The Gnashing — 5: Tick, tick

The crackling sounds of branches or boards being crunched became constant, as if whatever munched at them was still distant but headed this way.

On break at work, Melanie hung up her phone. She had called for a hearing test appointment, but had been told it would be at least two weeks before that could be scheduled. They had asked if she was in any pain from it, and she truthfully said that she wasn’t. That had meant it wasn’t deemed an important enough problem to take up the precious spot someone in real trouble might require. She hadn’t said that, but Melanie had heard the sound of dismissal in the receptionist’s voice.

Melanie had thanked the woman and told her she would get back to her with a date that would work for her. So. That meant she would keep on wondering why she heard the noise but no one else could. She’d told her leasing agency that she was still hearing sounds from below her apartment. The woman had called back to let her know everything there was as it should be. The tone of her voice let Melanie know that this was not to happen again, that she was taking up the woman’s valuable time.

The rest of the work day had gone normally. Melanie was surprised that Kevin hadn’t made it by to talk to her, but she remembered he said that he would be busy today. She realized with surprise that they had not yet exchanged cell numbers.