Dangerous Silence

Chapter 19

  Blast! Damn these stairs! I-can't-breathe!

   I stepped on the landing of, fortunately, the last floor, putting my hands on my knees and catching my breath. I looked up at Mr. Stone, who had considerably paled for some unfathomable reason, and gave him a smile, or whatever semblance of a smile I could manage while panting like a dog who had been chasing a squirrel around the park.

  "Good morning, Mr. Stone." I approached the now visibly sweating employee as soon as my legs decided that they were no longer on strike. Great.

   "Er, good morning, Mr. Linton."

   I gave him a look and he furthur paled until he could have easily been mistaken for a part of the white painted wall behind him and a frown appeared on my face.

  Snapping my fingers in front his face, I cautiously called out to him. Was he having a...fit or something?

"Mister Stone...? Hellooo? Can you hear me?"

"Uh, yes, Mr. Linton."

He flinched and I looked at him, irritated. What the hell was he doing, sitting there like an imbecile while I was getting late here by the second?

"The correspondance, Mr. Stone. I'm getting late!" I held out my hand impatiently.

"About that..um...Mr. Linton...uh..."

"What is it?" I nearly snapped at him, unable to see any problem there. What the bloody hell was wrong with him?

He gulped and pulled out a single letter from under the stacks of papers on his desk. "Mr. Ambrose told me to give it to you, in case you were running late."

Snatching the letter out of his hand, I tore open the envelope and started reading it. Halfway through it, to say that I was feeling murderous would have been easily the understatement of the year.

Taking deep breaths, I closed my eyes and tried to calm down myself. One. Two. Thre-

I slammed down the letter on Mr. Stone's desk and ignored him nearly falling out of his chair, giving him my best murderous glare.

"Where the hell is that bastard?!"

He almost choked on his own spit and pointed in the direction of his office, his eyes wide and I stomped over to the door. What the hell he thought he was?! Just because he had employed me and paid me a salary at the end of every month didn't mean that I was going to bear any of his nonsense! Absolutely not!

"Mr. Ambrose! Open the goddamned do-

"Um, Mr. Linton, he has requested not to be disturbed since he needs to leave urgently for-

"-or! I know you're bloody in there!" I rapped my knuckles on the door loudly, absolutely enraged! How dare he dismiss me, just because I happened to be late! Everyday?! I was not late everyday! Today I wasn't even that late! Only by one minute!

And thirty seven seconds...

Shut up!

"Mr. Ambrose-"

"Mr. Linton, stop speaking at an unneccessary volume and leave. I shall not be requiring your tardy services for the next two months, so cease wasting everybody's time here."

"Why you- you-" I glanced at Mr. Stone who was making weird squeaky noises from his mouth and decided to spare him a heart attack just this time. "-ungrateful man! You better open this door right now, or else-"

"Or else what Mr. Linton?" The cool and collected voice of my employer infuriated me even more.

"Or else...or else I'll tell everyone about the you-know-what!"