Aya woke to the softest blanket she'd ever felt, draped across her body. She rubbed her eyes and sat up, letting the fabric pool around her waist.
After a moment of groggy yawning, she looked around to find she was in Mars's apartment still.
"Oh that's right I'm supposed to quit today," Aya said tiredly. She couldn't remember the last time she had slept in.
'Not since I was 17,' Aya thought.
Mars was already cooking something when Aya found the strength to get up. The scent of eggs and toast wafted through the living room.
Aya followed her nose and stomach to find her friend frying a breakfast of eggs and bacon. The sizzling pan made the apartment hot, so Aya opened a window before making her way to where the other girl was.
"Good morning," Aya said. Mars grunted. The only acknowledgment Aya would get from the other girl at the moment. Mars was deep in concentration as she cooked.
Aya sat at the table deep in thought, would she really quit her job today? She didn't know if she had enough to live off just yet and quitting would seem dumb when she had worked at Nue Corp for over a year plus now.
The thoughts swirled in her head until Mars spoke.
"Coffee's in a pot over there if you want some." Mars said. "Shower's on too. I'll fix you a plate when you're out."
"Thanks," Aya said. "I'll probably grab some clothes from my apartment before I head off to work."
"To quit right?" Mars prodded, finally facing away from the pan to speak to the girl.
"I'm not so sure I should, I barely have anything in my account. This is a huge financial decision and someone like me won't get severance." Aya said.
Mars sighed.
"Then I'll lend you the money, I have enough," Mars said. "You can pay me back, I'll open up a tab. No interest fees."
"Mars!" Aya said gasping. The brown haired girl sputtered, trying to form a coherent sentence.
"You need time to get to the bottom of this Aya," Mars said. "Besides there will be other jobs, better jobs than one that treats you like you're nothing,"
Aya ducked her head, knowing Mars was right. Being the mail room girl netted her barely any respect, she may as well have been the cart she was pushing.
"I have to do it," Aya said.
"You do. If your parent's or grandmother's words are really within the game then you have to do everything you can to play it and find out." Mars said. She pointed the hot, oily spatula at Aya, then at the hall.
"Go shower."
Aya nodded, walking slowly towards Mars' bathroom.
Like all bathrooms within Lydia's apartment complex, the shower was a tall glass cubicle with a simple shower head in a fixed position above it. Mars' bath products were arranged in a neat little row on a rack she installed within the shower.
On closer inspection, Aya could see that the shelf hung on suction cups. She smiled, finding it amusing that Mars would rely on such a thing as unpredictable as suction cups.
After a long shower, the girl stepped out to be greeted with a plate of bacon, eggs, toast, and juice.
Her mouth watered, when was the last time she had anything other than cereal as she was rushing out the door to work?
"Thanks!" Aya said, digging into her food with great zeal. The bacon in particular didn't stand a chance as she ruthlessly attacked with her fork.
Mars laughed, she set down her plate and tried to calm Aya down.
"If you eat that fast you're going to choke and I won't have you haunting the apartment!"
"Mean!"
Mars stuck her tongue out in response but Aya slowed down her biting and chewing considerably. The girls had their breakfast in comfortable silence with only the clinking of forks and glasses around the kitchen.
----------
Aya stood at the usual bus stop and waited for the afternoon bus to take her into the city. She wondered what the old man who drove the morning bus would think after she didn't show up.
The afternoon was warm as Aya waited in clothes other than her uniform, she packed it up in a separate bag she kept beside her on the ground.
"So this is it huh?" she said to herself.
The noon bus pulled into the bus stop allowing Aya to board it. The driver, a rosy cheeked man with strange facial hair and watery blue eyes appeared startled by her presence on the bus.
"Wow, I don't usually pick anyone up from around here," He said, playfully tapping his hands on the steering wheel as Aya boarded the bus.
Aya smiled in greeting.
"I don't usually board the bus at this time either," she said, finding her way to her seat. The bus started up again, its engine hummed as Aya began the usual drive to her office.
She placed her head against the seat rest and thought about how she was walking into her office to quit.
"Maybe my boss will get up and do something for once in his life." she thought, a wave of guilt hit her.
'Why do I even feel bad, it's not like this job was doing me any favors,' she thought, her internal turmoil continuing as she reviewed the reasons why she was quitting.
"I can always find another shitty job, those come in spades," she said with a shrug, but it doesn't shake off the sentimentality of it all. This was the company she had worked at the longest. Even though the pay was shit.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
It was one way from her house too, making the commute insanely easy.
"I wonder if the old guy at the junk shop is hiring?" she said folding her arms and thinking. Soon more passengers board the bus, mostly younger people and housewives.
Aya listened to the chatter with great interest considering she was usually on either early or super late buses. One thing that seemed to be on everyone's lips was the game Moon Valley.
"Oh I just love playing as an elf mage, it reminds me of my final fantasy days." An older woman just behind Aya said to her friend. The woman beside her nodded and casually mentioned how she would borrow her son's VR headset to play on her own account.
Beside her, a pair of teens compared stats on the Moon Valley app on their phones.
Aya was surrounded by Moon Valley's popularity, it amazed her. She knew the game had taken off but hadn't considered to what extent. Hearing about the game from the standpoint of the average person's lips was shocking.
The vehicle reached her stop, the bus stop just outside Nue Corp. Aya disembarked. She walked from the bus stop until she stood facing the company building once more with her uniform in a bag.
She walked in, past security who recognized her. They snickered whilst looking at the time of her arrival. Joking about how she was about to get canned.
On her way in an entourage burst through the front door. A flurry of men in black suits rush through, the exit of the building.
