Unstoppable Force

He felt the sweet burn run down the back of his throat as he knocked back the last mouthful of the bitter coffee, slamming down the darkly stained mug onto his desk. He heard Trish jump behind him at the loud crash, knocking over the small stack of pens she kept beside her keyboard. James didn't care, he was on fire. An unstoppable force!

Bam! Another email out to a client. Bam! Yet another satisfied customer. He was a limitless, off the rails, selling machine! He could barely even see his fingers as they sped across the keyboard, a blur of motion over the buttons, each strike throwing a whir of letters onto the screen.

Ha! He'd probably burn out the computer he was going so fast! If this didn't put him on track for a promotion, he didn't know what would. If anything, he could tell that snot-nosed brat of a manager where he could shove it, because with this speed anybody would take him! The endless possibilities!

Snapping out a hand, he snatched up the next mug in his long line, slurping up its dark, bitter contents, feeling the buzz as the tingling sensation trailed across his body. Ooh boy, that was the stuff! Now the words were coming lightning fast, so quick that-

They weren't coming. The words had... stopped? No, no that wasn't right. He was an emailing machine! With wide eyes, he flicked his gaze to the scattered piles of mugs and coffee cups that littered his desk. He'd only been on his twenty-third coffee, he should be fine, right? Or perhaps that last triple shot affogato he had gotten for lunch had tipped him over the line.

"James? Are- are you alright there? You're a tad jittery, dear," Trish spoke with a concerned tone behind him.

James couldn't give a reply. His mind felt as though it was swarmed with a thousand thoughts at once, but none of them he could firmly grasp. Looking down, he could see his hands frozen atop the keyboard, quivering like they had been part of a program that had fatally crashed.

Oh no, this wasn't good. This was the opposite of good! He could feel his heart hammering in his chest, threatening to explode out in a shower of caffeine. The vibrating along his limbs grew more agitated, his chair beginning to shake violently. This was not good!

Suddenly, he felt a cool hand reach down the back of his shirt, snapping a lever up and killing his vision, a blue screen faintly appearing before his eyes. As short, white text began to scroll past, he made out the last few words spoken behind him with a clucking tongue.

"Upgrades my ass, who thought to power these office bots with coffee anyway?"