THE PETALS OF HATE

CHAPTER 1

Today she was going to leave the office when the other employees had already been gone. It was possible to go home earlier on Fridays, however, this rule worked for everyone else except her. Being a personal assistant to the CEO, she has always definitely felt something like barely hidden animosity from the colleagues. Not a single week would go by without them trying to compromise her before the boss.

They used all accessible tools, including insinuations and direct accusations in various errors, lack of understanding of the business process in general and even in efficiency decrease of the marketing department. She got used to their envy and grudge, thus, she got immune to bulling long ago, that's why aggression in her social environment didn't seem to be so critical. The most important thing was to get salary regularly and in time. As for the rest of the other problems, her hard-tempered patience might help her overcome them regardless of how much pain she would have to bear.

Having turned off the laptop and put a pile of the signed documents on the desk, she opened a big safe standing on the floor next to her working place. There were two shelves in it, which were full of computer accessories, several folders with contracts and the staff members' personnel files. The last task for today was just to place the laptop and the papers in there till Monday, and then head off to home with clear conscience. She was anticipating to order pizza, spicy chicken wings and cola in less than an hour.

A tempting scent of imaginary hot dough reminded her to hurry up. She vigorously shook her head, driving away these primitive thoughts and forbidding herself to daydream any longer, at least, unless the job would be completed. She glanced at the upper shelf ofthe opened safe. Suddenly she noticed with amazement that all items vanished. She blinked absent-mindedly, reached her hand to the shelf, touched the smooth metallic surface, as if she was trying to find something. No result. Absolute emptiness.

She nervously chuckled. The situation was more than weird. Never in her life she got to catch herself on having visual hallucinations. It was obvious that no outsiders appeared in the cabinet in the last few minutes. And how the hell could they take, let's say, a folder with top secret contracts right under her nose? What the evil magic was that? Struggling with these chaotic ideas, she turned to the door behind her. A foggy silhouette could be seenin the door aperture. Its contour was blurry, probably, the whole outer world usually looks this way to a short-sighted person who forgot to put on the glasses.

A sticky wave of dread flashed through her spine. Nonetheless, before she decided what to do, the silhouette stopped twinkling and shivering. A moment later it morphed into a man. Having seen such man on the street or saying "hello" to him somewhere in a business center, you'll supplant him from memory and replace with something more important almost immediately after your meeting, so there won't be even the shadow of his individuality in your capricious brain, that's how run-of-the-mill his image seemed. Perhaps, the one detail, which would be actually memorized, would be the perception of him as a nameless linear manager.

Meanwhile, the man made a step forward and said apologetically, "Lisa, beg my pardon! I see I have frightened you. You apparently have god-knows-what on your mind about me, all your emotions are written on your face!"

The woman, whom the stranger has just called by hername, asked suspiciously, "Who are you and why are you suddenly being here? Where are the items from the safe? Are you from our company at all?"

The "linear manager" grinned, having his arms out, "You're so stressed, my dear. Firstly, I'm offended you don't remember me. I'm Dmitry Egorov from the logistics department. We had collaborated earlier. Secondly, who told you something was missing in your precious safe? Look and make sure that everything is still inside!"