Walking to Kageson, the traffic was easily walked through, and I found myself inside the relatively empty building.
“I only just unlocked the doors, what do you even do?” The black burly security guard whined, rubbing at his face as he yawned hard enough to crack his jaw, sighing.
“Oh, I use the gym and shower before I work,” I mentioned, “I like taking long showers and getting in a good workout.”
The security guard shifted as I signed the paper I was required to sign, able to scan my badge now, too, which I appreciated.
“There’s a gym here?”
“Yes, floor 54,” I agreed with a grin, “I’d suggest you go, but I’d rather you kept opening the doors at three in the morning instead of working out.”
The security guard huffed from behind the small table he sat at, waving me through, “I can do both. Besides, with your,” The man yawned, “ID you can get in whether it’s unlocked or not.”
“Oh! Nice!” I said, looking at my ID.
Going to the gym, I drank as much water as I could before going in and showering, cleaning myself and my clothes as much as they could be cleaned with just water and hard work.
Drying them off was equally hard work, but soon I had dry and warm clothes and dry and warm finger-brushed hair.
Walking out of the showers, I once again ignored the only other person who was in the gym, not wanting to meet their gaze as I wandered to my floor, looking at the time after reporting my card which had twenty more declined transactions as missing or stolen.
I just sent it to a random P.O. box, knowing I had the lockpicking skills to get in and the ID to prove the mail was mine. Getting lockpicks was as easy as grabbing thick and thin paperclips from the unsuspecting accounting department.
My day started normal, though I took a long moment to figure out how to clock into the time clock next to the bulletin board in the lawyers’ office. Since I was hourly, I couldn’t until my official start time, which was five.
Then I read through the remaining papers in the black-cornered metal bin. Having just taken an entire five boxes of paperclips, I started using tiny paperclips to indicate the first page of one contract. Reading through the contracts, my mind alerted me to the fact I hadn’t made coffee yet.
Standing up, I looked at the time before sitting back down. The soonest someone came was 04:15, and it was only 04:00.
Seeing a spelling mistake, I continued reading through the twenty-page-contract before putting it on my lap, to be put on the top. There were five smaller contracts, one of which had to deal with a lawsuit, surprisingly enough. I read through that one carefully, putting it on top immediately after the one with a spelling mistake.
Then I set the stack down and made a full pot of coffee, knowing the lawyers drank it like water during the morning.
Before I could sit back down, Charles, the oldest, wrinkliest, most adorable old man on the planet gently set an Urgent down, his sticky notes having cartoon bears dancing on them. I grabbed it, setting it on top of the other papers and lifting them up.
I walked to the elevator, knowing it wouldn’t be in use this early in the morning. Shawn wasn’t there, but I wasn’t surprised to find Davis in his office, his computer lighting him up but his office remaining dark.
Wandering to the CEO, I set the papers down.
“Thank you,” He said dismissively, “Could you turn the lights on as you leave?”
“Of course, sir. Have a good one.”
“What are these paperclips?”
“Oh, oops. Sorry, as I was reading through them, I was having a hard time separating the contracts, so I used paperclips. My apologies,” I replied, not turning around, just calling over my shoulder as I left, one hand reaching out and flipping the lights on just before the door closed.
I hesitated.
Should I have waited to hear if he told me not to do that?
…
Nahhhh, I was good.
My steps continued, and I found myself looking at the time. My nose scrunched at it being past 04:30, and I took the stairs.
This place had two elevators, but it needed a lot more to be efficient, it was a high-volume building with a lot of people in it.
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I wandered to my typical seat, humming as I went through my emails. The only one who got back to me was a man, Samuel Pierce. It was to an apartment in Queens, which wasn’t all that close to here, but it was next to the subway.
It was one line sent at two in the morning,
My lips twisted to the side at the weird question, but I mentioned what was going on. That I’d been an unpaid intern at Kageson Inc., but recently managed to get promoted to a paid intern, and thus could afford a place once my first paycheck landed, whenever that was.
The answer was almost immediate, which surprised me, and I stared at it.
