As I stared at him and saw how exhausted he was, I realized I was probably not the one in the right, here. While threatening a coworker was a dick move, my actions had been rash.
Spiteful and angry.
His words, his…
The realization that spread through me only made me feel more miserable.
His concern. It was his concern that made me want to run far, far away. His concern was what that annoyed me to the point I was at.
I’d only ever disappointed people in my life, and here I was trying to do it again. Here I was probably succeeding in doing it again. Misery mixed with my exhaustion as I realized how unreasonable I’d been.
“It’s a dick move to fire someone else because I want to quit,” I muttered, stepping forward. He moved to the side, allowing me to brush past him, “Me wanting to quit was unreasonable, but your reaction was equally so.”
When I grabbed my duffel, I turned, seeing him now standing and blocking the doorway, having moved to be leaning directly against them. I sighed, letting my duffel rest against the ground as I sat on the arm of the couch.
“What do you want from me?” I asked plainly, if quiet. If tired beyond belief.
The silence stretched, and I glanced around. No one else was in the room. Behind me, through the glass, the glittering lights of New York stretched out in an infinite sea of buildings. The sound of a cushion whooshing out air reached my ears, and I turned to see Davis much closer, sitting in the armchair only a few feet from where I rested on the couch’s armrest.
“I do not wish to see you throw away the opportunity I have given you. You are intelligent and shrewd, as well as opportunistic and bold. All are traits I admire within both my professional and personal life.”
Mirth filled me at the admission, a hum of amusement escaping me, “I’m verbose. I wouldn’t say I’m at all smart, but thanks for the compliment, I guess.”
I sighed, one hand reaching up and rubbing at my face as I thought of what he was going through. As I remembered that he was human and that only a week prior he’d seen me almost die a not-very-nice death. His actions stemming from that event have been nothing but annoying to me, but I could easily understand what he was going through. Why he acted the way he did.
Whether I thought him cool or not, he didn’t deserve my ire because he decided to show care and concern for another human being. Ironic that my standards had been too high for the very much human man before me.
My hand dropped, and I met his gaze. Arsenic gray met the gray light of the moon, and I hoped my sincerity got through as I spoke to him.
“Sorry. I guess I’ve been a dick to you. You’re probably not handling things too well, are you? Watching a girl almost die and all… Sorry for doing that to you,” I looked away, seeing the desk on the other side of the room, “Not, not tripping,” I clarified, looking back to him, “But the way I treated you and the situation as a whole afterward.”
Davis swallowed, putting his face in his hands and scrubbing at his face, attempting to rub the exhaustion out of himself as he spoke, continuing to rest his face in his hands when he finished rubbing it, “You are very astute, as well. I realize that how I handled things wasn’t the best course of action.”
“Yeah, you traumatized your assistant,” I muttered with a heavy sigh as I stood up, “Anyway, it’s getting late. I should get going.”
Davis stood as well, “Will you be here tomorrow?”
I didn’t look back at him as I walked to the entrance, “Will you fire Shawn if I’m not?” The silence echoed loud enough to make me dizzy, and I left without another word.
The streets passed in a blur, and I wished I’d taken a cab. In spite of my plans to return, I found myself waking up much, much later than I’d expected.
My exhaustion had caused me to sleep for an entire week, and I had to contact several different people in order to confirm that I still worked for Kageson, one of whom was my landlord, who had contacted me thrice that week.
It was hectic, and I mentioned I’d fallen into a week-long coma, presumably due to stress at least twenty different times to twenty different people.
Fifteen more contacts added themselves to my phone, and I stared at the newest text as I sat up. It was around noon, and I had just finished reclaiming my job position and ensuring my college position hadn’t faded.
James? I thought his name would be less… Well, American.
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My apartment was bright, the sun filtering inside. It was around noon, I think, so I should just take a shower. Wait, could I? Was my wound okay?
I added him as a contact as I walked into my small bathroom, looking in the mirror.
I stared at the wound.
Well.
It didn’t look infected, but I think that was lint, so alcohol was probably necessary. A very thorough shower later, including a lot of rubbing alcohol and cleaning wipes, and soon my head wound looked clean. I stuck a wad of bandages under some medical tape and called it good, pulling a headband over all of it to hide the wound.
I looked awfully preppy, and I didn’t really like that as I continued getting ready, putting on my peach-blossom-colored button-up. Putting my white button-up through the wash with other bloodied clothing had made it look like this, and I figured it wasn’t that bad.
When I got to work, it was like nothing had changed, though Shawn told me I was crazy for not going to the hospital for a check-up after such an event.
