It should have been an absolute
silence in which they all worked but Abigail could only hear the sound of
someone's nose whistling as they breathed. The tension built in her neck with
each exhale, and she sat staring at the screen of her laptop wishing for
nothing more than cheesecake and Chardonnay. It had been a particularly
difficult day with nothing but disagreement and snide remarks from her
co-workers. The workspace had been cleared of all cubicle walls to share the
open space with six others only amplifying the sound of the clicking of keys,
not so subtle conversations, and the slurping of coffee. She hated her job, her
workspace, and her co-workers, none of them possessing even the slightest
inclination toward anything of value, focusing their time and money toward
shopping, eating out, and the vanity of Hollywood.
She
knew that with her flawless figure, her long blonde hair, and her spotless
skin, she was by far the most attractive woman in the office and unarguably the
most intelligent, two points she never failed to communicate at every
opportunity. The clock ticked over to five and she signed off her laptop,
quickly gathered her things and waited in front of the frustratingly slow
elevator to take a silent trip down five floors to the parking garage. Clicking
across the concrete in her high heels, through the myriad of parked cars, she
feared no man and sometimes would hope that some guy would be foolish enough to
try to make a move on her, giving her the opportunity to use her ten years of
grappling training.
Listening
the writings of Marcus Aurelius on a podcast made the drive home at least somewhat
bearable, still frustrated with the collective idiocy of her fellow drivers,
she finally arrived at home to a house full of cats. A single candle lit each
room flanked by drawn blinds and blackout curtains, she relished her privacy
and the dusk like ambiance to relax on the couch to be warmed by a dozen cats
as her stress melted away.
She
had skipped lunch that day and as the clock touched the six-thirty mark she
slowly rose to her feet, opened the Door Dash app on her phone to have sushi
delivered within the next thirty minutes, giving her enough time to further
relax with a brief yoga session. Laying on the floor somewhat akin to a
jellyfish, she heard her phone ping with a notification of her dinner's arrival
within three minutes. Following a splash of water on her face, she slipped on
an overly large sweatshirt just in time to meet the delivery guy at the door.
She
escaped to her rear deck, her dinner in hand as well as a glass of Chardonnay,
to enjoy the last few moments of dusk before evening settled in. Living in a
neighborhood certainly had its benefits but the far too frequent smell of
cannabis from the neighbor to her left, the perpetual sounds of late-night
barbeques and laughter from the other neighbor, and the sounds of a teenager,
somewhere, practicing his drums always undid the relaxation of yoga.
Finishing
her sushi and wine far sooner than she desired, she retreated to the similar
darkness and blissful silence of her home to take a tepid bubble bath in hopes
of regaining the former relaxation that had dissipated far too quickly. She
turned on Brahms and slipped into the water focusing her attention on the
single candle on the bathroom counter and began counting backwards from one
hundred, relaxing each portion of her body from toes to forehead.
As
the water slipped from tepid to cool, she drained the tub, rinsed off in the
shower and ate a handful of almonds before climbing into bed just past
midnight. The abrupt and jarring sounds of her six o'clock alarm pulled her
back to the real world, reminding her to check her Forex account for overnight
activity, to be ultimately pleased with her latest success. "Well, that
answers that then," she said. The yen to dollar sale that took place while
she was sleeping pushed her bank account just slightly over her predetermined
level that she had promised herself would bring about an end to her mundane
existence in the suburbs of Indianapolis.
She
fired off an email to her boss, announcing her immediate departure from her
job, pleased with this final step finally taking place as she moved into the
next phase of her life. She then placed a call to her real estate agent in
Wyoming to secure the purchase of the one hundred and twenty acres in the
middle of nowhere. Immediately followed by a second phone call to her local
real estate agent, putting her home on the market, priced low to expedite the
process. A third call was placed for the moving company to box all of her
belongings to be delivered to a heated mini-storage facility by weeks end.
