You'll Never Find Me (Charlastor)

A day at work

The radio station Alastor worked in was a small building away from his home in the corner, between Paris Avenue and Charlton Drive. Alastor opened the door for Charlie. After entering the building, they faced a counter where a receptionist was sitting with a newspaper in front of her, drinking a hot cup of coffee.

Alastor put his hands over Charlie's shoulder, which made the girl widen her eyes a bit.

"Excuse me, dear." The brunette asked politely and Charlie just nodded at him.

He removed her jacket, and hung it on a little holder placed in the entrance. He did the same with his own jacket and the grey newsboy hat he was wearing.

With that, the receptionist slowly pulled down the newspaper as soon as she heard Alastor's voice. Her eyes just widened and her brows frowned.

After that, Alastor walked to a clocking-in machine. It was a wooden structure with a clock on it. It also has a lever at the bottom with 'Out' and 'In' signs. By its side, there was a wooden card holder. Charlie stepped closer, extremely curious about that particular machine.

Alastor's finger 'slid' in the air in front of the cards until he saw one with his name. He took it and placed it inside the machine. He pulled the lever towards the sign 'in' and the machine made a click. He removed it from it and placed it again at the card holder.

"What is this?" Charlie asked, curious and shy.

Alastor smiled at her, frowning his eyebrows. "You never saw a clocking-in machine before?"

Charlie shook her head, pouting a little. She was afraid to be judged... Did she sound dumb?

"Well, this machine registers when the employees enter or leave work, so the manager and the owner of the station can check if everyone is working properly." Alastor made a brief pause. "Here are the cards-" He pointed to the card holder. "Those cards are for other employees. Each employee has their own, and they are labeled with their names, so we don't accidently get the wrong one." With a little chuckle, Alastor went closer to the machine.

"So, we get the card, and we place it here." He pointed to a little entrance in the machine. "We pull this lever, - "In" when we step in the work." He pulled the lever to the out sign. "Out is when we step out of work." He chuckled. "Basically, just to keep an eye on the employees."

"I see..." Charlie's eyes were shining as she leaned closer to the machine. Alastor watched the girl for a moment until he turned to proceed in his path.

"Morning, Irene." The man bowed to the girl behind the counter. She just nodded to him, her eyes looking at the two in shock.

Alastor then offered his arm to Charlie, which she gladly entangled with hers. They walked towards a narrow flight of stairs in the corner of the room. He made a gesture so Charlie could climb it first.

As soon as the 'couple' disappeared, Irene picked up the telephone in front of her, dialing a number extremely fast. As soon as a voice was heard in the other side, she began:

"Marie, you won't BELIEVE who I just saw bringing a visitor!" Irene leaned over the counter, looking at the stairs to make sure the couple was out of earshot. She saw them disappear as they climbed the stairs, but wanted to make sure.

A loud mumble could be heard from the phone. "YES. HE. BROUGHT. A. DATE. TO. WORK." Irene assumed it was a date. Another even louder mumble from the phone echoed in the entrance, which made Irene just turn her head away from the phone and made a painful face.

"You don't believe me? See for yourself! He is climbing the stairs right now." Irene took her mug and sipped. "Also, as soon as you see it, call me back. I want to know what you think about the girl. I think she is okay, eh but, just okay." She shrugged.