Aside from the coma scare, work went as it usually did, with people asking my opinion on their papers before they even printed them off and me explaining where and why it was or wasn’t acceptable.
I always felt awkward around the CEO, now, but he mostly left me alone, only sometimes commenting to ask about college courses and the like, seeing how his investment was playing out. It was much more bearable, and I was able to relax a lot more like I used to.
Shawn was still wary of me, but he agreed it wasn’t my fault that the CEO had done something so wild, mentioning that the man had even given him a raise and apologized for his actions and words.
“Maybe it’s best we focus on other people. Safe people, like Harold, or that cute lawyer on your floor,” Shawn said after he’d forgiven me.
The desk was smooth and light, and Shawn looked better than usual. I nodded, agreeing with him without much of a fuss.
“A good idea, but only if you’re talking about Steven. You are talking about him, right? Blue suit, brown hair, looks younger than everyone else by several decades?”
“Yes, him! What, did you think I was referring to Charles?”
“Hey! Charles is cute as all hell.”
Shawn grinned, “Okay, he is, but not cute cute! No, wait… You know what I mean, girl.”
I laughed, “I do, I do. Did you know he has panda stickers on his desk?”
Shawn gasped, his green eyes glittering and his hands covering his mouth, “Oh my god, he’s so precious. I love him.”
“I know!” I agreed, a whining note to my voice, “It’s sad he’s retiring in a few years. I think he said five or six.”
“Oh, I’ll miss him so much,” Shawn’s gaze also grew mournful.
“Ah, will you now? With how often you gossip, I highly very much doubt either of you will be here—“ The new janitor, who was great at voice impressions apparently, laughed at our sudden reactions, his voice raspy as he giggled maniacally to himself.
“Jerry,” Shawn whined.
“You scared the hell out of us,” I agreed, looking at the new hire who’d started yesterday, “Wassup, man?”
Jerry grinned. He had his hair cut short and his eyes were a very haunted blue. He’d just gotten out of several years of military service, and his skin was tanned and wrinkled in spite of him only being in his late forties.
“I was informed you should get back to work,” Jerry teased in the CEO’s voice, before going back to his own, “Or don’t. I was just hearing you two talk about everyone except the hottest person in this building.”
“Oh? Who?” Shawn asked eagerly, leaning forward as he stood to better see Jerry.
“Me,” Jerry said, laughing again at our reactions.
I laughed, too, “Damn, how did we miss that, Shawn? He’s absolutely right.”
“Oh definitely,” Shawn agreed jokingly. Then he got a call, and I saluted him and Jerry, turning to walk out of the area before the office.
Jerry was great.
“Yes? … Oh, yes… Oh my God, I am so sorry, sir—it won’t happen again… yes… yes…” Shawn’s voice was harried, and I pulled my lips into my mouth as I realized that he was getting scolded by the CEO.
Oops.
An air of flourishing and relaxation washed over me, and I sighed with a gentle smile.
I was faultless.
My phone pinged, then,
My gentle and wonderful feeling faded, and I gave my phone a sheepish look as I put it away. Or not.
The next time I arrived in the CEO’s office, he stopped me, “What were you two speaking of that had you so loud?”
“We were speaking to the new janitor guy. He’s really cool, his laugh is great,” I said, setting the papers down and reaching out, grabbing the stack in the yellow-cornered bin.
“Ah, I see,” A hand reached out, stopping me, “It was not only his laugh I heard.”
I glanced at my boss, wondering what he wanted. After a long discerning look wherein all I saw was one hell of a poker face, I shrugged.
“Well, yeah. We were all laughing. Again, cool guy,” My arm removed itself from his grasp and I turned, walking out.
The rest of the next two months were relatively normal, with not much of anything happening. Or, rather, something did happen. Jerry and I became good friends, and I ended up beginning to hang out with the other lawyers within my department. I gained more friends at work, to my surprise, and in general, life was going really well.
I was happy.
Isn’t that such a surprise?
I was happy!
The entire world shook violently, loud explosions and roaring of an astronomical level hurt my ears. Glancing outside, I wasn’t very surprised. The entirety of New York looked like it had been in a war for several long years, with buildings burning and collapsing, fires going off, and giant swirling portals of color miraculously appearing in the dark of night.
“Wow, I guess I wasn’t kidding when I said the world would end the moment I became happy, huh?” I muttered to myself, staring at the distant broken and forlorn building of Kageson, a giant rend in its side and a glowing purple writhing mass of light where part of the building used to be.
I really couldn’t get a break, could I?