The Poppy Field

Chapter 22

Her words rang through my head all that evening and the following morning when I walked into my office. My office phone barely stopped ringing for the next few days. Kara had been trying to contact me since the second I'd told her that I could no longer work on the case, and having realised that she couldn't contact my mobile, she'd found alternate means. Ringing and ringing until the noise drove me crazy I'd had to disconnect my phone.

My boss had assigned me plenty of work to keep busy throughout the week, although the majority of it concerned the case that I was no longer working on and so the work was completely pointless. It was almost as if he was reminding me that he had a case and we didn't.

The end of the week slowly came around. I hadn't seen my boss for a few days, he'd been away at a conference but I'd seen him push through the glass doors earlier that afternoon, signalling his return. I knew that it was only a matter of time before he came strolling into my office.

The clock reached six and I began to hurriedly pack up my things. Perhaps I could get out of here before he realised the time. I grabbed my bag, shoving my phone and keys inside and turning off my computer. The clock seeming to tick at double speed to match my racing heart beat as I hurried to get everything sorted as quickly as possible. But I wasn't fast enough.

He barged into my office a minute later, closing the door firmly behind him.

'Can I help you with anything?' I asked, regretting my choice of words from the second they left my lips. I squirmed as I felt his eyes begin to undress my body, wishing more than anything that I was wearing a thick jumper and winter coat. I wasn't. I didn't have the will or the strength to fight against him, part of me hoping that if I finally gave him what he wanted then perhaps he would leave me alone. I practically undressed myself, not giving him the satisfaction that he craved.

I stood in my office, half naked, as he placed his cold hands on my stomach, sliding one around my waist and pulling me tightly towards him. The other hand ran down my leg to the bottom of my skirt before he slowly brought it back up. I didn't shake. I didn't cry and that in itself felt like a slight victory, showing that he couldn't control all of me. Although my unresponsiveness seemed to be making things worse. He half expected a reaction from me, expecting me to weep and shake in his presence while begging him to stop. It was sickening that this gave him pleasure, but it did and my lack of response seemed to make it worse. He grabbed my wrist and pushed me against the desk, his body so close to mine that I couldn't quite tell where his body ended and mine started.

He lifted my skirt fully up, so that it was around my waist and ran his hand over my bum, squeezing it tightly. And something inside me snapped. Summoning strength that I didn't know I had, I slapped him right across the face. His hands left my body and rushed up to the side of his face, nursing his cheek that had already started to turn red. I pushed him away from me.

'What the fuck was that for?' He shouted at me, stumbling backwards.

'Take a guess,' I shouted back, anger welling up in every inch of my body. 'I've worked at this office for three years. That's almost three years of you harassing me and tormenting me and do you know what? I've had enough of it. No matter what you say, I'm good at my job and I am a good lawyer.' The words streamed out of my mouth. Words that I'd never believed, but now that I said them I was sure that there must be some truth in them. Perhaps there was only one way to find out. I couldn't stop thinking about what my Mum had said. Staying in this job was the only thing that was holding me back. I didn't have to put up with this job, that I truly hated, anymore. 'So you know what? I quit.' I told him. 'You can find somebody else to boss around.'

'Yeah right,' he said mocking me, knowing that I'd spent too long putting up with this to quit now. But he was wrong. I was doing it and no amount of tormenting would change my mind.

'Fuck you,' I shouted at him. 'I'm not going to stay here for another second and let you mess me about. You, more than anyone, should know that this,' I gestured to the situation around us, 'is illegal and you could be locked away for a very long time.

'No one would believe you,' he laughed at me, my anger growing at the cruel sound of his raspy laughing. 'You don't even have a case.'

'Maybe not. But maybe if there are more of me.' I replied.

'What on earth are you on about?' He questioned, clearly annoyed that I was wasting his precious time with nonsense that he didn't quite understand. For someone so intelligent he had moments of such ignorance.

'I mean, once I tell my story and Sally tells her story,' I saw his face drop slightly at the mention of her name, although he tried his best to cover it. 'And once Kara tells her story and they see the kind of person that you're defending them maybe they'll believe me.'

'I guess we'll have to wait and see,' he said, although he still looked confident, feeling as if he had nothing to worry about. 'We have a pretty strong defence.' He sat on my desk, folding his arms and raising his eyebrow at me. I pulled my skirt down and pulled my shirt back on, not waiting to button it up before I headed out of the door. Stopping at the exit, I turned back to face him, a wicked grin spreading across my face.

'You're forgetting one little thing. I have your entire defence.' And with that I headed out of the building, having never felt happier. I rang Kara the second I walked through my front door. 'You were right.' I said as soon as she answered the phone. 'I was being a coward and we can't give up now, not after everything that we've been through.'

'What's changed?' She asked, not quite believing what I was saying when only a few days before I'd been so against us continuing the case.

'I quit my job,' I said and I heard her cheer.

'About time,' she said and although I couldn't see her through the phone I could tell that she was smiling. 'So what's the plan?' She asked with a voice full of determination.

'I'll work on the case all week and then we'll take it to the court first thing on Monday morning and hopefully get a date for a trial. After that it will be down to us. We'll just have to tell our stories, show them the evidence and hope that the jury believes us.'

'That doesn't sound fun,' Kara admitted, voicing my inner fears.

'I know, but this is our only shot and as you said, we can't let them get away with this. Are you free to come over on Sunday to discuss the case?'

'Of course,' she replied. 'I'll see you then.' I hung up the phone, knowing that I had a lot of work that I needed to do over the next week. But something had changed. I had a newfound sense of motivation and a fighting spirit. I was going to do everything in my power to win and knew that nothing was going to stop me.