My Best Friend

Sloan

Mindy felt uncomfortable as she took a seat at the table the boss assigned her to. It was covered with dust and dried blood. No one had used that table for years, why was she working there now? She turned around to see Thomas walking off to the slaughterhouse. She was now on her own for the rest of the day.

"Get to work!" the boss yelled from his office.

One of the workers brought a stack of freshly cut meat to the table ready to be wrapped up. Mindy looked disgusted as it laid in the dust getting dirty.

"Shouldn't we clean the meat first?" she asked the worker. "No one would want dirty meat delivered to them."

"Your job is to wrap the meat, not wash it", he answered.

She had to keep herself from gagging as she learned that the factory delivered dirty meat to the rest of the town. She looked at the roll of butcher paper on the side of the table. Mindy cut a piece off and started wrapping up the meat ready to be delivered.

"You know, I'm surprised someone would work at this table", one of the workers said.

"Why?" Mindy asked. "Is there something wrong with this spot?"

"No, nothing. That is, if you don't mind that you're working where somebody died."

"D-d-died?" she gasped.

"That's right", another worker spoke up. "Poor woman. She never had a chance of surviving."

Mindy shuddered from their words. She stopped working and listened intently.

"What happened?"

"A young woman a little older than you worked there. She went by the name of Sloan. Poor thing was working to support her future family."

"Future family?" Mindy asked. "What do you mean? Where was her husband?"

"She didn't have one", the worker continued. "She was going to be a single mama, raising a baby on her own. Anyway, she was working right there, where you're sitting, when something went wrong. Sloan started crying and fell from her chair and onto the floor. The boss came and told us to leave."

"What happened?" she asked. "What was wrong with her?"

"My guess is she was having her baby. She screamed bloody murder and then everything went silent. When the boss told us to come back in, Sloan laid there dead and the boss was holding something bloody and wrapped in paper. Must've been the baby judging from all the blood that surrounded Sloan. It was probably dead. We heard no cries and the boss took it outside and tossed it in the dumpster."

Mindy was close to tears as the worker finished his story.

"That's so sad", she said. "And the boss... he just did nothing about it?"

The workers shook their heads.

"He told us to get rid of Sloan's body and to get back to work."

Mindy looked at the boss' office window and glared. Such a hateful man who didn't even care about the well-being of others. She wiped her eyes before going back to work. In the whole time she was listening to the story, the stack of meat got higher. She doubted she would be able to take a lunch break if she was going to get all that work done before the end of the day.

"I wonder why the boss decided to put me here", Mindy wondered out loud.

"That's what we're wondering too", one of the workers said. "But now that I think about it, you remind me of Sloan. You seem like such a sweet girl. I just hope you're not exactly like her. It'd be such a tragedy if we had another 'Sloan incident' with someone like you."