These Wicked Games

Chapter 2

A knock at my front door wakes me and I blink my eyes open to the digital clock on the floor next to me.

10:37pm

As I sit up and flick on the light, I see something slip under my door. Fuck if this is the final eviction notice I've been dreading.

But as I walk closer, I notice that it's much too fancy for that. A small black envelope with my name written in fancy gold ink greets me like an invitation.

I peek through the peephole on the door, but whoever was there is long gone by now. The card inside matches the styling of the envelope and it reads:

We're interested.

~ First Interview ~
December 12 @ 9am
25 West 18th St., 40th floor

Hmm, a job interview. Shit, finally!

I mean I'm excited, but why a hand delivered card? Why not just shoot over an email? I flip it over but there's no return address, no company name, nothing.

Sketchy?

For sure, but at this point, beggars can't be choosers, right?

I toss the card on my desk and plop back down to sleep after setting my alarm clock for the interview in the morning.

—————

Fuck I'm going to be late! Yes my alarm went off, but I also couldn't fall back to sleep last night. The mysteriousness of this card was killing me. I spent way too much time dissecting every centimeter of it, trying to find or feel something. Anything!

I rush over to my closet, drop the towel I had wrapped around me and grab my typical interview outfit. It's nothing fancy, just a pair of black pleated pants and a long sleeved charcoal button down.

My hopes aren't too high for this job if I'm going to be honest with myself. I've been to just as many interviews as jobs I've applied to and it's not that I'm not qualified for these jobs. What they tell me is that I'm in fact, overqualified.

Overqualified.

It's what I keep hearing each time. I don't even know what to say to that.

I grab my coat and the card and hurry to the subway. Morning rush at the train station is not going to help. I just hope I can catch an express train.

37 minutes later and I find myself across the street comparing the address to what's displayed on the card.

Don't even tell me this is it.

Outside the building is the most ridiculously long line of people wrapping around the corner. I rush across the street and grab a spot in line as a few others follow suit behind me.

I got to ask, because at this point, I know that when people find a long ass line, there's this bad habit of just standing in it, not even knowing what it's for, just so they don't miss out.

"Excuse me" I tap the person in front of me.

A girl with big brown doe eyes and short wavy brown hair with bangs turns and stares back at me uninterested-like.