Forked Roads Back

32 - ARCHIE

TWO WEEKS LATER, WHEN the twenty-first rolled around, Millie and I are standing underneath the building we dreaded most.

From far away, WEH headquarters looks like any other skyscraper. It's just a building. But standing at the front doors, with people flooding past us to get in and out, nothing has ever terrified me more.

It's imposing, hugely so, and the front, revolving doors are all curved steel, with a large panel of frosted glass bearing the company's name. My knees are shaking and my palms are sweaty, but I know I need to steel myself and get in there eventually.

Millie takes my hand and I turn my head. She looks cool and collected compared to me, so I try my best to pull myself together and follow her lead as she drags me inside.

Not knowing what to expect when we got here, we both dressed smartly - Millie wearing a business-like stylish, sleeveless pinafore and me wearing a suit I'd bought last week and a tie - and I'm glad we did. Everyone milliing around the huge, expansive lobby is dressed the same, suit and tie, office attire.

"Archie, come on," Millie whispers, pulling my hand. I realise I'd stopped, gawping at the marble floors and ceilings.

I start walking again and soon we reach the front desk, which is being manned by two women with headsets. The one who isn't already on the phone looks up and smiles at us.

"Hi, can I help you?" she asks, sounding vaguely patronising, probably thinking we were in the wrong place. Believe me, she has no idea how much I wished we were in the wrong place.

"Yes, hi, we're here to see Peter Wilson?" Millie asks and I nod.

She frowns and looks down at her computer. "Can I ask your names please?"

"Archie and Millie Wall," Millie answers and her head snaps up, her eyes widening as her counterpart does the same.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she says, clearly now flustered. "If you can just wait a moment, I will let Mr Wilson know you're here."

I nod and smile. I didn't like the way she was now treating us. I didn't like to be treated differently to everyone else, and right now I could feel myself being lifted up onto a pedestal, one where I didn't want to be, and I hated it.

We stand here for a few minutes as the woman speaks to someone before she ends her call and smiles. She stands and motions for us to follow her, so we do.

Following her down a corridor, I feel like everyone is staring at us. Comments and whispers follow us down what felt like the longest hallway in existence and I know Millie feels the same, because her hand is like a vicegrip on mine.

The woman hits the button to call the lift and when the doors open, she motions for us to step inside. She doesn't get in with us, but swipes her card and hits the button for the 70th floor.

"Lisa Jones will meet you at the top," she tells us and again smiles sweetly before stepping away as the doors close.

I let out a small amount of the breath I've been holding and Millie lets go of my hand.

"Okay, I hate this already," she says, fanning herself with her hand.

"Same." I adjust my collar slightly and grimace as a bead of cold sweat drops down my back. "I feel like these walls are closing in around us."

The lift was moving incredibly quickly, so fast I felt like we might take off out of the building. But soon we reach the 70th floor and as the woman had said, a tall red-headed woman is standing in front of the lift, who I instantly recognise as Lisa, Dad's PA.