The Reluctant Reporter

"You can't send me!"

"There is no-one else. It's you or no-one, and that is not an option."

Ameera looked at the fat paunch and florid face of her boss, a man who lived for the story and the kudos it brought him but who rarely gave consideration to the people behind the drama. When had he become so hard? She reckoned that by the end of the year, he'd be dead, collapsed from a heart attack and she struggled to conjure any sympathy in that moment and instantly felt ashamed at displaying the same lack of compassion that he had.

Head down, she walked out of the office to her car to face the toughest assignment of her life so far.

*

As she pulled up outside the small terraced house, she could sense the sadness. The sky was grey, clouds preventing any light through. Pathetic fallacy in action, she thought. Heavy, she unclipped her seatbelt and stepped out of her car. Her back was aching and what she really wanted to do was have a nap. She was wearing something much looser than normal, draping its folds squarely over her bump but managing to do nothing to disguise the fact that she was pregnant.

She took a moment to prepare herself. Be good, baby, she thought as she rubbed her bump, transmitting through her touch her will for the baby to behave with respect.

*

She watched the reporter from behind the curtain.

Pregnant. About seven months, she thought. Why had they sent her a pregnant reporter? Who were these people?

She didn't think she could do this. She didn't have the strength. Her grief threatened to overwhelm her, chest crushed and her breath reduced to minimal gasps. Stop, she told herself. Just stop.

Slowly, as she watched the reporter heading up the path, avoiding the scattered toys and the thick coloured chalk that she hadn't yet been able to confront, she wondered what she would say to this woman today.

And then she remembered. That she was no longer a mum because her daughter was dead; her life ripped, torn, destroyed. And the man responsible was walking free.

She would find her steel.

***

366 words

Helped again to this story by a prompt from the following page:

One of the things that I like to do as a storyteller is to imagine how characters feel in certain situations and this prompt provided that:

A pregnant journalist interviews the mother of a missing child.

I've not really followed this prompt to the letter but it gave me the spark to write this.

Thanks for stopping by! If you do read this, please do leave a comment as I love to interact with my readers.

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