Armageddon

XVI

I'm trying to be franker.

Would that make me more enemies in the long run? Probably. But it will also probably make it likely that things happen the way I want them to, when I want.

Maybe then, I will not have to get my hands dirty like I am right now.

I wonder if I should've gotten Alejandro before I came here. The release is in three hours, and though I won't personally be the one making the release - Oscar decided that my job was done after I had typed an entire script and figured he could swoop in today and be the hero. That's part of what's made me decide I need to be more candid. It's not that I was particularly looking forward to making releasing the statement - it's just that being tossed to the side after a lot of work and being haunted by the ghost of my conscience, I feel a little like a used condom.

That's a lie - I feel a lot like a used condom: cheap, disposable, used to catch men's waste.

It's just a gross feeling all around.

Patricia hasn't spoken to me unless it was related to work. At first it bothered me, but I guess it's fine if she doesn't want to be called out for her hypocrisy. I will stay out of her way if she stays out of mine.

Chatter fills the office, but it doesn't sound like it does on any other day. Maybe that's because today isn't any other day. Today is the day that tests how powerful the machine is against the people. Today determines just how much society is willing to believe a white man with tears and money. Today determines whether we get a salary for the next few months.

Safe to say we all - in a sick way - want everything to go smoothly.

I try Alejandro's phone again.

'Hola. Has llegado a Alejandro. Desafortunadamente, no puedo atender su llamada en este momento, pero puede dejarme un mensaje y me aseguraré de responderle lo más rápido que pueda. ¡Está bien, adiós!'

"Alejandro, where are you? I thought we'd agreed you'd be here? Should I come get you?"

"Elisabeth, we need you to confirm that CNN will still be sending a journalist so we know if we should reserve a seat for them or not," Rashad informs me from across the room. It's a miracle how humans are able to communicate even in the midst of earth-shattering chaos such as the one we're in right now! I raise a thumb to him to let him know I'll get to it.

I go to the press room to check whether the seating arrangement is as I'd asked for it to be.

Shouldn't I have a personal assistant?

I straighten out a few seats that were not properly aligned.

I wonder how Nandi feels about this whole release - this release that has been made such a spectacle of. NME wrote of it:

'Probably the event of the year, we all wait with bated breaths to see if The Press will be able to save themselves. They are known for running extremely successful campaigns for public figures like Johnny Depp, Piers Morgan and, most notably, Boris Johnson, who went on to win his bid for Prime Minister. These were some of the most controversial people in the last year, and we wonder if they can spin the same magic for themselves, or if they have run out of thread.'

Sometimes, it shocks me just how sensationalised news have to be in order to even sell, but I guess something has to wipe us off the face of the earth, and if that must be our ignorance, then so be it.

I look at the time. That's thirty minutes down. I try Alejandro's phone again:

'Hola. Has llegado a Alejandro. Desafortunadamente, no puedo atender su llamada en este momento, pero puede dejarme un mensaje y me aseguraré de responderle lo más rápido que pueda. ¡Está bien, adiós!'