Two things: First, I wrote this for Wendig's Flash Fiction challenge, but I failed miserably at the word count, so I decided to wait and publish it in it's ~2200 word form. Second, The title and the opening are allusions to Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" because it's a revenge story. Beyond that there aren't many similarities, but you should definitely read the Poe story while you're at it because, to me it's a foundational revenge tale!
The thousand injuries of Melissa Long I had borne as best I could, but when she ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge...
No; I didn't bury her in my creepy-ass wine cellar, if that's what you're thinking, but I would be avenged. And like my allusory muse, Montressor, I too would be avenged at length, and with impunity.
When I started at her marketing firm it was great. I had been out of a job for a while and after she hired me, I felt like a worthwhile human being again. It was nice getting to know my new colleagues, though at times things felt a bit off. See, I'm gay, and though I'm not ashamed of it, it's hard enough getting a job as a college drop-out who's been fired from nearly every job she's had. I didn't need to be a queer college drop-out who's been fired from nearly... you get the idea. The point is, I wasn't in the closet, but nobody asked, so I never told. Besides, my sex life is my business, not anyone else's - especially coworkers.
And at first it was fine. The other women would talk about normal gossip - TV shows, news, and guys. I would just smile and nod. Then I noticed some offhanded comments at staff meetings about religious and political topics. It quickly became clear that my views would be contrary to those being espoused by my colleagues, so I kept quiet about it all for months.
Then one morning at a staff meeting Melissa announced that we would be attending a team-building seminar that afternoon and all of the next day. Everyone seemed to be really excited about it. I pretended to be.
At noon, we migrated to a pizza joint across the street. There were only about fifteen employees in all, and as we entered the conference room, we were greeted by a woman and a man who looked to be in their fifties. Janice and Gary, they were called, and they had church-folk written all over them, which figured, as Melissa was deeply religious. They were sharply dressed and had the room arranged for a typical corporate team-building summit. The first day of the presentation was all introduction. Boring as hell, but at least we got free pizza and a break from clients.
The next day, the actual "team-building" work started. By lunch I was already exhausted. Once more the pizzas were brought in and the conversation turned a little lighter, though I was still not really included. As we ate, Gary chatted up Melissa and some of the other employees, while Janice reviewed the personality profiles we'd completed.
After an hour or so of pizza and politeness, the session started up again. Janice and Doug passed out everyone's results and started their bullshit interpretations. I noticed that Melissa kept doing the thing where she would pretend she wasn't glaring at me by looking away every time I glanced at her.
Then Janice finished her explanation of energy styles - you know, the capital E verses the lower-case i. She moved on to the cognitive style - this time, the capital S to the lower-case i. She started her spiel by using masculine/feminine comparisons. The starkly scientific "Sensing" thinkers being compared to men, and the irrational "Intuitive" thinkers being compared to women. She called on people to share personal anecdotes about their personal relationships with the opposite sex in order to... I don't know... to reinforce her idiotic, backward ideas, I guess.
In any case, I was the first one she called on, and everyone's eyes went straight for me. I blushed and looked away. My hand went instinctively to my sternum because my chest was breaking out in hives.
I caught my breath and swallowed a mouthful of the ice water that was in front of me. "Umm," I stalled.
"Ivette?" Melissa asked, tilting her head in a confused look that had a molten ocean of condescension boiling just beneath the surface.
"Well, my, uhh..." I fumbled, "They don't like that I need to have the TV on when we go to sleep. Keeps talking about the science of the light and all of this other stuff; I just want to know I'm not alone." I forced a giggle, thinking I had covered adequately.
But Melissa decided to be a venomous bitch.
"Hmm." She said. "They don't like that you have the TV on? Are you saying you have more than one boyfriend?" For a moment, I thought she was genuinely confused. The boiling condescension beneath her bright and ignorant smile seemed to still for the briefest of instants - the way I imagine all of the birds and other forest creatures would be silent right before an eruption - then she said, "Wait..." her nose crinkled in disgust, "Ivette," she chuffed out, "are you gay?"
I dropped my glass and water spilled all over my pizza and papers. I was speechless, but I stood up instantly.
Mellisa chortled again. "I mean," she said, "I guess it's not like it's a big deal or anything." The last thing I saw was a slight eye roll when she finished the final syllable. I didn't say a word. I just left and went back across the street to the office. I grabbed the few personal things off of my desk, threw down my badge and my key to the building and sped out into traffic and away from there.
