Eavesdropped and Damaged

Wicked whispers, like hisses, slithered throughout the office when the disliked departed for the day. Rotten hysteria blared like beastly blasts. Louder their voices leaped as they could see that she was gone. Like following lost sheep, on and on they'd bleep about her crazy ways, her annoying voice, her ogre odor, her misfit outfits and a myriad of mindless ramblings. My conscience wanted to stop them, to stomp on their every word, but my speech was stilled in impactful silence. Suddenly she scampered back, secretly weaving toward her forgotten sweatshirt, draped upon her rolling chair where whispers gnawed like moths. She grabbed it with a snap then whisked away. I wondered, with empathic embarrassment, how much damaging slander she had overheard. 12-13-19