Click, click, click. Three large white lights flickered on, scaring the enveloping darkness away. An unblinking glow illuminated immaculately glossy desks, and the rough blue-grey carpet sprawled across the hardwood floor. Beams of light filtered through beige blinds, obscuring a cruddy glass window. An aromatic fragrance of lavender and orchids boiling on a warm summer day sifted through the still, settling air. A loud ‘beep’ clawed at the lingering silence: momentarily disturbed by the rhythmic buzz of the air conditioner. A thin, misty breeze instantaneously alleviated the suffocating air. The picture was motionless, except for specks of dust frolicking in the unreachable crevices. The walls held its breath.
The monotonous ‘tick-tock’ of the clock was broken when the slender arm struck ‘8:00’ and emanated a mellifluous chime. Groups of workers dressed in charcoal grey suits, ember-blue shirts, glossy black loafers, and pewter pencil skirts trickled in the room. The room slowly came to life, and the walls began to sigh. Well-groomed workers cloaked their timber-wood chairs with their coats and sat at russet-brown desks, awaiting the bestrewn clutter.
Sheets of ivory filing paper resisted the stark ebony characters being scribbled all over it. With a slim fountain pen gripped tightly in a worker's hand, his thoughts flowed like ink and were undisturbed by the chaos that picked up around him. Sheets of paper fluttered and fizzled as the air ripened with the energised voices of fellow employees. Shoes- large and small, flat and heeled- scuttled along the floor with thumping footsteps. Drawers rolled open; cupboards slammed shut. In no time were office supplies baspatted all over the place.
Clack! A stapler fastened some papers with a fossil grey pin glinting in the luminescent white glow from above. The phones began to ring incessantly, waiting for one of the occupied workers to pick it up. The grains of sand trapped in a gilded hourglass on the edge of a desk tumbled down words rapidly as the walls’ breath quickened. Stressed voices yelled across the room, adding to the impenetrable discord existing at the heart of the office place. Clink. A metal box flicked open as a minty scent wafted past workers. A man grabbed a sticky white pellet clinging to his mouth before adding another piece of junk to the landfill on his desk. The racket in the office slowly began to diminish.
With another ‘beep’, tranquillity was restored. The burr of the air-conditioner ceased as heavy footsteps dragged limp, lifeless bodies out of the room. Dancing spores of dust settled back into place, layering themselves on the smooth glass picture frames hanging on the asylum-white walls. The air sunk to the ground in exhaustion as another ‘click, click, click’ dimmed the room. The walls held its breath, awaiting its life once more.
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