Feb 2018 v01 online

Thursday, 8 th of February, 2034, 6:18PM
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The moment didn’t come until more than 45
minutes after official close of business. Kara had
always been a hard worker, but not because she
was any good – if she had any real value, she’d
be able to meet her work requirements without
having to stay late. She sat with her back to me
at her workstation, a tendril of brown-red hair
curling down the length of her spine. She was
the only one with me in the office, so there was
no one I had to hide my stare from. I took her
in from top to toe, noting the soft curve of her
shoulder blade through the weave of her
cardigan, her slender waist, those loose, slip-on
shoes.
“Almost ready to go, Daniel?” she said
without turning around. I’d said I’d walk her to
her car, it was dark out. Her voice was soft and
lilting. I tried to imagine it in a scream.
“Whenever you are,” I replied without
emotion. “I need to leave the simulator to run
overnight anyway.”
She turned and smiled at me. She was pretty.
Twenty something, high cheekbones, dark eyes.
I wished she wasn’t the one. Why on earth was
she the one? I knew in every fibre of my being
that I’d never be able to get away with it, not
with Kara. There’s no way I wouldn’t be caught.
Still, there was something – something bigger
than myself, something outside of me – that was
telling me that there was nothing in the world
for me to do more important than killing Kara
Hammond after work tonight.
I walked her to her car. Her battery was dead.
“I didn’t leave my lights on this morning,” she
said. “The sun was well up before I even got to
work”.
“Maybe it was an accident,” I lied.