This was a message I replied to with two words. But two turned into quite a few.
I was surprised. I hadn’t yet paid for an application, and yet the man had already agreed to let me sign on. Was this the power of the Kageson name, or did he just feel pity for me? Either way, it worked in my favor.
Then I glanced up as a giant stack I wasn’t sure I could even lift was set in the black bin. Glancing at the time, I sighed, standing up.
“Will there be an urgent in the next half hour, do you know?” I asked the man, Scott.
“Nope.”
I stared at his apathetic retreating form, the five steps to his desk taken confidently as if he didn’t just give me too much paperwork. How would I even press the elevator buttons?
I grabbed the entire basket, lifting it up with a grunt. I stumbled, the stack coming up to my chest as I held it, trying to lift it further to give myself an easier time. I waddled to the elevator, ignoring the lawyers passing me as I haphazardly clicked the up button. It didn’t light up, and I desolately realized I couldn’t get my ID to the scanner.
“Oh, here,” A semi-familiar voice said when I’d given up. Glancing over, I was relieved to see Shawn.
“Oh, thank you so much,” I said with relief, grinning, “How have you been? Have a good morning?”
“Ugh, girl, don’t even start. The morning doesn’t exist until the sun has risen,” The several-tones-deeper and exhausted voice of Shawn clutching a Starbucks cup said.
I snickered, “I know, it’s monstrous.”
“Don’t lie, I know you get here before the CEO does. Harold mentioned it, once.”
“Harold?”
“Cute security guard downstairs,” Shawn mentioned, his yawn quiet and his green eyes looking dead. Shawn was adorable when he looked sleepy, like a puppy. He had that charm about him in general, I’d noted.
He definitely had a chance, I noted, looking up to see the numbers slowly inch toward 91. The papers in my hands were exceptionally heavy.
“Oh, oh! Yeah. My alarm goes off at three, so I get here around three-thirty. I go to the gym, though. Shower and get ready for my day like that, I don’t actually have to think for my job.”
“Lucky,” Shawn muttered, taking a deep, long drink from his coffee. The scent made my stomach groan uncomfortably loud.
“Well, my job is unofficially thirteen hour workdays, since I start taking papers to his office at around four, four-thirty, since that’s when the lawyers appear and leave once the last lawyer leaves around five at night,” I shrugged.
“It’s almost five in the morning now,” Shawn mentioned, dazed.
“It is,” I agreed with a grin, deciding to leave him alone so he could wake up. My grin faded as I yawned. Damn, it was contagious.
The doors opened, and Shawn shuffled out, my waddle only slightly slower. I almost didn’t make it, gasping as I slumped against the CEO’s desk.
Standing up, I glanced at the yellow bin.
“Do you want me to return for that, or—“
Davis looked very, very tired at the giant amount of paper, staring at it with his chin resting on his fist, his other hand slowly setting the coffee down, “What is that?”
“Uh, the—the papers?“
“Did you not deliver them properly yesterday?”
“No, no, they were just added. Sorry I’m out of the time-range, I, I can’t really lift more than this, right now.”
I hesitated for a long moment as Davis stared blankly at the papers. Then I slowly grabbed the single yellow paper, Charles the one to frequently misspell Kageson, and attempted to make my hasty escape.
“Stop. Who did this?”
I stopped, pulling my lips into my mouth. To snitch or not to snitch, “I figured it was one contract?”
The golden lights of the room did nothing to prevent the gloom of the time from seeping in through the windows as I turned, observing the man.
“If it was, something of this size would be labeled as urgent and not worked on by one person, but the whole team,” Davis sprang to his feet, looking spry and oddly ready to fight. I found the basket thrust onto me, and I groaned as he spoke, “Follow me.”
I chased after him, teeth clenched as I struggled. Thankfully, though, it was a lot easier, the basket set in my arms at an appropriate height, my elbows fully bent and thus me able to follow his long strides with my own light jog.
Thankfully none of the papers fell, the basket brilliant for that.
“Um… sir?” Shawn asked, surprised.
“Not now,” Davis dismissed as he decided to go faster.