A handsome man, comfortably in the first half of his forties, sits in a regal cherry red leather chair behind a vintage ebony wooden desk. The man wears a classy deep blue suit contrasted against the nighttime city lights out the window wall behind him. A thick frown on his Roman-sculpted face is highlighted by the lights from his back and the short fluorescent lamp on his desk.
At the end of Ty's shift at RiseX, he was asked to stay back and see this man. Where his supervisor Dominique's office merely resembled a cubicle with full walls, Victor Hartley's office resembled that belonging to a king- and a modern-day king he was. It was no exaggeration to say this Sales Executive was the beating heart of RiseX, a VIP customer-based product variety sales company.
Victor Hartley had only recently risen to the position, taking over from the woman that gave Ty this job in the first place, but his meticulous attention to the books and strategic mind lifted RiseX's funds to a whole new level. The company had recently reached multi-million dollar status due to his sharp leadership.
And it was with this sharp mind and heavy frown that Mr. Hartley addressed Ty.
"Your work has been coming up short. Lately, you're barely wracking any clients in at all."
The man sifts through white documents on his desk, likely past records of submitted reports related to Ty.
"You've been almost competent in the past, but this last month we've practically been paying you for doing nothing."
He takes the papers into his hands and taps them back on the desk, rearranging them into a neat pile.
"I don't spend money and resources on 'nothing'."
Ty stood in front of the man behind the desk, staring at him with wide eyes.
"Ty, I'm letting you go."
Ty couldn't speak. It was as if he not only lost his voice, but his thoughts as well. For a moment, all that could be heard in the dark classy office was the sound of a gold-plated clock ticking on the wall.
"...what?"
As if something snapped, the floodgates crashed down and all his thoughts came rushing back.
'What is this?! I've been doing better than I've ever been doing this month! I've been bringing in big clients, starting with Madame Buffant, but Dominique-'
'If you were to now sign and take on such a big client, it would be incredibly discouraging for the other employees, you see?'
'We work as a unit, and we grow as a unit. An office family.'
Her lovely smile, familiar demeanor, and the smell of vanilla.
Ty's mind immediately screeches and boils like a kettle.
'DOMINIQUE'S STOLEN CREDIT FOR ALL OF IT!'
His voice came out in a desperate plea.
"Sir! You have the wrong idea! Madame Buffant, Leroy Jenkins, Crystal Robinson- they were all my clients! I brought them in, but Dominique took the credit for all of them!"
"Dominique Perez?"
Mr. Hartley sets the reports back on the desk.
"Dominique has been an outstanding employee for the past nine years. Her reports and track record among the sales team have consistently been nothing short of respectable."
"Then she's been abusing her power and doing this to other Juniors too!"
The man's gaze hardens.
"I've never heard a single complaint about her before."
Ty wanted to cry in frustration.
'Why isn't he listening?! I can't lose my job, and not over this!'
He can't be let go. He absolutely can't be. If he is, then he can't afford Eve to stay at St. Bernadette. He can't afford Eve to stay alive.
'It's not my fault! It's not fair! Why isn't he at least hearing me out?! Why, why, why?!'
His shoulders shake in anger, and his nails dig viscously into his palms.
He wasn't standing in his boss' office anymore. He was crouched behind a door, witnessing Barry getting beaten to death with every crunch of his bones and spilling of his blood.
'Why?!'
He was on a roaring train with bloody hands and a dirty shrieking baby in his arms.
'WHY?!'
He was standing over a baby in a dumpster, staring back in horror at two dark figures oozing with sticky murderous intent at the end of an alleyway.
"WHY?!"
The office door behind him received a knock, but Ty couldn't hear it. The door opened, but Ty couldn't see it. All he heard was a deafening ringing in his ears, and all he saw was blood red and the quick strike of his white fist as it raised and fell in a flash of lightning.
"Sir, we're here for the repo-"
His fist slams down on the deep ebony desk, splintering down the center with a loud thunderous CRACK.
Mr. Hartley narrowly missed taking damage, his hands darting off the desk out of sheer reflex the moment before Ty's fist landed down. The man's commanding frown and neat look were suddenly frozen in a disheveled frenzy.
Standing in the office doorway behind them were three employees with hands covering their mouths and their eyes widened in horror.
"M-m-monster."
Ty whips his head around to find Dominique among the three. Her perfect olive-skinned face is contorted into a horrific grimace, her beautiful brown eyes are filled with fear and disgust. Having such a gut-wrenching horrible look directed at Ty almost makes him vomit on the spot.
"Monster."
Mr. Hartley clears his throat behind the dented desk, trying to recompose himself.
"Ladies, you're early. The reports are on my des-"
He eyes the documents that had slid and scattered onto the carpeted floor.
"...floor. I'll get them in a moment."
His eyes return to Ty in an icy glare.
"I know about your financial affairs and your sister, but there's nothing I can do, so this is no excuse to act in violence. The only mercy I can provide is to allow you to continue working until the end of the week and collect your final paycheck. The repairs for my desk will be deducted from that. On Friday, have all of your belongings removed and your ID badge returned to me."
His voice was cold and final.
"You are dismissed."
A shard of the wooden desk had splintered off the crack and got stuck in his hand when he removed it. It trembled as blood dotted his knuckle. His grey eyes were stuck on the desk practically split in half. Nausea grabbed his throat and he sharply turned away, to the door. The three employees, including Dominique, were frozen in the doorway but quickly moved over to the side to let him pass.
Their eyes pierced his flesh and all called him the same thing.
'Monster.'
That was only the first time he was called a monster that day.