One of those strange happenings sort of days

Assignment: write a scene (a double-spaced page) that shows your character in a situation that forces them to act "out of character." Write a scene that shows your character committing a slightly immoral act. This is done to add dimension to your character. Think small, quiet actions. Maybe your character tells a lie, gossips, confesses a secret. What propels your character into this action? Place your character in a specific setting and go from there.

o0o

A news clipping of an article titled “Three-week-old corpse doing better, family tells coroner” sat abandoned on a table at Starbucks. Maeve frowned at it from where she stood at the counter waiting for her fair-trade coffee. It lay open on one of the uncomfortable-by-design wooden chairs. The clipping looked old and was parched and yellowed along the edges, and in the creases from where it had once been folded into quarters.

            From where she stood Maeve could not make out the smaller print. She was perfectly fine with that. There was something about that scrap of paper that made her ribcage feel too small for her heart.

            The vibration of her phone forgotten in her hand startled Maeve enough to flinch. She tore her gaze away from the dubious clipping as her phone vibrated again, and Maeve swiped open the thread of incoming messages. She inhaled slowly through her nose, the acrid scent of burnt pastry and nutty espresso helping to re-center herself.

            The messages were from River. The Issaquah police records office was a dreary place with cold florescent lighting, but somehow was the hub of station gossip. River had uncannily sharp ears which made them an expert eavesdropper.

            Maeve chewed the inside of her bottom lip. Being a gossip wasn’t how Maeve would describe herself. She didn’t see the point in wasting energy on talking about others. That didn’t stop her, though, from asking River for follow up on some of the more sordid goings-on at the station. Maeve knew that the people who gossip with you are also likely to gossip about you.

            Her order was called while she debated on whether or not to join River in the trash fire that is gossip, or pretend the messages never came through. As Maeve stepped up to the counter, arm extending to retrieve the steaming cup of tar black espresso, she looked back to the chair the clipping occupied. It was now empty. Thousands of tiny, cold needles pricked the back of her neck. She decided that if today was going to turn into one of those strange happenings sort of days, she was going to need a distraction. Maeve hastily typed in response “tell me more” before walking swiftly out of the cafe, the heat from her drink biting at her fingers through the cup.