Awakening

Chapter 3 - Edited

Strange Encounters

After an uneventful evening, Caliope decided to go to bed and take a nice rest. In the morning, she felt a strange sensation as if she was being watched, even though she was half asleep and slowly waking up, those feelings were creeping into her mind until she searched around her room to find everything was in order. She rolled on her bed a few times, then decided to take a long shower before preparing to go to work.

Just as she was finishing picking up her bag, she remembered to print the report from the day before. Then as she was heading for the door, her bell rang, announcing a visitor.

She felt some embarrassment after seeing Miss Clark's driver waiting for her again. It was a very nice gesture to send him to pick her up every morning, but she felt it was a little too much for her role in Miss Clark's life.

During the trip to the Clark's Residence, the traffic became unusually busy for that early in the morning. As they were waiting for the cars to move, Caliope noticed a group of cats on the park fighting. Even though she knew street cats fight for territory or food, she found it unusual to see several fighting. The cars started moving, and as soon as they continued their route she had already forgotten about the cats.

Miss Clark was waiting below at the entrance, visibly upset. When Caliope walked down from the car, she was nervous to confront her.

"I am very sorry Miss Clark, traffic was heavy, I should have left earlier."

"Caliope, I am in a hurry, do you have the report on the properties?"

"Here they are, I hope you have a good day today Miss."

Caliope gave Miss Clark the folder which she quickly peeked into then closed it. A small tired smile on her lips helped Caliope feel better. On the door of her car, Miss Clark turned to Caliope again.

"Caliope, I know you don't have control over traffic, so don't beat yourself up for this. I left you more paper work on my study. See you in the afternoon."

And with those words, the car door closed and left. Caliope felt relieved and entered the building with more confidence.

As she came to the main living room, she found several papers scattered around the main table. She thought Miss Clark would not be the kind of women who would leave things a mess. Then she remembered that Magna was not with her this morning, which could explain what she was seen. If Magna was in charge of doing Miss Clark's paperwork at night, and she was not around, trying to find something could result in frustration. Within a half hour she put the papers in order on Miss Clark's desk. A special folder with her name on the front drew her attention. They were lists of different research clinics that were sponsored by Miss Clark's company. A little note said "Find the one who invested the most time without good results".

Around noon, Caliope found herself making the difficult choices between DNA research studies that seemed to have stuck to the basics for years, and a cure for aggressive behavior with only inconclusive results. She took a break and went to make herself something for lunch. While she was having a chicken breast and vegetable sandwich, she started wondering why she was in charge of making decisions on new land acquisitions and investment possibilities when she was only an assistant. Didn't Miss Clark have a staff who managed such important issues? She was not going to complain as she felt very lucky to be getting such wonderful job experiences to build her future resume.

The next couple of days went on without any other notable events. Miss Clark assigned her some simple tasks one day, and more difficult ones the next, always including some choices to make.