Reality Bites Me

A Dangerous Game

I watched my opponent as she walked over to her knights in shining armor. Even in the intense situation that just prevailed upon me, I couldn't help but spite her for the fact that she had two prince charmings and I had none.

"Shall we leave now?" Matthew suggested, "Perhaps to your office Ethan."

All I could make out was 'later' from the hushed response Ethan gave.

"You have got to be joking! I'm sure it can wait." Viola spat.

Ethan simply ignored her and directed his attention towards me. "I have something important I would like to discuss with you Sam. It's related to your job. If you wouldn't mind, could you please join me in my office?"

"Y-yes of course! R-right now?" I asked, stuttering like as if the New York weather just skipped October and November and headed straight for the chill.

I joined him in the elevator after he exchanged another set of stone-hearted greetings with the other two. What's going on here? Why so serious, I thought as the elevator doors closed. The dialogue from The Dark Knight Trilogy made the corners of my lips curl up.

"Something funny?" Ethan asked as he pushed the elevator button to the twelfth floor.

"Huh? No, of course not." I replied, not knowing what else to say.

"I am sorry you had to see our argument." He said with no expression on his face.

"It's alright, I didn't hear much of it anyway." I said.

"How much of it did you hear?" I instantly regretted mentioning my earlier statement.

"I don't know, can't remember." Ugh! Such a dumb response.

What else was I supposed to say? I couldn't just straight out tell him, "I heard you and the rest of your gang of hotties sent The Devil to my house at exactly 3 am to slip a loving threat under my bedroom door after locking me in and then running away with my keys!"

He opened the door to his office and this time I played Jess's role while he was my millionaire doorman. I googled him up last night and was surprised to see that he had made it big in the industry. This caused me to highlight my previous confusion in a darker shade of red. Why would this high-ranking authority figure hire two inexperienced college graduates when he already knew about the gradual decline in the magazine sales?

"Take a seat Sam." Ethan said with a smile that melt my heart like a lit candle. He walked over to his chair and took a seat with an effect that made it look like a throne.

"I'm sure you're wondering why I called you here." He said. Trust me darling, that's not the only thing I'm wondering.

"Yes." I said.

"I will just get to the point then. As you already know, we have never had a column before in which writers give their advice on actual hardships of life. So we are currently working on creating that column. I must tell you that it will take some time."

"Oh!" That word was the only thing that escaped my mouth. I didn't expect this.

"So what am I supposed to do when I come for work on Monday?" I asked before I shut my mouth when I realized that I had raised my voice a little bit too high.

"Not to worry. We have arranged an advertisement in today's issue of our magazine suggesting readers to email you their problems. You will be starting off small-scale at first and after that we'll see how your work picks up." He said trying to make me understand and hoping my ears wouldn't explode after hearing him out.

"I understand. But I have to admit that I didn't expect this." I said truthfully.

"I'm sorry but that's just how it is. And Sam, I can't entirely say that you are a part of our company yet like how Jess is." His words reminded me of the private meeting he had with Jess. Maybe this was what it was all about. He knows I don't belong here.