The Neighbor

Chapter 3

                                    (Sorry this is a long chapter! I promise the rest will be shorter)

One thing Ashley had difficulty understanding, and there wasn't much outside of the topics of why people found golf entertaining or why people even bothered with socializing that Ashley didn't understand, is giraffes. You see, giraffes are tall enough and strong enough to withstand most predators. They may not have fangs or claws like the large cats that hunted them, but they had the high ground. Being on top of everybody else and looking down as a means of safety. Their eyes could watch from above for any lions that could want to turn them into a meal, but giraffes had one major disadvantage. When a giraffe goes to get a drink of water, they put themselves in a particularly vulnerable position by bending over and losing their ability to see what's around them. While in this position, they must spread their legs apart to get closer to the water, which doesn't give them enough time to reposition their legs in a place where they can run away fast enough if a predator were to sneak up behind them. The thing Ashley never understood was why the giraffe would ever do such a thing. Giraffes understand that they could be put in danger, yet they do it anyway. Of course, she didn't expect them to die of thirst; everything had to have water eventually. The thing she didn't understand was why the giraffe didn't wait until the safest time.

Why didn't they wait until a time when lions didn't hunt? Why didn't they go to a watering

hole with fewer predators? Did they just get so thirsty that the death was worth the risk? Was the water so sweet tasting that they willingly plunged right into the possibility of being prey? Are their things so good that someone would set aside all the power that they had to make themselves at their weakest in front of the strongest?

Ashley also found that humans were a lot like giraffes. While they appeared to be at the top, they were one step away from seeing something they liked too much and putting themselves at the mercy of the claws. Just because something hides in the shadows waiting for the right moment that sits below you, doesn't mean it isn't more powerful than you, ready to turn you into its prey. That's how Ashley preferred to function, stay behind, wait in the shadows of others, let the others feel like they have all the power, and strike at the right time.

  (I know this part sounded like an Animal Planet documentary lol I swear it's foreshadowing)

That's how she was going to survive her new job she was starting today. The starting position she had was barely above an intern, despite requesting a job in IT, they denied her insisting that she needed to start as an office assistant to learn how the company works. She would do what they said and wait around until the perfect opportunity came to get a promotion or show her ability with a computer. Whether that involved honest work or the hope of catching a coworker in the wrong so a position would be open, she would take it. Fixing the mess her family was in after her father's accident was the only thing she could focus on right now. Getting them back on their feet, restoring their wealth, and getting back into college was the only way she could get her life on the track she wanted.

She searched the pile of boxes until she found one labeled "clothes". Most of her clothes weren't as nice as they used to be, and she only owned the clothes she had with her at college and a few she had bought for this job. She pulled out a light blue blazer and put it over her button-up top along with a pair of dress pants. It seemed professional enough, right? Working in an office wasn't something she was used to. Actually, most normal jobs she wasn't used to. All she had ever known was the business world she had been raised in. She hoped it was enough.

Finally, she pulled her auburn hair into a tight bun and tried to keep any loose strands out of the way. First days on the job meant first impressions, and she had to make a good one.