Silent Scream

Sixty-Four

Stacey leaned back in her chair and stretched. A heat burned across the muscles in her neck. She rolled her head to the left and then to the right. Something clicked in her right shoulder blade.

The Guv had said go home and that's what she intended to do.

She closed down the Facebook page and her emails beneath. There were a few at the top still in bold and unread but she would see to them on Saturday morning. All she craved right now was a long hot soak in a bubble bath followed by a takeaway pizza and a dose of Real Housewives. She didn't care which one.

The whirring of the computer came to a halt, plunging the room into silence.

Her feet slipped into the shoes beneath the desk. Stacey donned her jacket and walked to the door.

Her left hand hesitated over the light switch but something nagged at the back of her mind. Something she'd seen but couldn’t work out the meaning of just yet.

She growled as she stepped back to her desk. The whirring seemed louder, as though it were under duress. Stacey guessed she was projecting.

She keyed in without looking and went straight to her emails. It was the second unread message that quickened her heart. She read from the beginning, her eyes open wide.

By the time she reached the end of the text her mouth had run dry.

With trembling fingers, Stacey reached for the phone.