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Black As Ice
Chapter Forty-Three; Desk Work

Chapter Forty-Three; Desk Work

Seren looked up at the filing cabinet, trying to imagine that everything in it needed to be copied in a new coherent way. Then the originals needed to be destroyed and then certain ones from a certain date needed to be moved to a different place downstairs. It was a lot to remember.

At his desk, Mr. Asche scribbled away on his own portion of the files. Seren looked back down at the pages on the makeshift desk that had been made up for them. A cup of tea steamed on the desk, parallel to Mr. Asche’s desk with a cup of coffee. The study was silent, with only the ticking of the clock on the wall, mimicked by the ticking from the pocket watch in their breast pocket.

“It’s really quiet,” Seren said. Trying not to disturb the silence.

“Mm,” Mr. Asche agreed. Seren couldn’t concentrate with the clawing silence. They tried breaking it by tapping their fingers on their desk. It took on a rhythm. Which led to Seren humming the random tune while very slowly writing as legibly as they could.

“Stop that,” Mr. Asche said.

“But it’s so quiet.” Seren objected, trying not to whine but be mature in their argument. “Can we do something about the silence?”

“No, it’ll distract you.” He said, not even looking up from his work. Seren looked back down, they’d only written a single letter.

“I think the silence is distracting me,” Seren said.

“You have to learn to live with the silence. There will always be silence.” Mr. Asche said.

“No. I don’t think that’s right.” Seren said. Which caused their guardian to look up at them. Seren looked over and sat back slightly shocked as they realized they’d have to prove their point. “I mean listen, there’s the clock. The heating occasionally blows like breathing, and if we opened the windows we’d hear birds and the other people in the city. It’s never truly quiet. So why always insist on being in silence?”

“Because all that is noise. Just wild annoying noise.” Mr. Asche said, Seren turned their head and put down their pen.

“I don’t think you’re listening right.” Seren said, “I mean, yeah it’s overwhelming sometimes. But if you listen for it, you could hear something like… like music.”

“It’s not pleasant music,” Mr. Asche went back to his work. “Now, focus.” Seren looked back and tried to hold back a sigh. They picked up their pen again and tried to focus on their task. Progressing slowly as any interest in it escaped them. They kept tapping on their knee as they tried to find the gap between living in the real world and the transcendence of hyperfocus. But it just wasn’t coming, instead they stared at the two letters they’d made. Comparing them to the uniform letters on the original page.

Seren erased the letters to start again. This time trying harder to make the letters straight. But they were never straight enough, never enough space between the letters, the letters were never the right size. It led to Seren constantly erasing and starting again until they erased a hole into the page.

“What are you doing?” Mr. Asche asked, looking up to see the mess Seren was getting into.

“I’m bad at writing,” Seren tried to explain.

“No, you’re out of practice.” He said, reaching over and taking the page and dropping it into the recycle bin. “Just write legibly. You’ll get practice by doing. So continue doing.” Seren looked back to the new page. Taking a breath and looking back at the page and their pen and settling in to slowly writing the letters as legibly as they could.

For every letter they wrote, at the desk next to them a page was finished. Frustrating Seren into speeding through their lettering. Ignoring the spacing, grammar, and sizing to rush to completion.

Once their page was done, Seren placed it into the done pile. Freezing when Mr. Asche stopped what he was doing and scooped it up to investigate it.

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“Unacceptable. Do it again.” He said, dropping the paper into the recycle. Seren huffed and adjusted the blank sheet before them to copy the information again. Trying this time to take their time and make it perfect but the information conflicted in their mind. Were they supposed to make it perfect or make it quick?

Seren put another hole through the page with their eraser. Crumpling the paper up and throwing it hard into the recycle. Taking another page with a short huff of annoyance.

“As an exercise, I want you to use one of those notebooks Mrs. Houper brought you to keep a nightly journal.” Mr. Asche said. “Maybe that will help.”

“Does that mean I can be done with this?” Seren asked hopefully.

“No, you won’t leave that desk until you copy a single report in a satisfactory manner.” he said. Seren’s mouth dropped open.

“That’s not fair!” They objected.

“Life’s not fair.” He automatically responded. Seren frowned and looked back at the blank page as next to them, another finished page was put on the pile. They bit the inside of their lip angrily and went back to work bitterly.

Time ticked away like a knife, repeatedly stabbing Seren’s ears and brain with each second that passed. Halfway down the page, their concentration was interrupted by a knock at the door.

“Come in,” Mr. Asche called. Mrs. Houper opened the door and entered the study.

“Dinner’s ready,” She said. “Work’s done for the day.”

“Not for Serenity it isn’t.” He said. Looking over their shoulder at their page.

“What? Why not?” Mrs. Houper asked, concerned.

“They have to finish one page before they can be finished for the day.” He said, standing up and rounding his desk. He turned to address them before leaving the study. “Mrs. Houper will bring a plate up but you are not to leave that desk until that page is finished and I have looked over it.” Seren only pouted in response. Without a response, Mr. Asche left the study and Mrs. Houper looked forlornly at the desks.

“Here, let me see how far you’ve gotten.” She said gently. Approaching the desk and looking it over. She nodded; “Looks good! I bet you’ll have this done by the time I bring up your dinner.”

“This isn’t fair.” Seren mumbled as the page was placed back in front of them.

“I know it feels that way.” Mrs. Houper agreed. “Mr. Asche isn’t familiar with children but he does understand that tough situations make tough people. He wants you to be tough, so he makes things tough.”

“I’m already tough,” Seren said.

“Good. Show him how tough you are.” Mrs. Houper smiled “I’ll be right back, you finish this up. All right?”

“Right!” Seren agreed. They ducked back down to their work as Mrs. Houper left the study. The ticking kept thudding along, poking holes in Seren’s concentration until they broke and covered their ears.

“Are you all right?” Mrs. Houper asked, entering the study again.

“That stupid clock! The stupid quiet! I can’t think!” Seren whimpered through tightly clenched teeth.

“Okay, okay! I think there’s a small player around here somewhere. I’ll grab that really quick.” Mrs. Houper put down the full dinner plate and rushed out. Rubbing her hands on her apron, hurriedly. Seren looked miserably at the plate, the smell coming from it made their stomach churn. Feeling hungry but the smell was just one more simulant for Seren to process.

Mrs. Houper returned with a small box that she hurried to put together on Seren’s desk. In a few moments, she stood up and clicked it on.

“I grabbed some decks as well,” She held out a few little metal rectangular cases that held the thin strings that somehow had music written on them in a way that the player would be able to translate. Little engravings on the metal cases gave a hint as to what each deck held.

Seren picked one that claimed to hold a Yuletide ballet musical on it and put it into the player. After a few minutes of hissing, the deck clicked and a grand score began to play.

“Ah, this brings back memories.” Mrs. Houper sighed wistfully. “I saw this ballet in the Royal Majestic theater when I was a girl.”

“What’s it about?” Seren asked, looking back down to their work. The music strengthened their concentration.

“A young girl who gets lost in a magical world of toys where she must defeat an invasion of rats threatening to destroy the kingdom.” Mrs. Houper said. “Maybe we’ll take you to see it if there's a local showing.”

“That’d be fun.” Seren said, mostly paying attention to their work, but still keeping an ear out for the conversation.

“I’ll let you get back to work,” Mrs. Houper said. Watching Seren ease back into work. They didn’t even notice Mrs. Houper leaving. The music played and guided Seren’s pen across the paper. A smile crossed Seren’s face. This could almost be something like… fun.