no name yet

The wind pushed the leaves along the road and Rita could almost believe that they were dancing, like people often said they did. And suddenly she found herself trying to join in their dance, laughing along the road not alone but with the leaves. Passers by must have thought she was more than a little mentally unstable but what are passers by to know about what really is going on in her head. Rita is happy and it has been a very long time since she has felt like this and she doesn’t care if the whole world thinks that she has lost the plot. Her blood is pumping and her heart is racing and she feels alive and she wants the whole world to know about it. She reaches her flat and dances up the steps; dances through the door and dances to her room where finally she collapses exhausted into a heap on her bed. Even then she laughs and when she can’t laugh anymore because it hurts too much she shuts her eyes and drifts into her thoughts and she smiles and she smiles.

Eventually she falls into a kind of sleep state where she is almost dreaming but can still feel her bed and sense her room. Within this muddle between reality and fantasy she finds herself questioning whether the day had actually happened or if it had been no more than a fantasy in her mind. waking from her daze slightly she sees that the day was unexplainably real and the sensations in her body begin to tingle again with excitement.
A door slams relativly close by bringing her completly back to her senses when she realises that someone else must be in.
"And so what?" she thinks "There is no way they are bringing me down today." and instead of letting the unknown person worry her she reaches for her phone to send a text message.
"Gr8 news! meet 4 dinner?" she sends the message to her favourite person in the whole world and keeps her fingers crossed that they agree.
getting up she rakes in her bag to find a ciggarette, she really does disgust herself sometimes but not even her lack of will power over the evil nicotine genie will dampen her mood today, barely the afternoon yet and she has had the best day of her life, she can barely believe it and lets go of the thought that something will go wrong;though it keeps attempting to claw its way forward in her mind.

Noticing her hunger for the first time that day, she decides to chance a raid on the kitchen;she listens briefly in the hall decides there is only one of them around, walks calmly to the kitchen and enters. Cameron is in there sitting at the table, nose deep in a book; humming some tune that has developed from the back of his head.
"Hey," Rita says, her good mood just will not shift.
Cameron chooses to ignore her and continues to hum, annoyed she tries again.
"I said hello."
Cameron lifts his head and makes a half smile half grimace. "Well I didn't say it back."
"Perhaps its about time we all stopped being so childish" Rita suggests, always feeling like such a dunce around him and his intelligance that wafts around him like a bad smell.
"If I don't want to talk to you, I don't have to," Cameron states as if he were repremanding a five year old.
"Well, suit yourself." Rita got so fed up of their opinions, or their un-opinions as she thought of them.
Realising her good mood is quickly turning sour, she forgets the food and goes back to her room.
She is cheered slightly when she sees that her message light is flashing on her mobile, crossing her fingers she picks it up and clicks to read.
"Love to have dinner, our usual at seven?"
smiling again, Rita re-reads the "our usual" in the text.
"We have a usual; not even just the usual place, it is ours," she thinks to herself.
Looking at the clock on the wall she realises that there is five hours until she sees them, and she realises it is going to be five hours of waiting time. waiting time is different from normal time, it is slower, the clock ticks at half speed. Well Rita likes to think so however illogical the idea may be. To pass the time Rita glances through her collection of horror books, there are so many, the shelves which they are kept on look as though they are about to collapse; she chooses one of her all time favourites then snuggles into her bed to begin reading it for what must be the zillionth time.
****

At seven Rita finds herself floating nervously outside the restraunt, she is relieved that no-body is paying her much attention, and happy that so far on her twenty-minute journey there have been no catty head to feet to head looks; unless the one from Jackie on her way out the door counted. Rita had decided about five minutes ago that it had not counted considering that Jackie gave people that look constantly. Once upon a time, Rita had thought it was really amusing walking down the street with Jackie, if she didn't have the look on her face, there were whisperings in your ear, to look at some such o'clock and check out the person with blah!Comic nicknames for those she felt inferior to herself had been the basis of Jackie's whole personality if that was possible. Never mind that if Jackie ever took a truthful glance in the mirror she would have to give herself a look and a comic nickname.
"Wakey wakey, no wonder you didn't notice me when I was waving from down the street! Lost in one's own little world again are we?" Michael teases giving her an affectionate hug.
"I was just thinking,"
"Now I told you that you were not to attempt to think for any reason, in case you harm your self in some way from over using your brain,"
"Ha ha, your so funny!" Rita fakes a half laugh and links her arm through his "Now lets eat I have some interesting news."
They make their way into the restraunt, relieved to see that it is relativly quiet. Rita realises how much she likes this place, she always wishes she could breathe in the atmosphere here and take it everywhere with her. Certainly back to her flat anyway. After they are seated, Michael skims the drinks menu.
"So is this news, quick give me a brandy i'm in shock? or is it yipee the fizzy wine is on me?" He questions with a cheeky smile.
Rita knows his features off by heart especially when he smiles like that, his dimples are sweet enough to melt ice.
"It's kind of I'm so happy news! so I guess the fizzy wine is the best choice to make, i'd splurge to the champers darling but i'm on a budget this month," she fakes a stuck-up voice and tries to make her nose touch the ceiling.
The waiter arrives and they order the wine.
"So are you going to tell me this awesome news then? or am i going to have to guess?"
"You could try guessing." Rita suggests, smiling.
"You managed to go the whole day with out stepping in dog poo?" Michael says.
"Well that aswell I suppose" Rita laughs.
"My only guess, so you'll just have to tell me."
"Okay, well you know how..." just then the waiter comes back with the wine and waits while they order their food. Michael turns in exagerated anticipation back to Rita.
"Well to cut a long story short, I went to see a man about a dog and ended up with a new job."
"What?" Michael looks slightly confused.
"I went to see about getting a puppy, you know been talking about it for ages?"
"Yeah, I know that bit."
"Well when i got there i was chatting to the women for a long time," she pauses to check that Michael is listening"
" Anyway Betsy, that was her name seemed really taken by me, i think we have similar personalities to an extent or something," Rita pauses realising that she is speaking at a rate of 3000 miles an hour. Acknowleging that Michael is keeping up she continues.
"Anyway,she asked me what I did for a living, because looking after a puppy is a lot of work.I told her that I was a vetinary nurse, and she straight away offered me a job at their rescue centre." Rita stops breathless, the butterflies are back just from relaying the story.
"Aw Rita, that is just the best - more than the best, I know how unhappy you have been at work." Michael reaches across the table to give her another cuddle. As his warmth surrounds her, Rita thinks she must be the happiest person alive.

