Hungry

The overwhelming smell of vanilla made Karen feel dizzy. She hadn’t eaten for much of the day and was unlikely to get a chance for more than a chocolate bar before dinner. She hated it when her life was like this – so overwhelmingly busy that she stopped taking care of herself. It was fine when it was something she wanted to do, but when it was other people’s crap, she just got annoyed.

Running to her next meeting, she cursed the biscuit factory next door. She walked into the room, late, as usual and nodded an apology to her boss. It was not well received, with Dr Johnston frowning and giving a slight shake of his head. He had been distracted during his presentation by her lateness and the room went quiet for a moment. The noise that came from her stomach was animalistic. Karen went bright red and knew there was no way she could pretend it wasn’t her – not with the entire room looking at her with disgust.

“Apparently, my stomach disagrees, Dr Johnston,” she quipped. He frowned even more and Karen sighed.