Sitting at her desk, the rumbling of her stomach echoed around the deserted office. All her colleagues were ill at home with flu, and she was alone, with no lunch to keep her company. Outside, the wind lashed at the windows through greedy clouds. It seemed to her as though pounding drums could be heard in the distance. Perhaps she was just getting a headache.
The food van arrived. She rarely inflicted herself with it's culinary delights, but today she needed something to quash her hunger. The van was always stuffed with a confusing array of discontinued flavoured crisps, bizarre chocolate bars, gloopy mulch that rather ambiguously described itself as salad, sandwiches made with bread whiter than milk, tepid foot-long wieners or cremated bacon served in a loaf of artery-clogging bread and sluggish onions, pasties complete with meat-like lumps, and the occasional bruised banana. She did not hold much hope of finding something satisfying to eat, but she needed something.
She took her life into her own hands and ventured out into the storm to peruse the wares on offer. Her appetite wained at the sight of such fare, until, something caught her eye.
A bun.
Large, round, bready and smothered in sticky white icing, it also boasted a meagre sprinkling of flaky almonds and a smattering of cinnamon-flavoured dust. But it's crowning glory, was the glacé cherry balancing proudly on top, the colour of danger.
Seeing it was the only one, she grappled with her coins and paid the price for this tempting morsel, and scurried back to her desk.
The pounding noise seemed closer and faster now.
She unwrapped the bun. As the cellophane split, a crack of lightning illuminated the office surroundings. The room was thrown into sudden darkness, illuminated only by the eerie green glow of the emergency exit signs. The sound of computers whirring to a shutdown, and then silence, lead her to realise that was all she could hear.
Silence.
Where was thumping march she had heard before buying the bun?
She gazed out of the window, into the gloom, straining her ears to hear any sign of life.
Another flash of light, crack of thunder, and SCREAM!!
She cried out in terror, for she had seen, directly in front of her on the other side of the window, what looked remarkably like an enormous, angry elephant!
Another flash of light, and, yes! She was right! There was an elephant staring at her in an alarmingly derisive manner. She could not understand how it could possibly be there. She rubbed her eyes and looked again. It was still there, glowering at her through the glass.
She was very unsure of what to do next. She was loath to call anybody and tell them about the elephant situation, who would possibly believe her? Because of the power-cut, she could not continue with her work,so she sat for a while and studiously tried to avoid eye-contact with the African beast loitering outside the window.
This proved somewhat difficult. The elephant was directly at eye-level with her, and she could sense it's beady eyes analysing her every, nervous movement.
"This is just silly" she thought to herself, and wondered if she was coming down with the flu too, and was hallucinating. Or maybe it was because she was so hungry.
The bun!
In her initial terror and the following uncomfortable silence with the elephant, she had forgotten all about it. That would give her something to do and take her mind off all this nasty elephant business. Her hand reached out towards where she had left it on the desk. What she didn't see, was the flash of burning rage in the eyes of her companion outside the window.
As she picked up the bready bun, a low, ominous whine emanated from the elephant. She did not hear it, and raised it, as if in slow motion, to her mouth.
As she closed her eyes to take the first bite, the elephant lifted it's trunk in flash, smashed it through the glass, snatched the juicy bun, whipped it out of the window and into it's mouth before disappearing from sight all together.
This happened so quickly, that she bit down on her own tongue, cried out in agony and opened her eyes to see the smashed, elephant-less, bun-less window.
She jumped up to look outside.The thief had vanished. The only clue that any of this had happened, was the smashed window, and a glacé cherry rolling in the wind.
Another flash of light, and, yes! She was right! There was an elephant staring at her in an alarmingly derisive manner. She could not understand how it could possibly be there. She rubbed her eyes and looked again. It was still there, glowering at her through the glass.
She was very unsure of what to do next. She was loath to call anybody and tell them about the elephant situation, who would possibly believe her? Because of the power-cut, she could not continue with her work,so she sat for a while and studiously tried to avoid eye-contact with the African beast loitering outside the window.
This proved somewhat difficult. The elephant was directly at eye-level with her, and she could sense it's beady eyes analysing her every, nervous movement.
"This is just silly" she thought to herself, and wondered if she was coming down with the flu too, and was hallucinating. Or maybe it was because she was so hungry.
The bun!
In her initial terror and the following uncomfortable silence with the elephant, she had forgotten all about it. That would give her something to do and take her mind off all this nasty elephant business. Her hand reached out towards where she had left it on the desk. What she didn't see, was the flash of burning rage in the eyes of her companion outside the window.
As she picked up the bready bun, a low, ominous whine emanated from the elephant. She did not hear it, and raised it, as if in slow motion, to her mouth.
As she closed her eyes to take the first bite, the elephant lifted it's trunk in flash, smashed it through the glass, snatched the juicy bun, whipped it out of the window and into it's mouth before disappearing from sight all together.
This happened so quickly, that she bit down on her own tongue, cried out in agony and opened her eyes to see the smashed, elephant-less, bun-less window.
She jumped up to look outside.The thief had vanished. The only clue that any of this had happened, was the smashed window, and a glacé cherry rolling in the wind.