Two specials and two bottles of fizzy wine later, Rita and Michael head out the door of the restraunt, pausing to check for cars they cross the road to the "Flying Pigs" a pub which if asked Rita could only describe as being lazy. She had puzzled for ages one day trying to think of another way in which to describe it.
"I'm not sure I should be drinking anymore, really, I feel quite tipsy" Rita says dizzily.
"Have a quick one," Michael says checking his watch "The night is young".
"Well seen as you've twisted my arm."
Rita opts for a vodka and coke, rembering vaguely some rhyme about beer and wine. Although she knows that no matter what she has now, she won't be feeling fresh as a daisy tomorrow anyway.
"So, when are you going to propose?" Rita asks sweetly.
"Reet, I really don't know, it's all so confusing."
"Why? I thought it was love?"
"It is, at least I think it is, but when I compare her to you and how close we are it makes my head swirl."
"I thought we had taken each other off those pedastools years ago."
"I just can't help but wonder if what I've got with Terri, shouldn't be more than what it is."
"Mike, we only know each other so well because we've known each other so long."
"I know that, i'm totally aware that while we are practically soul mates the chemistry just aint there."
Rita tries not to laugh at how emotional Michael gets when he has had one to many and attempts a serious face.
"Trying to use our friendship as an excuse for your commitment phobia is not gonna work," Rita teases smiling.
"your so bloody funny it aint real," Michael replies looking into the bottom of his glass, seconds later the remaining liquid is gone.
"I'm going to get us another drink,"He trundles off up to the bar.
Rita relaxs into the seat and scans the pub for familiar faces, Seldom does she actually know the people but sometimes she likes to imagine peoples lives. Sitting in the most reclusive corner is Sid. Sid had been her all time favourite character until the disasterous evening when she has found out to much information and it had wrecked the image she had of him. Michael comes back and they talk random drunkeness for another hour or so before they decide that it is time for home.
As they stumble towards her house, Rita becomes aware of footsteps behind them, they are heavy and plodding. Michael leaves her at the corner of her road and hops across to the bus stop on the other side.
"I'll text you tomorrow sometime, see how your next meeting gets on." He shouts.
"Bye, Thanks for tonight!" Rita calls back.
She makes her way along the street still hearing the footsteps but they sound further away now. Rita has always been a bit of a scardy cat, especially in the dark, she rated it in her top five of fears, and she had a lot of them. This is why she notices things which others would simply push to the back of the head, but for her the footsteps are stomping at the front of her mind.
****
The next morning Rita awakes to find that despite the copious amounts of alchol consumed the previous night, she really doesn't feel all that bad. Searching for her mobile to check the time, she realises that the battery has died and therefore her alarm has not gone off, grabing the charger she chucks it on to charge. fingers crossed she turns it on and realises that her luck is still in as she can still have another half hour in bed if she should so wish. Instead she decides to get up and check out what she can wear to make herself look semi-decent today, when she goes to find out the details of her new job.
Just as she puts her feet to the floor her mobile voices that she has a text message.
"Hi Rita it's Terri. Have u seen M?" Hitting reply Rita tells Terri that she had seen Michael last night but he had gone home.
moments later her mobile goes again.
"He is not here.thought he might have stayed.T."
"Not here either. Tried phoning him?.R."
"It is just ringing out.T."
Rita remembers the footsteps,thinks the worst then stops herself.
"Maybe passed out at friends? If he not been in touch by lunchtime let me know.R."
Rita pushed all worried thoughts to the back of her head and decided to get ready for her meeting.
By lunchtime, she had successfully handed in her notice and signed her probational contract at her new place of employment; the butterflies were beggining to return when her fone beeped.
"Still no sign. am really worried. will you come round?T"
"Be round in five am in the area R."
As Rita made her way round to Terri's she began to wonder back to last night and where Michael might be, her butterflies had stop fluttering and now her stomach seemed to be churning itself into a knot.

Terri opened the door, her face streaked with tears, "I didn't know who else to phone."
"That's ok, i'm glad you phoned me. So nothing at all?" Rita replied, placing her arm gently around Terri.
"He hasn't been in touch with anyone I've phoned, his mobile is still ringing out and I can't decide whether thats good or bad or neither."
"Well, I think u need to relax,why don't you go and have a bath and I will man the phones?"Rita nudges Terri towards the stairs. When she hears her enter the bathroom she picks up the phone and dials. sure enough it rings straight out.
The girls sit around nervously trying to distract themselves with the television.
"Is it 24 or 48 hours before someone is legally seen as missing?" Terri asks.