Estelle

3 | Sketches

My pencil glides effortlessly across the paper as I add detail to my work. Beside me sits a small stack of papers I have finished a few minutes ago. Images of floral design, foliage, and stone walls appear on the paper I am now working on.

I am supposed to be working but my eyes are taking in a new idea for my dream garden. For a few years I have wanted to design my own garden with ornamental plants, stone paths, and vine covered stone walls.

My focus is where to place elephant ears and alocasia in a small pond at the center of the garden.

The door to Mr. Irey's office opens and my head snaps to my boss as he steps out of his office. Looking at the clock, I notice the time and grab my stack of papers before following the silent Mr. Irey into the meeting room down the hall.

Today we are meeting with a man working under Mr. Irey. The discussion will be about distributing the proper resources for the computer businesses around Italy.

"Buongiorno, signor Irey. La signorina Estelle." [Good morning, Mr. Irey. Ms. Estelle.]

The man Mr. Irey and I are meeting is already waiting in the meeting room with two other employees. The man is Scottish and his accent is very clear in his Italian.

"Buongiorno, signor Wilson," Mr. Irey and I take a seat on the other side of the table from the three men. "Begin."

"So we have discussed earlier this week about..."

I sit through the meeting like I always have. As everyone is an english native speaker other than Mr. Irey, they switched to english early on in the meeting.

As usual, Mr. Irey is calm and quiet, only joining in to give instructions or to share new ideas for the business.

My job is to provide the proper papers and to offer a few different points of views with as much information as a secretary would have. Mr. Irey listens intently every time I speak.

Mr. Wilson at some point stands and begins showing charts. I listen intently and take notes. My pencil slows and I bite my lip as I feel something familiar. My eyes glance from the page to Mr. Irey next to me. Still in a relaxed position out of my personal space, Mr. Irey scans my paper and subtly nods. His piercing silver-eyed gaze meets mine and my breath hitches.

"What about the other end of the business?" Mr. Wilson asks, turning his attention solely on Mr. Irey. Mr. Irey's eyes leave me and he looks at the papers in front of him. "Any new information?"

Mr. Irey's eyes snap from the papers in his hands up to the man. They are steely cold like usual, very different from how they just were looking at me moments ago.

"That is for another meeting. We are done for today," Mr. Irey stands and the rest of us follow his movements. "Thank you for coming."

Mr. Irey ends the meeting abruptly and without much warning. I noticed the way his jaw clenched when the man mentioned another part of the business.

His eyes had met mine in an observant gaze as I looked at him in confusion. Those silver and gray eyes seemed to possess me as they read my facial expression before turning away.

The work day continues as usual and now I am heading home back to my apartment.

Mr. Irey's gray eyes are stuck in my mind and abruptly interrupted as my phone buzzes. Blue Maveton shows up on my screen and I answer as I enter my apartment.

"Hi, Blue."

"Hey, guess who I met?"

"Is this the guy you met at the bar?" I place the phone on the counter and put Blue on speaker as I move about the apartment.

"No, no. He was nice but too touchy. This guy I met at a coffee shop this morning. His name is Alec Rossi and he asked me out."

"That's very cliche." I laugh.

"Yeah yeah, I know. I'm going out with him tomorrow after work."

Blue is a lot like me and that is probably why we became friends quickly. Blue left England to get away from her horrible family who is involved in drug dealing. They are as poor as my family and we both are alone without people to talk to other than each other.

The only difference is that Blue got away scot free and I am being haunted by a certain mafia boss.

"I think I'm ready to start over here, Jane." Blue has been struggling to forget about her family. They were very verbally abusive and controlling, causing Blue to have trust issues when it came to meeting men. "This guy seems like a good one."

I smile at the phone even though Blue cannot see me. It makes me happy and proud of my friend to hear she has met someone.

"Jane, are you talking to anyone?"

I chuckle. "No, I think I'm good for now."

"Anyone from work?"

A pair of gray eyes flashes in my mind before I shake the thought away.

"Definitely not."

Mr. Irey is just my boss.

After the phone call and a quick meal, I change into my pajamas and make myself tea. As the honey and lavender tea bag steeps in the hot water, I hold the mug close to my cold fingers and look out my window.

A few men are sitting on the curb just two floors below me. I'm not very high up but the men's faces are covered in a layer of harsh light from the lamp posts and shadows from their hoods.

These three men have been sitting on that curb every night for a few days. Tonight, however, I notice a few more men across the street from them on my side of the road. They are in a group talking and suddenly all of them look up to my window simultaneously. Even if I cannot see their faces, I can tell they are looking right at me.

I feel a chill run down my spine as I notice the other three men walk across the street and start talking to the others.

Something isn't right.

Before I can think anymore of their odd behavior, a loud banging knock comes from my front door and my eyes widen.