The tapping of keys on a keyboard. Muffled chatter. Heels clacking against the floor. Sounds he would hear everyday passed through the glass wall of Arno’s office. An odd feeling surrounded him as he sat in his office chair.

For a moment, nothing felt real. A strange haze clouded his mind and as the noise was reduced to a whisper. Everything went back to normal in the next moment, and all oddities were wiped away from his memory.

It was the beginning of another boring day at the office for Arno. Things had been fairly cruisy for Arno and the rest of the company. They didn’t gain any big clients recently, but neither did they lose anyone. The company was coasting along, making enough money for everyone to live comfortably.

Because of this, work had become very monotonous. Arno just had to do the same things day in and day out. There was nothing to keep him busy. No sudden influx of data. And no drop that would force everyone in the company to work hard thinking of a solution.

He powered up his computer, and looked out through the window, watching people walk through the park as he waited for the computer to boot up. He logged in and immediately looked through his work emails.

Finding a couple new emails, he read through them then started working. He had a long list of tasks that he needed to complete daily, and he always liked to get a few done early in the morning, when he was at his most productive.

Time passed by in a blur as he pushed through his work. Compiling data, sending emails, making sure his team hadn’t made any mistakes.

Sending off another email, he lifted his hands from the keyboard. He checked the time, and felt it was a good enough time to take a break. Getting out of his chair, he decided to take a stroll around the office and get a drink before getting back into everything.

He walked out of his office at a casual pace, observing the employees as they worked and talked. Even when they noticed him walking past, they barely reacted. Some of them continued on with their work, some chatted with him for a little bit before he continued walking.

He was well liked by the others in the office. Whether it be the people that had been working their for decades, or the new hires, he could easily talk with all of them. He integrated well into the office space, and felt less like a boss or a manager, and more like a friend they could talk to.

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Reaching the water cooler, he stopped their for a bit as he filled his cup to the brim with cold water. He looked back on the office, nodding and smiling as he saw the harmonious environment he worked so hard to create.

He put a lot of effort into making sure all of his subordinates felt comfortable and that they could trust him. Drinking down the water, he made his way back to his office and began scrolling through his emails again.

As he did so, an email appeared at the top of his inbox that didn’t seem to have any relation to his work at all. Seeing the email from his close friend, he opened it with a smile. The email was very casual, asking him if he had any plans for the night. And if he didn’t, if he wanted to go out bowling.

This was one of their usual tricks that they used to plan their next moves. They couldn’t keep the emails the same, as that would be too suspicious over a long period of time, so they had a whole list of coded questions and answers they could use that had different meanings.

Thinking of his response, he thought it best to hold off on their plans for now, and to continue with things in a few days. Writing up the corresponding response asking if they could change bowling night to another day, he gave it one final check before sending it off.

Minimising his emails, he went back to work. However, it wasn’t long before he was notified of another email. Assuming it was just a response from his friend, he ignored it and continued with his work. It wasn’t until he had to send an email out that he realised something was off.

His friend hadn’t responded. Instead, there was an email with a strange subject heading from a somewhat familiar email address. The subject heading read ‘I KNOW WHAT YOU DID’ in big, glaring writing.

He felt his body shiver as he read the heading, and, for a moment, he froze up. He didn’t know if he should click on it or not. It looked like some sort of scam, or one of those junk emails that said if you don’t forward this to ten people, you would die.

But at the same time, the email it was sent from was strangely familiar. And he couldn’t get it out of his head that it could be real and that someone could know what he has done. His guilty conscience flared up, and just as he didn’t know what to do, another email came through.

‘I CAN SEE YOU’

He jolted out of his seat as he stared out at the office, scanning with crazed eyes for anyone that was looking at him. Unfortunately for him, no one was looking at his office at all. Everything was normal outside of his now claustrophobia inducing office.

Not knowing what to do, he wiped the sweat from his face and fell back into his chair. Slightly scared, and with his entire body tensed up, he opened the first email. The very first line of the email caused him to pale.

It was the information of a bank account. A bank account he was incredibly familiar with. Someone had found out. Someone knew what he was doing.