Into the Light

Chapter 18: but and it went

Chapter: 18

"If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin."

Charles Darwin

Juli is early as normal and waits at Blake's cubicle with crossed arms on a thin blouse but he is late, so she heads to her desk, a monument to order. Blake is checked by drowsy guards at the security desk and the elevator is not cramped. He reaches his cubicle and puts don his briefcase and backpack snug below his chair. Blake puts his hands in his jacket pocket and walks over to Juli's desk. She tilts her head up and says, "What's wrong?" before he can answer her phone rings, a Mozart ring tone, and she answers. Her face crashes.

"Be right there," she says and hits the touch screen.

She begins to tremble as she stands.

"My brother is at MemorialHospital. Michael just called from there. I have to go. Tell Mr. Garew I have an emergency for me," she says, grabs her bag and runs though office like a linebacker through children. Blake surmises the masked ones must be responsible. They probably went after Stiggy and got Archie. Blake takes a deep breath.

"You can do this," he says to himself and turns to the dark office.

He knocks at the frosted glass door. A man's face immerges as the door creaks open.

"Moxley, good I want to talk to you," Mr. Garew says.

"Juli had an emergency with her brother and left. I'll cover. I don't know if she will be back. She will probably call though."

"I'm sure she will. Thank you. And Blake, plan on have a talk with me tomorrow morning."

"Okay," Blake says and his fist clenches.

Blake looks hard at the face of a man. There are no sounds coming from the office. Then Blake blinks and Mr Garew's face rolls out beads of sweat at run down his cheeks. They leave purple amethyst crystals dust behind. His skin becomes translucent and his narrow eyes grow to the size of golf balls. They flash green.

"That is all. You can go now," Mr. Garew says.

Blake nods his head. He is sure now. He steps back and dodges a FedEx guy with a stack of brown parcels.

At his desk, Blake imagines Mr. Garew sitting and channeling the dark forces but has no idea that a temp was hiding under Mr. Garew's desk waiting to resume her favor that Mr. Garew said would get her hired full time. The day is routine with the fifteen-minute breaks and a half-hour lunch. Blake just has a bagel and coffee. Juli doesn't call.

The day ends and Blake goes across the street for a drink. He waits for the executives to leave Milton Communications. He checks his emails on his new phone and one from the bookie. It reads RIP. Blake snickers. Sure that the bosses have gone, Blake goes back to the office. The cleaning crews have begun their nightly labors so he grabs his briefcase and backpack from his cubicle and goes to the hallway bathroom. Each stall is checked for occupants. They are all empty so Blake slips in the last stall smelling of bleach and pine.

He opens the briefcase and in the compartment are re-sealable sandwich bags with hair from the lint traps in a nearby laundry mat along with ankle weights. In the backpack, a pair of brown loafers, three sizes too big he got as a Christmas gift, are caught on the interior pocket but with a sharp tug come out. Under the shoes are khakis, something Blake never wears to the office, and he slips them on over his suit pants. Then a shirt he picked up at Goodwill with padded shoulders is slung on. The final pieces of the disguise are freed from the bottom of the backpack. A black wig and a porkpie hat are placed on his head.