Initiative by The Ink Well
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Prompt : shoes, mood, adventure
To Blow in a Storm
The day was blustery, a determined breeze whipped the sand into a frenzied dance. The beach was a forlorn stretch; not a soul in sight; at least as far as visibility would allow the eye to see, anyway. The waves rolled to shore in a deafening white-foamed crescendo. Even out to sea the water was gray and turbulent, a reflection of the dirty day.
Perilous black boulders rose in forbidding cliffs from the beach, jutting, bare and wet, over the water and into the heavy clouds above. Amber scuffed the toes of her shoes against the nearest rock, and looked out over the ocean. Her mood was as somber and unsettled as the day, but she waited, hoping.
She laughed a bitter, brittle laugh into the uncaring wind and thought about fate; how it never seemed to make allowances, not even for the best laid plans. It was a wicked master of its own twisted humor; a humor only it could appreciate. It had conspired to make the day so difficult to enjoy - what she wanted was sunshine to light up the dream that was about to begin; the greatest adventure of her life
She’d embraced the reckless idea with abandon. The opportunity had been far too sweet to pass up.
But, now…
He was late. An unsteady throb pulsed into life on her brow.
Of course he would arrive, of course he would.
But, the pulse picked up its beat in her head, threatening a migraine.
Jason had burst into her life like a tornado, sophisticated, gorgeous, intelligent and, weirdly, he’d been wildly interested in her. Madly attentive, wine and roses; he’d literally swept her off her feet. She couldn’t remember exactly when they’d started to collude to rob the gallery she worked for, or how they’d fallen into doing fake runs for the sake of practice, rather than going out and having fun.
She could hear Jason’s words as if he was whispering into the wind
The adventure can only begin after hard work, baby! Then we’ll have our entire lifetime to enjoy the proceeds of my brilliance.
He was so clever, and he loved only her, and they would be rich…and no one would suffer because the gallery was heavily insured.
He made it sound perfect, and, of course it was.
So, she’d carefully stolen the codes to release the steel shutter doors and disable the alarms. The night watchman was easily dispatched with the offer of a cuppa before she left for the evening. She didn’t feel too bad, it was only a tasteless sleeping powder, after all.
Jason hadn’t wanted her to be involved in the actual heist. He said it was too dangerous, all she had to do was get him and his boys in; he would do the rest.
He was going to pick her up at the beach, that was the plan.
And so she waited, beside her luggage, for her adventure to begin.