My Best Friend Thomas

The squirrel ran from tree to tree collecting nuts. Every few moments, he would stop and eat one. They

were little lunch and snack breaks for him. I wondered if he even noticed the beautiful trees surrounding

him.

“Jake, did you get the quote marked up and sent to Dankas?”

I snapped back to reality, away from the forest and the squirrel outside my window. My boss, David, was

standing behind me.

“Yeah, I did that this morning when I got in.”

“Good. Let me know if we hear anything back from them today,” David said as he walked away, probably

headed to the break room for another cup of coffee.

I tended to avoid the break room. I always felt like people were watching me when I ate. Laughing at me.

Judging me while I sat there playing chess on my phone, trying not to look awkward.

I looked back out the window to see Thomas the squirrel munching away on another acorn. Yeah, I named

him Thomas after a few weeks of watching him. It got weird just calling him “the squirrel.”

I remember the day I named him. I went through a whole list of names like Doug, Frank, and the famous

Mr. Nutter. He didn’t seem to like any of them, but when I came up with Thomas, he came right up to the

glass and stared at me.

Me in here plugging away at the keyboard. Thomas out there collecting his nuts.

That’s when it struck me that I should get him a treat. My friend Thomas would love some peanut butter.

Yeah, crunchy peanut butter. My only furry friend.

On the drive home that night, I stopped at the grocery store to grab some. I remember being excited when

I reached the peanut butter aisle. But then there were so many options, natural, honey, extra crunchy, even

some with jelly mixed in. I grabbed the natural crunchy. It was a few dollars more, but I think I made the

right choice.

I arrived early to work the next day. I opened the peanut butter, picked up a stick, and scraped some out. It

was a little rough, the oil sorta sitting on top. I decided Peter Pan crunchy next time.

I set the peanut butter on the rock next to my window. I felt joy. Real joy. Just thinking about Thomas

sniffing around and finding the surprise I left him.

When I came around the building, my boss Dave was unlocking the front door.

“Where did you come from?” he asked with a confused look on his face.

“Oh, I thought I saw a dog run around the building,” I said quickly.

“Was one back there?”

“No, I didn’t see anything. I must just be seeing things,” I said nervously.

He stared at me for a long moment. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears.

The door finally opened, and I rushed inside to sit at my desk.

I am not good at lying.

I wondered if David had heard my heartbeat. No, that was nonsense. Come on, Jake. You’re smarter than

that.

I logged into the network and opened my emails. No reply from Dankas. I looked out the window, but

Thomas still hadn’t shown up for work today.

Where could he be? He was usually munching away by now on his first lunch break.

A few hours passed with no sign of him.

Was he okay? Was he alive? Where was my friend?

That’s when I spotted the owl perched on a tall dead tree with no leaves on it. My heart sank.

“Did you eat my friend?”

“What?” Gabe said from the cubicle beside me.

“Nothing. Just nothing.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re weird?” Gabe muttered before going back to typing.

I barely even heard him. I was too worried about Thomas.

Then I turned and saw Thomas with peanut butter all over his little whiskers. He looked so happy.

I knew from that moment on I was going to bring him a treat once or twice a week.

It ended up being every day.

I stayed pretty faithful to that commitment. Week after week passed, and I kept my word to myself and

Thomas. Sometimes he had to settle for smooth peanut butter, but he didn’t seem to mind.

I only had a few run-ins with David after that. Eventually, he stopped asking what I was doing, which was

good because I really, really am bad at lying.

Then it happened one day out of nowhere.

I was reading my emails when a Teams meeting invite appeared in my inbox. It was from David, and the

subject line read: Performance Review.

I sat there staring at his profile picture smiling back at me.

What was that supposed to mean?

I could already feel knots forming in my stomach. I hated confrontation, and this felt like it was going to be

very confronty. I know that’s not a word, but you know what I mean.

The meeting was in half an hour.

I reluctantly accepted the invite.

Time moved slowly after that. I kept looking down at the clock in the corner of the screen. I could feel the

sweat soaking through my shirt, cold and wet against my skin.

The meeting started with David asking me to come into his office and close the door behind me.

He had a sad look on his face.

Knots. Balls of knots reproducing, multiplying, expanding, pulsing inside my stomach.

I froze in place after the door made its final clicking sound.

“Jake, please have a seat.”

I sat down. I didn’t know what to say, so I just stared into his eyes, trying to get some kind of reading on

what was going through his mind.

It felt like hours before he finally spoke again.

“Jake, how are things going for you here?” he asked in an eerily calm voice.

Why did he keep saying my name every time he spoke?

“I feel like things are going good,” I said nervously. I am very bad at lying.

“Well, Jake, I’m not good at this sorta thing, but the reports show a steep decline in productivity over the

past few weeks.”

Before I even had a chance to respond, I heard it echo inside my head before it finally came out of his

mouth.

“We are going to have to let you go.”

“Let me go?” I said, putting my hands over my mouth before sliding them up to my forehead.

“This will be effective immediately. Please go ahead and clear out your desk.”

I stood up and slowly walked back to my cubicle. I grabbed my coat and my bag, and then I noticed the

container of peanut butter sitting on my desk.

“Thomas!” shot out of my mouth.

I grabbed the peanut butter and ran to the side of the building.

I know he’ll understand. He has to come with me.

That’s when I spotted him.

Thomas.

I opened the peanut butter jar. His nose began to twitch.

He knows.

I picked up a stick and scraped some peanut butter onto the end of it. I bent down as he cautiously crept

closer.

“Come on, Thomas,” I whispered.

He came closer.

He knows.

Before I knew it, he was chewing peanut butter off the stick. Tears streamed down my face, but I couldn’t

stop smiling.

I reached out with my left hand while still holding the stick firmly in my right. I could feel the static between

my best friend Thomas and me.

Then I felt a sharp pain in my fingers and heard a crunch.

Thomas had latched onto my hand.

The pain was unbearable.

I slammed my arm downward, trying to shake him loose. I saw blood pouring out of his mouth.

My blood.

Before I could even think, I slammed his body down against a large rock sticking out of the ground.

His body went limp and slipped from my hand.

Sitting beside me was the rock where I had first placed peanut butter for him.

Now it was covered in peanut butter and blood.

My Friend Thomas

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