Shorties

"So sorry!” Mia said.

She felt so bad, she hadn’t meant to spill her coffee on this man.

“Why me?” He asked.

“I’m so sorry! How much was the suit? I’ll pay for it!” She asked pulling out her wallet from her purse.

“No, It wasn’t your fault.” He said.

“But I just wrecked your suit, it must have been expensive, so let me pay. Here, $150 should cover it!”

She shoved the money into the man’s hand, then rushed away. She was going to be late for an interview. She ran past businessmen and tourists, buildings and street carts, until finally, she made it to the office building.

When she got inside, she walked shakily to the elevator. She clicked the ‘thirteenth floor’ button.

She stood in the corner silently, as the elevator made its way slowly to the thirteenth floor. After what felt like an eternity, a soft bell dinged their arrival, and she exited.

She walked down the hallway, took a left, and two doors down was her office-to-be. She walked in and the light automatically clicked on as she surveyed the room. Everything seemed normal. The small potted fern sat at attention on top of the short grey filing cabinet next to her desk. Directly on top of her stack of memos was a slip of paper that was a shockingly dark shade of green, a memo from her possible boss. On it was a message.

“Please come directly to my office as soon as you see this message. ”

When she got to the boss’s office, Mia looked through the glass window, she could have sworn on her great-grandmother’s grave that it was the same man as earlier.

The one with the wrecked suit. She walked nervously into the office. And to her horror, her possible boss was the man with the wrecked suit, but with a new suit.

Mia about gave up and walked out knowing she would likely not get the job from what happened earlier that day. “Have a seat.” He said. “My name is Clay, I have to make a call and then I will be right back. Is that fine?” “Yes sir. And sorry about earlier.” Mia said. “Huh? What do you mean? I don’t think I’ve ever met you.” “Oh, then, never mind me.” She said.

After the call, they were talking. In the middle of Clay’s sentence. another man walked in. He looked like the man behind the desk, Clay. “This lady wrecked my suit!” He said. A small smile crept across his face. “And she walked away without telling me her name.” Mia jumped up and ran out of the room. The man followed her. He heard her mumbling; “NO. No, No, No, No, No.” As she walked.

From behind her, she heard;

“Wait!”

She spun around so fast that she almost ran into him, the guy from earlier.

“Sorry. I can’t talk now.” Mia said to him.

As she turned to walk away, she felt a strong grip on her wrist. One of the things she feared the most since about 8 years ago. Her instincts kicked in and she bolted. She felt the grip loosen but not let go. She whipped around and smacked him in the face. He let go. Mia ran. She stopped and soon after, Mia broke into tears, remembering her past. She sat down on the ground, tears streaming down her face. She was on the thirteenth floor and couldn’t get away from him. When he walked up, the man said that his name was Trey and that he was really sorry. But he wasn’t sure what for.

Mia didn’t hear, she was too busy sobbing to even notice that she was being guided towards the staff rec room. As she sat down, she felt strong but hesitant arms go around her. Engulfing her in a hug. She wondered who it was. But she didn’t really care, she was grateful for whoever this was.

“What happened?”

Clay asked when he walked in and saw Trey with his arms around Mia.

“I´m not sure…” Replied Trey.

“I´m fine.” Mia said in a small voice.

Trey and Clay thought she sounded a bit like a sad four-year-old. They couldn’t help but smile slightly.

After some tea and a doughnut, Mia was called for another try at the interview. While in the interview, she got a phone call. When she answered, she recognized the distressed voice. It was her mother, with bad news. Very bad news.

“Mia, I need you home as quick as you can.”

“What? Why? What happened?”

“He’s dead. Gone.” Her mother was sobbing.

“Jasper. He’s gone. Dead.”

Jasper was her best friend, and only family other than her mother.

Jasper, her only twin. Dead.