"Great pitch deck Marthal"
Daniel poked his head into the office I shared with two interns, "Garret Wilson was under my thumb in all of two minutes after that presentation!" He beamed, giving me a thumbs up before vanishing like a smug magician. I froze in the middle of typing an email.
Surely he doesn't mean-
"Is he talking about the Wilson Motors deal?"
I asked Laura, an intern I shared the office with. She stared at me for two seconds, "did he just call you Martha? 1 thought your name was Ana?"
I offered her a half-smile, "it's close enough."
At this point I didn't care what Daniel called me. He'd baptized me with every female name under the sun, and "Zack'.
I don't know if he was joking or not with that one.
My eyes went back to the email I was crafting, but I couldn't even focus on the text, Daniel had done the presentation without me. This was my chance to be seen. I'd spent late nights polishing slides, running numbers and choosing fonts like my life depended on 'Britannic Bold'
Wilson Motors was huge. The kinda deal that could have created some recognition for me.
I took in a deep breath and stared at my screen. The day was almost over. Soon I'd be in my tub with an audiobook playing in the background as I wash away my disappointment. Or feeding my mean cat that tolerated me because I could open a can.
Yay. I shut down the computer and stood up. I needed to find a way to start being included in these meetings. I mean, I would need to grow a spine first.
I stepped onto the elevator, fantasizing about maybe starting my own PR Company. Fantasizing, manifesting. I'd hire more girls, and promote them based on their performance, even if they were mostly quiet.. and now I was projecting.
The vibration of my phone pulled me out of my head and I really should have checked the caller id before answering.
"Stella!"
Daniel's voice poured through the screen and I resisted the urge to chuck my phone into the elevator shaft.
"What's up?"
I asked, bracing myself for the nonsense that he was about to spew. He'd left the office an hour before so I had no idea what it could have been about.
"I need a huuuge favor girl! I know I can count on you, yeah?" he said with that upbeat voice that usually got the office to work overtime with the promise of pizza.
"Um-"
"Great! You always got me! You're my rock. My organizational queen! I need you to watch my girls tonight, my sitter just bailed and I promised the lady-wife that I'd take care of it," he said, his voice dipping conspirationally as if I was supposed to understand the woes of having an annoyed wife, "look, I'm gonna owe you big time! And I won't forget these moments when a position opens up..." he continued to ramble on as I stared at the screen.
Was this allowed? Probably not. Was he bribing me with a maybe promotion? Almost definitely. Was I going to say no? The doors opened, and I stepped out into the parking garage like I was walking into a trap.
"Text me the address."
I should really grow that spine.
***
"You're very looong!" a very cute midget squeaked whilst peeking from behind her father, who was giving me the dinner instructions.
She wasn't wrong, I was 5"9. Like Taylor Swift. Yes, mentioning a famous tall girl was supposed to help with my confidence.
Teenage me used to hunch slightly to stop being so... towering. Then someone told me that if I continued to stay like that I'd look like The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I just had to embrace my height after that.
I watched as Daniel and his wife drove off with my cozy bathtub plans.
"Hey! Mobius might pay you a visit today! I'll pay you back for the treats" I texted Ben, my neighbor who also happened to be in the IT department of our company.
His reply quickly came through, "He's already here. Prepare to cough up some good dough, he's had a five course meal."
I laughed at that. Mobius might have been my cat but I thought he liked Ben more, which was understandable because Ben was a sweetheart.
"NO! I'M THE WITCH!!!"
A little girl's voice nearly broke the sound barrier annnd that was my cue to get into the house.
"Alright!"
I said channeling my inner "favorite aunt' energy, "Here's what we're gonna do, we're gonna have dinner, and then Anakin here-" I point to myself "-is gonna flip a coin. Who calls heads?"
My gaze swept around the well-furnished house and I couldn't help but compare with my own. Daniel wasn't rich or anything but he certainly was comfortable. His family's photos decorated the walls and soft intentional lighting gave the house a warm glow. That, tied with the brown and cream color scheme and the soft textures gave the place such a homey feel.
I'd do something similar if I saved enough- after I paid my Uni debts off.
I turned my attention back to the girls who were hurriedly scarfing down their food.
The two girls, aged nine and six, watched carefully as I flipped the coin into the air.
The stakes were very high. As one of them would become the powerful witch, and the other would be the lowly villager who got turned into an ogre. I did ask why 'lowly villager' was the other option and received a hefty lecture about how fantasy storylines work. Okay.
The coin landed on tails, and the older girl, Kelly, shrieked in triumph, running off to get her hat and book of spells. Coco, the younger one deflated as she slowly accepted her fate, of turning into an ogre by the hands of a witch. I really underestimated the stamina that the girls had.
It had been two hours. Coco had gone on to play the roles of all the villagers-including the ogre, a chicken farmer, a candle-maker, and the brave knight on a quest-and I had been kidnapped by the evil witch. Somewhere along the way, I had apparently become her apprentice?
"Listen to me Anakin!"
Kelly the witch boomed at me in a voice that reminded me of the chipmunks. "You will unlock a great power! You must read the spell from the book of spells!"
"And if I don't?" I challenged, looking at the evil witch with all the bravery I could summon.
"I'll-" she thought for a second, "I'll stab you in the eye with my wand!" she finally threatened, pointing at me with it. I hung my head low as Coco the Hero urged me to wait from across the room, she was coming to save me.
"I'm so sorry brave knight," I whispered.
I took the book of spells and opened it, to the satisfaction of the evil witch.
"From dust before light, and silence before name, " I read, "I call to the King, from the heart of his flame. Greed-born, god-torn, rotting below," I blinked. Is this a children's book? I looked at the cover, faded leather and dust.
"Unseal the void, let His hunger grow. Bound by gods, yet chained to me," I read, hypnotized by the rhythm. "Break through the dark, and rise, set free. My soul the gate, my blood the cost, I summon the King, what once was lost. Come forth, O Hollow Crown, let realms bend,"
I stared into space as I finished the spell, "Through me, begin your end."
The loud bang of thunder startled all three of us and removed us from our fictional world. I hadn't even noticed the storm beforehand.
"Where'd you get this from Kelly?"
I asked, after the moment of silence.
She shrugged.
"I think we should read a non-scary story," Coco said quietly, and Kelly nodded in immediate agreement. We then relocated to the couch, snuggled and covered ourselves as I went through my mental library of stories to tell. And I told them the story of the Princess and Pea, because suddenly all the other fairytales seemed morbid, like why did Goldilocks walk into a bears' den? The children fell asleep, and I carried them to bed.
Later, I sat in the living room, scrolling mindlessly through my phone. I stared hard at my screen, because while the room was silent as it had been when the girls fell asleep, it felt like I wasn't alone.