Sunrise (a Short Story) | LMAC FreeStyle Collage No. 164

The rising sun cast a rosy hue across the morning sky. Golden fingers of sunlight painted its portrait of the perfect day to come as it lit up the scene below.

I'd already risen, given thanks to God for touching my shoulder, then guiding my mind to consciousness.

Afterward, I tended to my morning health needs as the first rays of sunlight burst through my front door.

My pitiful whistling was no match for the chorus of melodic birdsong drifting in as I prepared to leave for work. An instant twinge reminded me of the restless night I spent debating a stressful, unresolved situation at work. The solution evaded me.

Even though the lovely sunrise cast its glow on my face as I headed out to work, a darkness descended in my thoughts. Immediately, I phoned my Lucia, my girlfriend. The exchange as always lifted my spirits.

During the past few days, the can I'd kicked down the road wouldn't budge. It expanded until I couldn't maneuver around. I'd come to a crossroad. Performance in my unit dipped the past two months.

The week stretched on forever. Each day, another incident was reported during my shift. I've never encountered an individual so possessed with antagonizing and belittling others. The underlying reason had yet to reveal itself. I wasn't a student of psychology, so his motives battled me.

Convincing myself it was none of my business, I prepared for the weekend. Office politics left a sour flavor on my taste buds. I had enough to manage than attempt to figure out the machinations two shops over. I'd no authority to censure or reprimand another manager's staff.

But a cloud of mistrust blanketed my unit. Rumors then surfaced. Why would I allow someone else in the company to enter our workspace, harass, belittle, and threaten my employees? murmurs asked.

However, threatening another person was a tactic I abhorred. The threats broadened from personal to intimidating rejection of work products for rework with no evidence of inferior workmanship. Dismissing the cross-departmental toxic situation was no longer an option.

Relying on my previous work experience, I knew I had to escalate the matter to the next level leadership. Taking back control of my unit was imperative. Any threats to my employees' performance or operational delays were unacceptable. Providing a safe and productive work environment for my employees' well-being was part of my management duties. I wasn't going to allow any outside interference.

Putting words into action, I advised my people to document every interaction with the antagonistic co-worker. That way, we'd have concrete proof of that person's unauthorized entrance into our unit. Citing safety concerns, I received approval to restrict access to our specialized unit without prior authorization.

With documentation and first-hand knowledge secured in my office, I scheduled an upper-management meeting the next week. Perhaps other units had experienced that individual's hatred of his fellow man; maybe life in general. I knew first hand of workplace violence. I barely escaped an event five years ago. A similar situation now reared its ugly head. It was in my power to try to prevent it.

With a heavy weight on my chest, I clocked out that evening, stepped outside, and gazed up at the skyline.

The beautiful sunset God provided stared back. My thoughts. The sun will rise tomorrow morning whether I'm woke or not to witness it.

And with it comes another glorious sunrise that promises a beautiful day ahead and another opportunity to right a wrong under my watch.

My style of collage is a Freestyle. Although I wasn't required to utilize any contest photo in my design, I usually do. However, if you'd like to join in visit: Let's Make a Collage - A Contest for All Creatives on Hive - Round 251 - ✨45 HIVE in the Prize Pool!. For my current collage, I wanted to share a theme involving happenings at sunrise. The only event I can think of that equals the ethereal beauty of a sunrise is a sunset. In between, we must navigate the path of life and consequences of our actions or lack thereof.

In preparing my theme, I wanted to include the image from the current LMAC contest that showed a lovely sunrise. My intended use was as a background feature. I located other images from the #LIL database that fit my sunrise theme. Rounding out my design were two pure fractals I created utilizing the advanced fractal rendering program, Apophysis 7X.

Below are the images I included to complete my design:

Item	Contributor	Source
Sunrise - LMAC Contest Round 251	Contributed to #LIL by @m1alsan]	Link
Man stepping up	Pixabay	Link
Female of color	Pixabay	Link
Black ruins	Public Domain Pictures	Link
Flock of crows	Public Domain Pictures	Link
Large fantasy beetle	PxFuel	Link
Group of blue dolphins	Contributed to #LIL by @poderart	Link
Lighthouse - low back diagonal (no water)	Contributed to #LIL by @donroberts	Link
Wild Orchid Flower	Contributed to #LIL by @borjan	Link
Silver Rose	Contributed to #LIL by @agmoore	Link
Pure Fractal titled "Feathered Fan"	@justclickindiva	Link
Pure Fractal titled "Blue bowl"	@justclickindiva	Link
Mountain in water	Pixabay	Link

I utilized Canva to blend the different type images. Below are my steps in which I began with a blank, white canvas, then added layers of elements, removing backgrounds, resizing, duplicating, colorizing, and repositioning items as needed incorporating the tools at my disposal in my Annual Pro Membership Subscription.

Below is my completed collage design:

Thanks for your visit. I appreciate it. I hope you like my freestyle collage theme.