#sally-rag-bones

Ella scanned the quad for the shock of red-hair she knew was out here somewhere. It was winter, and an uncharacteristic snow had fallen all over WDC, making the campus look like a scene from a movie. Her bare feet left dainty little prints in the snow as she walked, like a little trail behind her. The wind blew gently over her bare shoulders, but she wasn’t cold. Just a little lost on the campus. 

After a moment or two, she found the head she was looking for. Breaking into a little jog, she made her way across the space to find her friend—her best friend here, or one of them—sitting on a towel on the quad, sipping hot chocolate from a mug with Dita. Ella’s jog slowed to a careful walk as she approached the towel, lips pressed together nervously. It was nothing personal, just a habit she’d picked up over the years whenever she needed to walk up to Dita. But Dita’d wanted to turn over a new leaf, and Sally was…well…Sally. There was nothing to be nervous about.

Clearing her throat and brushing her hair back behind her shoulder, she approached carefully, letting each foot sink all the way into the snow. When her toes touched the edge of the towel, she stopped. “It’s so pretty out, don’t you think?” she asked, unable to hide the grin in her voice. Sally nodded vaguely,  not really indicating her opinion either way. It sort of surprised Ella. She thought the redhead’d be excited about the snow. Undaunted, she tried again. “Do you want to watch a Christmas movie?”

And then, Sally turned to her, slowly, as if she didn’t really want to spend any energy responding to this. “God Ella,” she droned, her voice sounding that awful combination of bored and frustrated that Ella knew just a little too well. “Your cheer is ruining my view. Get lost.”

Dita chuckled, taking a sip of her own coffee. “Doesn’t she just drive you crazy?” she asked, in that way that was sort of like a whisper, except Ella could hear her.

Phil awoke with a start, hand clutched to his chest, breathing heavily. He sat up slowly, lowering his hand as if to support his weight on it. The last couple weeks, sleeping hadn’t been goin’ so well, and he’d been wakin’ up with this feeling. Nothing too specific, of course. Just a feeling like he needed to be more careful. And he couldn’t figure out what it was that he was missin’. But he’d been dealin’ with this for a while, now, and at least he’d begun to formulate a way of managin’ it.

First, try and isolate the problem. Well, he’d had no luck with that so far. He didn’t know what was spookin’ him, and tonight was no different. It was just that mysterious feeling.

Then, cover your bases. He’d been out of the lab the last week or so, dealing with meetin’s and the like. It couldn’t be a mechanical thing, then. And he’d taken care of his cars pretty well, recently. That just left…well…people.

But who was there to be careful about? He ain’t heard from Tess or Nicky in God-knows-how-long. Diana was away for the summer, and other than her he was mostly single these days. The student he’d sorta taken under his wing had vanished. And then…

Shit. Sally.

He grabbed his phone from the side of the bed, ignoring the time on the clock, and dialed the number. It rang, and rang, and then she picked up. “Hello, sir?”

"Heya, kid," he responded, trying to sound calm and normal. 'cause callin’ yer students in the middle-a the night’s normal. “I…uh…were ya sleepin’?”

"No, I slept in today and now I’m up,” she replied, and he didn’t know whether to be relieved or frustrated at that. “Is everything okay?”

"Yeah, yeah, ‘s fine.” He took a calming breath. “How’s the security system been?”

"It’s been fine, sir. Is that what you called about?”

Phil thought for a moment. If her security system was good, she was safe from what was scarin’ her, more or less. And if she thought it was workin’, it was prolly workin’. He’d been careful. Careful enough to soothe her worries, at least. “Yeah, yeah. That’s it.” He took another deep breath. “Just checkin’ in on ya.”

"Oh, well, I’m fine. Thanks Da—sir. Phil.”

He smiled, still not sure how to acknowledge that little slip-up she sometimes made. “No problem. Night kiddo.”

"Night, Phil."