Partyville USA: Part 3-3

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It wasn’t long before the office grew dark. With cell-phones which were now useless except as flashlights the employees scoured the office for other lights. However, all that could be find after an hour of searching were two flashlights in the maintenance closet.

            Without power all of the usual noises of the building ceased, leaving an unsettling silence. There was no longer the distant buzz of fluorescent lighting or the draft of computer fans. Now all anyone could hear was each other, and eventually, rain rapping at the windows. There was also the sound in the hall for those who went near it, the muffled noises coming from the elevator.

            Eventually the employees started to attempt to sleep for another night in their office furniture, or in crude beds constructed during the day. Roland, however, sat in Wallace’s office while sipping another glass of vodka when in the still of the office he could hear, just barely, a slow drone. In his state, he couldn’t be certain of it, but he could almost hear a noise, like a deep, unresolving breath. Then he finally realized, it was coming from the floor.

            Behind him the door creaked, and he spun around quickly, tossing the almost-empty glass into the corner of the room where it shattered quietly.

            “Roland?” Luanne said from the darkness. Roland sighed with relief.

            “I’m in here” Roland said quietly.

            “What was that noise?” she said, entering and closing the door softly.

            “Nothing” said Roland “just a glass, you startled me.”

            “I’m sorry.”

            “Do you hear it?” Roland stammered, realizing afterwards how he sounded.

            “Hear what?”

            “That noise” Roland said, with more deliberate casualness. In the faint light he could see Luanne tilting her head around as she walked over, seeming to be listening.

            “I don’t hear anything” she said.

            “Maybe there isn’t anything” said Roland. She walked behind the chair and hugged Roland around it before reverting up, her hands moving to massage his shoulders.

            “It’s been a very bad day for all of us,” said Luanne, rubbing gently “but especially for you. I can’t imagine how horrible it must have been to see that.”

            “It wasn’t pretty” said Roland, sitting up into Luanne’s hands “but I am going to try my best to press on.”

            “That’s great baby” said Luanne, sliding her hands from Roland’s shoulders to his chest and back “because those people out there need you, they need you to be strong for them, and I know you’re up to it.”

            Roland listened as Luanne’s breath became more audible, slower. Her hands stretched lower in their massage and he did nothing to stop them. Still, he could still seem to hear the dull drone below him. Luanne walked in front of him while keeping her hands on him. She then knelt at the tips of his shoes. Her hands now stroked up and down his calves. Roland slumped into the chair, trying not to focus on noise.

        

    “Just don’t think about them sweet baby” Luanne said as she unzipped his fly.