Trust

It's too heavy

The doors are big, really big, they are like small buildings inside the big one. Maybe they are too heavy, maybe, if she is lucky enough, they will be too heavy for her, it would be impossible to open them, it would be imposible to face the people behind them.

They are waiting for her, she knows it, she feels their eyes on the door, waiting for her to have the balls to face them. Maybe the doors are too heavy.

Fred is not there, she knows it. He is paying the consequences for his acts, now she has to pay for hers. Alex closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, they may fire her, tell her everything they think about her, they may mess with her mind and make her thoughts burn inside her, but they won't see her crumble, they won't see her going down. Slowly, she puts her hand on the door handle, it burns, it hurts. She tries to open the door, but is too heavy, her thoughts are too heavy.

Taking another breath she opens the door just to see what she was already seeing. They all look at her, but there's something more in their eyes than just angriness or disapproval, it feels like they don't want her to be there, like they don't want her in this situation, it's something else... right... pity.

There's an empty seat, just for her, waiting to hold her while she pretends she doesn't need support, while she pretends to be strong.

She sits down, she looks at everyone, she breathes, and waits.

"Alex" the networks Vice President starts, probably the president now? Not like Alex cares anyways. "First of all we do appreciate what you did. You opened our eyes, UBA's eyes. You helped bring down a man whose only interest here was power and money, not caring about the well being of his employees. We are grateful for what you did, he will pay for his actions..."

"But I'll have to pay for mine" Alex cuts in, not liking the way the little speech. "I know why I'm here, I know what I did. I know what you're going to say... my behavior was inappropriate, I not only covered Mitch's actions, but I had an affair with him, and let's be honest you don't care, you all are just like Fred, like Mitch, and right now you are probably comparing me to them so yes, like me. You don't care about your employees, about the people who make you earn millions of dollars every day. You just care about yourselves, your image, how good or bad you look, and those pictures, my pictures kissing Mitch, they make you look bad. If you let me keep this job people will think you support the sexual miss conduct that happens here, and you don't want that, you don't need that. So let me safe you the trouble, the little speech you were giving.... I don't work here anymore? I get it. I completely understand." Alex gets up and starts making her way to the door when the Vice President stops her.

"Alex you don't understand, it's not like that..."

Smiling, Alex turns around to face them. "I've been working here for seventeen fucking years, so trust me I do understand." With that she's out the door.

They hallway seems never ending as Alex walks through it, the sound of her heels against the floor echoes louder than she wants it to. She reaches the stairs and as she goes down something, or rather someone, pops into her mind. Taking a deep breath she reaches for the elevator and presses the button that has the familiar floor number on it. This will probably be the last time she steps on that place, but for some reason she's not angry or sad, maybe she's just numb right now.

As the elevator door opens she closes her eyes, maybe this is just a bad dream, but when she opens them, she's in the same place, feeling the same, nothing.

Alex makes her best to keep her face straight as everyone stares at her while she walks through the halls.

They must be thinking the worst of her right now, but can she blame them?