A
second email was sent to her lawyer with instructions to begin the already
established and defined course of action. She followed her typical morning
sequence of activities, packed all of her clothes and enough food for a couple of
days, loaded her SUV, to leave the remaining responsibilities for the maid who
would arrive in the next three hours. After three more phone calls, a stop
midway for the night between her now for sale home and the wilds of Wyoming,
she arrived at her new property to load her sparse belongings into the brand
new and just delivered travel trailer.
Exhausted
from two very long days on the road, she slept until the following morning to
begin the final phase of her new life. A shipping container, fully loaded with
her preplanned items sat a few yards away from the trailer and she pulled it
open to remove the tools needed for her work to begin. She set up the pulley
system, grabbed a shovel and began digging a hole approximately six feet in
width, lowering the bucket with her as she slowly descended, throwing out
shovel fulls of dirt until the top of the hole became too high to reach,
necessitating the use of the pulley system.
Her
engineering degree had come in particularly useful as she designed the system
to lift each bucketful to ground level and empty it, to then return the empty
bucket back to her side. As darkness began to set in for the day, she ascended
the extension ladder and saw no purpose in showering as she was completely
alone in the middle of nowhere with other human beings no closer than several
miles away, offering an open, blissful silence she had dreamt of for years.
Day
two arrived and she arose to an aching back, aching muscles, and blistered
hands, vowing to continue her work with the pulley system knowing no
limitations to its reach below ground level. She worked in semi-darkness until
the sun reached its zenith fully filling the hole with blazing heat. "Hey
down there," she heard from overhead, now having reached a point where
distance eradicated any possibility of recognizing facial details. She shielded
her eyes from the blinding sunlight and answered the call, to eventually
recognize the voice of her realtor. "Just thought I'd drop by and check on
you," he said. "Is everything going alright?"
"Yep,
I'm good," she answered, "everything is going just as I'd
hoped." With a wave, the man departed, and Abigail continued her work,
watching the sun slowly crawl across the sky and the rim of the hole grow
smaller as she descended. Just before dusk arrived, another voice called out
her name, which took her by surprise as no one else besides her lawyer knew of
her location. The distance she had descended had become far too great to see
anything, so she began the long climb up the ladder to greet her latest
visitor.
Acknowledging
her sister's presence, the two shared a brief hug, which struck Abigal as
rather odd, since they had basically no contact over the last ten years.
"Um, that is a really deep hole you've got there," she said, "a
lot of people have been calling me and asking about you. After I talked to your
lawyer, I thought I'd come and see for myself what it is you're doing. So, what
are you doing?"
"I'm
tired of the suburb life, the mundane daily office job, and I'm tired of being
around people," she answered. "I've been planning this for a long
time and my investments finally paid off enough to allow this to happen. Thanks
for stopping by but I need to keep working."
"Hmm,
okay," she said, "please stay in contact once in a while, so I know
that you're doing okay. I hate having to tell anyone that I don't know how
you're doing. This whole thing seems really odd. Just call once in a
while."
She
hugged her sister a second time and watched her drive away, to then return to
the hole, descend the ladder and continue her digging. After a full week of
excavation, she stood at the bottom of the hole, rather well-like she thought,
and thoroughly enjoyed the near pitch black with only a single pin prick of
sunlight at the very top, offering no real intrusive light or warmth. She sank
to her knees, sat down, and rested her back against the wall, finally able to
enjoy herself in solitude, in silence, and in darkness. Her extension ladder no
longer able to reach the upper lip, now permanently secured her place in this
new home.
As
day turned to night and back to day again, Abigail saw no distinctive change
but thoroughly enjoyed her new solitude and silence. The occasional rainfall
stimulated the growth of several different types of greens and mushrooms, which
formed the basis of her new diet with the occasional worm or grub. She was
thankful for the single water bottle she had carried with her to the bottom,
giving her a source of clean water from gathered rainfall.
Her
cellphone presented no bars and she began to wonder how soon until her sister
arrived to visit again but her question was answered after two weeks when the
outline of a person appeared in contrast to the bright sky above. After this
first visit, someone or someone's regularly made an appearance, calling down to
her but to no avail as their words were lost in the distance. Finally, all
visitation stopped, and Abigal developed a routine of ego boosting monolog and
exercise, trying to convince herself that she loved her new home.
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