Work Text:
There's a knocking at the door.
Two rooms away, Ana wouldn't be paying any attention to it, wouldn't have enough of it to spare, but the house is quiet at this time of day, the cat performing its mouser duties diligently around the garden, and so she tips her head up from her work at the faint noise, listening.
Waiting, she chews at her bottom lip faintly, fingers still dancing vaguely across the stitches covering the table. Then she hears it repeat, stronger, as if trying to grasp her in its tentacles from rooms away.
The trek to the front door is quick, but not worryingly quick. Her steps are the correct kind of measured for the distance.
The bolts are there for her peace of mind, and she unlatches them with the ease and confidence of a person who hasn't needed use of them yet. Their heaviness feels ominous for only the span of a few seconds before the lock clicks.
As she swings the door open, she wipes her dry hands down her jeans, which is an unnecessary gesture, but the stranger across from her looks amused. He's in what would pass for a crisp Monday suit were it not made from breezy linen. Summer hasn't arrived for anyone but him seemingly.
"Good day," he says, which it is. "Have I inopportuned you?" He hasn't. "May I come in?" She would rather he didn't.
He watches her then, the amusement still present, his head tipped lower than it was a moment before. Ana thinks that he could use a hat, an old-fashioned one to match his shark smile, but doesn't mention it. No need to be rude.
"I'll say good day, then," and he turns to leave, his steps measured but decisive, his back relaxed.
She bolts the door efficiently. She doesn't linger. She crosses the house in order to return to the warm, cosy working room she's been occupying since dawn and seats herself back where she was when the knocking first came. Outside, the air sirens go off. She recalls that they went off all throughout the night, but she assumed, given the quietness of the morning, that whatever mess occurred before is now over and done with.
Come to think of it, she can't remember waking up that morning at all, but she must have, and the sirens were definitely quiet then.
The knock comes again before she's had a chance to even look at the stitches or the table.
Between the air sirens and the knocking, she decides everyone should just be quiet. But that's not how this works. She could ignore the knocking by pretending the sirens are too loud to allow her to distinguish it in the din. But that's not how this works. She could walk outside on her own. But that's not how this works.
In a far worse mood than even a few minutes ago, she makes her way to the front door again.
This time, she waits before unlatching the bolts, allowing herself time to find a polite smile to put on.
It's not surprising to find the man there, again, just as amused as before. She can't match him, what with nothing about this being even in the least funny, but she plasters on a grimace of politeness as she waits for him to speak.
"Good day."
Oh, this again.
"I believe it is, yes," Ana agrees. The air sirens are fainter but still very much within hearing range. She's surprised the cat hasn't scurried home yet, given the ruckus, but it's always done whatever it pleased anyway.
"Have I inopportuned you?"
Their eyes lock. For a moment, Ana doesn't know what the correct answer is. Behind the man, faint raindrops have started falling, barely darkening the pavement. The wind picks up a few scant moments later as she's still coming up with an answer.
"I do seem to be having a busy morning." She doesn't elaborate, instead smiling pointedly.
The man might start laughing any moment now, but only wishes her a good rest of her day.
Ana lingers on the bolts. A crack of thunder outside gets muffled by the thick wood of the door.
Her working room, when she returns to it, is now in shade, the sun obscured all along that side of the house.
She stands for a while, unsure if there's going to be another knock to disturb her from her work. It's not really work, as such, just another cover to wrap around herself in bed. A vanity project to pass the time.
The sirens and the thunder are now battling for control of the skies. She wonders if heavy rain will join them soon.
The knocking comes again just as it starts pouring.
Her every movement is precise. She knows it takes her too long to reach the door and unbolt it and open it and stare, but it's been a busy morning, what with the knocking and the sirens and the strange man at her door, who is now staring back at her, not unkindly, though still amused.
"Good day."
"I've heard it is," she taunts. Her hands are clammy. She wipes them on her jeans.
"Have I inopportuned you?"
She tells him he hasn't. It's merely to hurry him along.
"May I come in?"
This time, the question seems weighted, as if it's an anchor about to drag them both down to a watery grave.
"Do I have a choice?" she snaps. Behind him, the sirens and the storm are swirling around each other, battling for control of the skies.
"You always have a choice," he replies. He doesn't seem amused anymore.
Ana nods. She lets him step inside.
She notices, as he passes her, that his suit is dry as a bone despite the deluge outside.
*
There's a knocking at the door. Somewhere, in another time, water engulfs her, like her childhood home, like the neighbourhood children, like the life she used to have.
The rain which fell inchmeal now washes away the town in a few abrupt minutes of devastation.
Inside the whale, it's warm.