Finn McCarthy

The Consultation

When I exited the cafeteria I nearly bumped into Daphne. Her eyes were red and her cheeks puffy from crying.

"Uh, hey," I said awkwardly, "sorry."

"It's okay," she whispered so quietly I had to lean in to hear her, "Are you going to your consultation?"

"Yup," I said bouncing on my toes, "so, I'll see ya later?"

"Yea, I guess," she sighed. She turned away from me and took off down the hallway. Thankfully in the opposite direction I needed to go.

The hall took me all the way to the lobby of Grad Hall and through a pair of streakless glass doors and down another hallway where I finally made it to the elevators. I pressed the button for the third floor and glanced at the digital clock above the floor buttons, 11:43, I cringed, the doors opened and I flew out and down another hallway, turned left and went down to the third door on the left.

"You're late," I heard as I opened the door labeled 'Consultation Office'.

It was Vanessa Walker who had spoken, she had short dark hair that was cut to look like a bowl was placed on her head, her bangs cut shorter then the rest to just above her blue eyes. She was wearing an Erudite blue dress with a black belt around her middle and tall black heels to match. She was seated in one of three black cushioned chairs that surrounded a coffee table and filled the tiny office.

"Um, yea," I shrugged, "Kinda zoned out after Graduation."

"That's no excuse," Vanessa started, "punctuation and time management is a huge part of having a career in our Faction."
Is punching that pretty mouth of yours considered punctual? I wondered but allowed I said, "I apologize, I just didn't prepare enough for the stress of being on that stage."

Jake Preston was a balding man with a limited about of gray hair perched atop is awkward round head, he had dark eyes and a short nose and wore a black business suite that stretched across his body, the seams obviously straining at the effort of containing his enormous belly. He was squeezed into the chair closest to Vanessa with a drink in one hand and a handful of cookies the other.

With great effort the man leaned forward in the chair causing it to squeak in protest, and place his cookies and drink on the small blue coffee table. When he spoke his voice was small and comical but his features stayed stern.

"Why don't we just get straight to the consultation?" he said.

"Yes," Vansessa agreed, "At the beginning of the training you were given an assignment to write a twenty page essay about the career choice you wanted."

"Yea," I said slowly, and then sat in the vacant chair when she motioned for me to do so, "I remember. that essay was a bit-"

"I have read through it," She interrupted, "along with Mr. Preston and we both believe that Serum Scientist is a great position for a yong woman such as youself."

"I don't want to do that any more," I didn't really know why I was arguing with her. I truly did want to work with serums. Most of my life I wanted to work in a lab. The mere thought of possibly being the one to discover a new and better serum or medicine was thrilling. For some reason though I stalled on that thought. what if I never found anything new? what if I just stood around in a lab wishing I had picked something else?

"Then what else would you want to do?" Jake asked.

"Governmental," I said without thinking. What the heck? Why did I say that?