10th January 2022, 04:50 pm
The lights blared on as I typed monotonously on my keyboard. The work stretched on and on and on. I know this was the early stage of this company and we all need to work very hard on everything or whatever they probably said in the meetings but it’s as if all of the paperwork is being dumped on me. And on my first day as well.
I have a sip of my coffee. I’m thankful I even got one. They basically ran out of coffee this morning, guess people were so desperate to get to work in this shitty town. I hate it here. I hate the concrete maze that I have to call home. But not much I can do. Just have to work my way through this day then I’ll finally be home free.
I check my watch, just a few more minutes to go-
“Hey,” a man walks over to my desk, probably just one of the employees of this corporate hole. “John Smith, right? The boss wants to see you.”
I smile and thank the man and make my way to the boss’ office. The boss must be very impressed by my work and I must be given a promotion and a hefty bonus. I mean what else could it be. I don't deserve to be working in this dingy office block. I’ll be at the top one day and this'll be my first step to do so.
I reach the door to the boss’ office, its presents looming over me as I stand before it. Grasping the handle, I turn the doorknob and step into the dragon’s den.
“Hello, John Smith.” The boss spoke to me with confidence and pride brewing into his voice, his plastic smile grew bigger and bigger every word he spoke. I hated it. “The company has deemed your work to be impeccable. However, there are some other aspects of it which are restricting your promotion.”
My smile grows to match his, this is it. I’ll rise the ranks of this shitty company ‘till I get to the top and all I have to do is do what he asks of me and today will signal the start of my climb to the top. The American dream will be a dream no more. All I have to do is follow the lousy instructions of my lousy boss.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Oh. Well, thank you for telling me this. What should I do to overcome these obstacles?”
“Oh there’s no need.” He lowers his tone. “I have a simple solution right here.” He slides a flask onto his desk.
“Wh-what is that?” I speak, shocked at the boss’ proposal. I take the flask and open it. Inside of it is a viscous green liquid which slopped around the steel chamber. I am not drinking that!
“Nothing you need to worry about.” The boss seemed irritated at my question. What was in that flask?
“I’m not gonna drink it if I don’t know what it is.” What sane person would? The boss snaps, for the first time I had seen, he breaks the carefully curated persona he had made for himself and finally shows me who he is. A fucking psycho.
He slams his desk, his anger prevalent. “I've given you a chance here.” He slams the desk again, like a child. “Drink it or you lose everything.” But then he stops. A smile paints his face, this time for real. His mouth grows and grows and grows and grows until-
“It’s sad to see you have chosen wrong.” What. What sort of psychopath was I hired by that would ruin my life just for not drinking a flask of whatever the fuck that was?
The boss reaches for another thing from under his desk, most likely a gun. I got out of my chair but I was too slow. A bullet pierces my chest. I screech. It hurts so fucking bad. Blood pumps out of my chest as I collapse to the floor. My head feels heavy as I try and fail to lug myself away from my shooter.
The boss crouches in front of me, mocking me. I threw myself at him in a futile attempt to exact my revenge but all I got was a mouthful of the viscous liquid.
The liquid took effect almost immediately. It burned its way through my throat, down my windpipe and into my lungs. The pain was unbearable, I hate it. It burned so badly. Why… Why? Why make me drink acid? I had been helpful to you. Why torture me? Was it all for your amusement?
He starts to monologue as my arms seize up. I was too busy to listen to the insane rambling. The pain slowed to a halt but that didn’t matter. My body lay unresponsive as I screamed obscenities in my mind. As that slowed too, a robotic voice echoed into my mind.
[System Initialised: Being “0042”]
[Analysing Traits…]
[You have met the conditions for: “Chronokinesis (Thanatosis)”]
[Activating Trait]