“F-R-A-N-K!!!!!!!” A thundering scream was heard from the deathly hallows, and though Frank was in the board room, at the other end of the building, he heard it. Hell, everyone in NY heard it.
Frank ran out of the boardroom towards the deathly hallows like a firefighter rushing into a burning building to save a child. He opened the door and stumbled in, heaving and gasping for breath, looking at Michael standing there nonchalantly, with drops of blood dripping down from his hand like water from a broken pipe.
‘Oh, dear lord, Michael, what happened to your hand?’
‘Fuck my hand Frank, I need to talk about Alex’
‘Oh, um… Alex. Yes, well you see, I sent him here because I thought you might want to switch things up a bit. You know there’s no harm in interviewing all the candidates. You can always reject them. And plus, from what I saw, and what I for my life can’t get out of my head, the kid did seem like he had good potential’
‘He?’ Michael blabbered confused, and then it struck him ‘No Frank, I’m not talking about glasses. He’s sorted. I’m talking about the other Alex’
‘Other Alex?’
‘Ya, the one with short, brunette hair that falls on her face like she’s a 19th century hero, of some Victorian romance novel. She’s got those dark, broody eyes. I mean, did no one tell her we had shifted to 21st century, and Mr. Darcy was long dead?! And that flannel shirt? Is she an anime character? Who comes to an interview in flannel and sneakers? She was utterly awful’
‘Um…’ Frank stared at Michael utterly confused. Was he hallucinating? There was no candidate who remotely looked like what Michael had just described. ‘Which Alex are you talking about Mike?’ he asked sheepishly, hoping Michael wouldn’t burst
‘JESUS CHRIST FRANK!!!! Alex, she’s an engineer. She was supposed to interview for you, Jeanie fucked things up…as always’
‘I’m sorry Michael, but I don’t know what you’re talking about. I never saw any other Alex’
‘Are you saying I’m making things up? Are you saying..’ he took a long deep pause before uttering the next sentence ‘…that I’m losing my mind, like Joseph?’ He turned towards Frank, and his eyes were so dark,
Frank could swear he was going to kill him. He’d never felt so scared before. Michael’s face held an inhuman expression – one of a monster that killed people just for the pleasure of seeing their soul leave their body.
‘No, no, never. Mike…I could never even think that. You’re nothing, nothing like your father. Absolutely nothing. What I was saying was, since Jeanie was the one who brought her to you, she might know more about Alex. And since she’s not here, um…I guess I’ll call up and ask her, if she knows anything about Alex’ Frank fumbled the words out of his mouth.
‘Hmm…’ Michael hummed, regaining his calm ‘I think her name was Alex Avery. See if you can find out where she lives’
‘Sure, I’ll go look her up right now’ Frank said running out of the room, faster than he had come in.
Michael sat back down in his chair.
‘Who does that arrogant snob think she is? How dare she talk to me like that? Just coz she’s got a bit of good looks and some fancy degree, and just because my staff made a teensy little mistake, and I asked her to do a little spin, so I could check her out, doesn’t mean she can shout at me like that. If I’m being honest with myself, she wasn’t really all that pretty either. Looks like a member of some K-pop boy band. If you’re a woman, dress like one for God sakes, don’t go round looking like a teenage boy and…’
Michael’s stream of thought was interrupted with a knock on the door
