LOW BATTERY!

Silvia Ricevuti

by Silvia Ricevuti

Story


LOW BATTERY! PLEASE CHARGE.

The red light blinked obsessively. It was 4 pm: Marie needed to carry on for another couple of hours at work. LOW BATTERY! PLEASE CHARGE. She muted the piercing voice, took an ineffective deep breath in and battled through. The well-known feeling of exhaustion crept in, the pain around the eyes, the shortness of breath, the ache in her muscles.

She glanced at her coworkers. Gladys had three orange bars, just like Paul; it was to be expected at that time in the afternoon. Thomas had five green ones. How the hell did he do it? 

Marie rolled down her sleeve to cover her arm where the lonely red bar kept blinking. She dragged herself towards the kitchenette at the back of the office and filled her bottle with fresh water. She also splashed her face and, though no other bars appeared on the display on her left arm, she felt a little better. Such small actions could easily trick the mind into thinking that everything was okay.

Three hours later, she was home, safe and sound. She lay on her bed, eyes closed. The silence was refreshing. After about ten minutes, the red light stopped blinking, though there still was just one bar on the display. Dinner was out of question. Marie pondered whether getting up, walking to the kitchen, opening the closet, grabbing a pack of biscuits, closing said closet and walking back to bed was worth the waste of energy. Maybe she should rest a little more and adventure into the kitchen when the display showed one or two more bars.

When Marie woke up on Friday, the digital clock on the night stand read 5.34 am. Five bars were showing on her arm, with a pale lime green. The calendar on top of her desk reminded her that it was Sophie’s birthday. She really wanted to go see her friend after work, even for a quick drink. They were both so busy with their lives, and Marie had been looking forward to this day for weeks. 

She did some quick maths. The house was still acceptably clean, meaning she could postpone chores for another couple of days. That meant she had enough energy for showering. Taking the underground to work always wasted one or two bars. She could take a tupperware with some real food for lunch, and skip those horrible sandwiches. That would give her some more energy, but cooking still felt like a struggle. She might stop by the supermarket on her way to the office.


© Silvia Ricevuti 2023-08-30

Genres
Novels & Stories
Moods
Emotional, Sad
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