The men at the security checkpoint jumped from where they had been slacking off. They stood rigid, saluting the entourage detail clearing guarding some important.
Of course, the men pay them no mind, too busy clearing the path for the super important men they were guarding. To Aya they looked ridiculous, it was the middle of the afternoon and no one stood in their way.
Aya stood still letting them pass, it was only then that she noticed Atlas following along with an older man, deep in thought.
"Atlas," she said.
Over the chatter, Altas heard a voice call his name softly. He saw her, out of uniform with what was presumable her company gear in the bag beside her.
Fearing she had been fired, he tried to break away from the men in black only for a vice-like grip to seize his arm.
"Mr. Nue, where are you going? The limo's that way." One of the black suited men said to him.
"I'll only be a minute I have to speak to a member of the staff." The girl on his arm released, Atlas straightened his suit and walked towards Aya.
"Busy day?" The girl asked with a smile.
"Busier still." He said grinning. "What's all this." He asked.
"I'm officially quitting," Aya said proudly, Atlas looked taken aback by her words.
His only potential friend in the company was quitting.
A deep frown overcame his face, Aya didn't like to see anyone so sad but she had made up her mind and this was final.
"Why?"
"Well, I don't make enough for one," Aya said instantly. She felt like she could say that now. It surprised her how bold she was in front of the company president. "I don't even make minimum wage."
"I could give you a promotion," Atlas said in an instant.
"There's a word for that, I swear I've heard it before." Aya laughed. "You can keep in touch you know," Aya said. She plucked his phone out of his office pocket and presented it to him so he could unlock it.
The sound of his keypad beeping let him know she was typing out a phone number.
"I told you to add me on Moon Valley but I guess you forgot," Aya said. "Call me?"
Atlas took his phone from her hands, stunned by her boldness. He nodded. Aya flashed him another smile and noticed the entourage impatiently waiting for Atlas to return to them.
A sleek limousine had pulled into the front of the company's front lane.
"I think they're waiting on you. You should go." Aya said. Atlas nodded.
"I'll...call," he said softly.
"I'll be expecting it," Aya said. The man backstepped, heading towards the entourage. Aya watched him enter the limo and drive away. She continued her way into the company.
----------
"Aya where have you been the mail room's been backed the hell up!" her boss yelled the moment she walked into the office. Aya glared, nothing against him but he was complacent in the whole thing.
"I'm quitting," Aya said plainly. The man sat up in his chair.
"Bullshit," He said, lowering his sun glasses. Aya placed the bag containing her uniform on the table with a slam.
"Damn straight." She said smirking, it felt so good to be able to do that and now that she didn't want to work here, no one could say anything about that.
"Not if HR has anything to say about that." the man said. Aya rolled her eyes already planning out her resignation letter.
"What do you mean?"
"A clause was added to your contract the moment the company noticed people kept quitting this post." her boss said. Aya glared, she should have known Nue Corp wouldn't have let her off that easy.
"But I could be fired on the spot right?"
"Look Aya, go to HR, review your options." Her boss said. He kicked his feet off the table and stood. Aya folded her arms.
"Fine."
----------
The HR department treated Aya's grievances with the same callousness one would expect from corporate. She sat in front of two women, who stared into their paper thin, high tech monitors.
Behind her, the mail room boss sat flipping through one of the complimentary magazines. He muttered to himself as he did, creeping everyone out as he did.
"Aya brown is it?" the first woman started, Aya looked away from her boss and at the woman who sat in front of her.
"Yes?"
"We've reviewed your clause and termination from your post can only occur in the event of certain lapses in performances, or if you are deemed a danger to the company."
"A danger to the company? But I've never even spoken back to the people who made working here a nightmare!"
"Not so," the other woman attending to Aya's case said. " According to our records, you've been written up a few times by Ms. Vanderwood,"
"Who's that?"
"The president's secretary," the woman replied.
A devious idea formed in Aya's mind.
"Why don't we see what she has to say about this," Aya said leaning back into her seat. The HR women exchanged glances with each other, wondering what Aya was up to.
One picked up a strange device and tapped around the glass surface. Viviana's face appeared on a projection.
The blonde woman looked up from the screen and stared at the woman calling her.
"Yes?" Viviana's impatient tone hissed.
"We are requesting you come down here due to a staff dispute." One of the HR women said.
"I don't have time for this," she said with a fake yawn. She was about the end the projection when the HR staff spoke.
"Need I remind you it is in your clause, that HR staff resolutions are mandatory."
Viviana paused, a snarl of anger left her mouth, she pressed her plump lips together firmly trying to contain her anger.
"I'll be there shortly." She said.
----------
The telltale signs of Viviana's heels clacking against the office tiles caught the attention of everyone in the room.
Vivana entered through the doors and allowed her eyes to fall on Aya. A wide smirk grew on Viviana's face. A triumphant sound escaped her mouth, a finger pointed in Aya's direction.
"What did the mail room rat do this time?" Viviana asked. "Are we finally about to act on all those reports?"
"I would only need to be recognized as a danger to the company once by HR's standards to be let go of right?" Aya asked.
"That is correct." The woman said not even looking up from her desk. Aya nodded and stood up from her chair.
"I knew it was only a matter of time before you were finally put in your place. Stupid girl, you think because you befriended the president you could just-Ah!"
In the moment Viviana had been ranting, Aya reared her hand back and slapped the woman hard across her face.
The blonde went silent, her expensive glasses flew, bouncing off into the distance somewhere.
A deafening silence fell over the room. Aya looked back at the women in their seats, who stared with their mouths open.
"Contract terminated,"