Good morning everyone. I had a very strange dream. I don’t remember all of it but cows were being launched from a catapult over a gorge. They landed easily and trotted off the the new pastures with no harm done to them, In the dream someone looked at me and said, ‘And you thought we needed to waste time building a bridge.’ Apparently I was stunned that the cows weren’t hurt by the catapult flinging. Silly me. That is the only thing I remember from the dream but it is going to stay with me all day, so I thought I’d share. and now, back to our regularly scheduled writing prompt. Timers set for fifteen minutes.
I am going to have to figure out the deal between Calvin and the protagonist, but I do like starting a story when something is ending.
Tuesday, August 25th: I wasn’t certain I heard correctly.
I wasn’t certain I heard correctly. It seemed such an absurd thing. I blinked, trying to order my thoughts. Calvin took my silence as acceptance. He moved on outlining the severance package and the next steps.
I was being fired.
The word fired was not used. I didn’t know if it fell out of the corporate lexicon but Calvin certainly wasn’t going to use it. He also wasn’t going to look me in the eye.
He finished and advised me that someone from HR would be stopping by my desk and bringing exit papers to have me sign and to collect my access cards. There was the implication that I would then be escorted out of the building.
Message delivered, Calivin left. I knew the others heard but they were holed up in their cubicles trying not to be noticed in case my firing was not just a solo event. I looked at my desk and felt a strange echoing sound in my head. It was like the sound you hear when you lift a shell up to your ear to hear the ocean.
Except it wasn’t the ocean at all it was the deafening sound of an unreal moment detonating. I solely collected the few things I kept at my desk. There weren’t many as we weren’t encouraged to personalize the space. Most of what I took were over the counter medicines. A bottle of ant acid tablets, another of ibuprofen, a sheet of allergy tablets. All three went into my bag and then I added the box of mints I kept in the desk drawer. The travel coffee mug was already empty as was my reusable lunch bag. Both were in my main bag already. I reached for my water bottle and realized there was nothing else that needed to go with me.
I heard a sound and Linda from HR was there with papers. I signed the papers, turned in my key cards and then stood. She walked me out.
The strange echoing was fading but the office was still filled with silence. No one looked over at my departure. Linda wouldn’t even look at me. She said nothing to me beyond what was necessary. I left the building and walked to my car. It was only as I pulled out of the garage and turned the car towards my apartment building that the emptiness that filled me began to dissipate.
In it’s place anger was starting to rise. For the last six months I was assigned a project. A project others tangled and bungled and made a night mare of in every way possible. I spent the last six months untangling finances and reporting and assessments. I fixed what could be fixed, replaced what needed replacing and got the entire program back in it’s feet. I stayed late, I even worked weekends.
I pulled into my parking garage, parked the car, glad that I was no longer operating a motor vehicle as with my anger building I might become a menace.
‘Well only if I see Calvin in a crosswalk,’ I admitted as I left the car and took the elevator up to my apartment. I let myself in. Once the door was locked behind me I looked around. The apartment smelled of the cleaning products the cleaning company I hired used. For the last six months I had done nothing in my apartment besides, sleep and shower. It was where my bed and my clean clothes were kept. I picked up breakfast on the way in and often ate dinner at my desk.
If it weren’t for the efficient cleaning staff my entire kitchen would have a thick layer of dust on it.
I stood in my space feeling like a visitor. It didn’t smell like home, but a larger than average hotel room.
I sighed and went to the bedroom. I threw my bag on the bed and kicked off my shoes. I went to the closet and had to rummage around for lounge clothes as it had been so long since I had need of them. But I needed something comforting now. Something soft and soothing around me while I let my anger rage and I began to plan my next steps.
If I was honest, I shouldn’t have been surprised that Calvin fired me when the project was complete. I just hadn’t thought he would. I let myself believe he wouldn’t.
Ten til Midnight 