing my capabilities as well.

THIS IS MY ENTRY INTO THE INKWELL CREATIVE NONFICTION PROMPT #125