Fall had officially started, making it three months since I had first arrived here in the city of Purgatory. Even now, on reflection, it feels like an eternity. The leaves were starting to change color, to reds and golds, but weren’t quite there yet as they prepared for the coming winter. Coincidentally, it was October, the month of spooky things, but apparently, it wasn’t a big holiday or event here, since nobody talked about trick or treat, or anything of the sort.

  Then again, maybe it was different in the residential and suburban districts?

  An Autumn chill hung in the air. My suit and gloves kept it at bay, but soon enough I would need to buy a proper winter coat. The chill reminded me once again that I needed to buy a heater for my apartment, sooner than later. My body could handle the cold, to a point, but I would much rather be somewhere toasty and warm if I had the choice.

  After last night, I had taken a nice hot bath. Something I had sorely missed. The hot water had melted away the built-up stress and fatigue. Sleeping in my bed again after so long felt strange, making me wonder, should I buy a new place?

  I had the money, and I did not like having to share a bathroom with my fellow renters. Most of them were absolute pigs and sometimes it felt like I was walking into a hazardous waste disposal site.

  Still, waking up, I felt like a whole new person. With a pep in my step, dare I say, I was even looking forward to work. Even if it was the proverbial Monday, the start of a work week, filled with uncertainties. Start of another month. A month that I swore would be anything but hell on earth.

  Stepping into work, completely shattered that notion. Whispers… Glances… Shuffling feet, and eyes that turn away when I looked at them.

  For a moment, my breathing hitched. The air felt stale, cloying even, much like it had back when I was in college. Only, this time I was the focus. The omnipresent pressure of so many people looking at me, was almost too much to bear.

  Yet, it wasn’t too much. Straightening my back, calling up a hint of ice. I squared my shoulders and walked forward. The crowd before me parted, like they were the red sea and I Moses. None barred my path to the elevator, but it did not stop the idle chatter.

  “Is that her?”

  “Did you hear? She’s apparently sleeping with her manager.”

  “She looks the type.”

  Chatter chatter, mutter mutter… Like flies, crickets, bugs, they buzzed. I ignored it all. The elevator arrived and I entered, not a soul joining me. Normally, I took the stairs, but perhaps there were benefits to being the focus of a rumor…

  No… if I let this fester, it could end my career here. Even if Leo wouldn’t mind, it will make the company look bad, and eventually I will be dealt with if the rumor were to reach the right ears.

  Without a plan, I stepped out of the elevator onto our floor, and what I saw, was not good. People were standing about. Heads low, faces shadowed. A few glanced my way, but a flash of something crossed their face before they sighed and shook their head. They didn’t gossip or chatter, merely avoided me like a plague.

  The sight made me pause. I glanced about, seeking anyone anything, but even Samantha avoided my gaze.

  Had something happened? My mind churned. Yet, no answer was forthcoming.

  “Prima, we need to talk.” I glance over, it was Terada. He had just stepped out of the office, he looked… resigned? He doesn’t wait for my response before entering Leo’s office, I power walk towards the door, barely catching it before it could shut.

  Inside, Leo was standing to the side, Terada was by the desk.

  “Glad you could make it my lady.” Leo said with a wide smirk. “Your throne awaits.” He gestured to his chair. His tone, was not a kind one.

  I said nothing, just taking the seat and lying back. I crossed my leg over the other, my hands in my lap and turned to face the pair. Both moving to be in eyesight.

  “Now, what the hell is going on?”

  As an answer, Terada hands me a stack of papers. I took them, without a word and looked them over. It was grim.

  “As you can see, we dropped a rank.” Terada spoke up, once he saw I was done.

  Leo stifled a gloating laugh. I leaned further back and pinched my brow.

  …this was too soon. It didn’t make sense. The numbers didn’t make sense. Somehow, in the last few days, the third division saw a massive spike, overshooting us and the fourth division even saw a notable improvement. I didn’t need to be an expert to see what was happening.

  I inhaled, exhaled. Only once I felt calm, did I speak up. My fingers drummed on the nearby desk, my other hand moved to support my chin.

  He said it so calmly, but that was hardly the issue. The issue was, the previous fourth ranked, was now riding our ass. Officially, the shift in our ranking wouldn’t take effect, not yet at least. We wouldn’t see a demotion, or any serious changes, not until the end of the year comes round, but…

  We had planned to lose a single rank, that wasn’t the issue. The issue was, how much more the other two division had advanced during this period of time. At this rate, we’d become the new fourth ranked…Which wasn’t good, not at all. The pay rates and benefits between the second division and third division were marginal, at best. But the difference between the second division and the fourth division?

  The pay difference was… like heaven and earth. Our pay would be cut in half, at best. With out benefits severely impacted. Worse… since we were originally a higher ranked division, dropping so low meant we were on the chopping block if we failed to meet the minimum quota. Worse, as the overall productivity of the company increased, so had our minimum quota for the quarter… Really, why did I think a Monday would be anything but garbage?

  “Terada…” I started… Only to pause and inhale, then exhale out of my nose. “What is the schedule looking like?”

  He took a moment, picking up a stack of papers at the side. He handed them over. As I read through them, he spoke.

  “Our drop in ranking directly impacted our contracts. Most of them were picked up by the third division. A few stuck with us, despite the shift, a few more are stuck with us due to us currently working on their projects.”

  “How much work do we have?” I asked, mentally noting down what we had and didn’t. Putting that against our division quota.

  “Barely enough for two weeks.”

  I wanted to swear, to throw a tantrum, why was this even happening? It was only reasonable, it made no sense… Terada was quiet, no doubt sensing my bubbling rage. Leo though, was watching me with a wide grin, and keen eyes like a vulture eyeing a dying animal.

  Leo lost nothing if the division failed, if anything, if it failed, he would benefit solely because of the trap he had set. However, I didn’t think he was the one actively sabotaging me. Though it was clear he was having fun at my expense, though…

  I could imagine why he felt that way, I’d taken his position and now I was getting my just desserts, it only made sense… Only, I’d thought he’d hated the other guys more.

  If I had to name a single reason why, it was all the stuck-up bastards that insulted him over the speaker. They all had something vile to say about Leo, and it didn’t escape my notice that Leo had done a lot to form connections and relationships with them. To have them bad mouthing him like that… Well, I don’t think his pride could leave them untouched.

  The timing though… it was bad without a doubt. The rumors, the loss in rank. The sudden meteoric rise of the third division… Clearly, I’d missed something.

  Not just that, but worse still was the fourth division’s rise. Like a dark horse at a racing event working towards the lead. They may have still been in the fourth rank, but they were approaching the third division’s former score. That was a colossal improvement. They had to have another person like me. That, or the whole ploy involved the fourth division as an extra sack. Only, how did they wrangle the fourth division in? Or perhaps it was all just luck and I was being paranoid as hell…

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Even I didn’t have the confidence of bringing in line one of the largest divisions in the company. Hell, I was struggling with one of the smallest divisions, which was more like a starving lion. It was starving, dying, but still a lion.

  If Leo hadn’t been himself… Mm, taking over would be much harder. It was his own stupidity that had me making the dumbest option available and yet. Here I am. Though, maybe I was the idiot here, taking in a dying lion instead of putting it down…

  Really, it feels like I just downed a poisoned four course meal and was just now suffering the consequences.

  We had two weeks of work… “That is if we’re under the current schedule?” I asked.

  “It is. If we go back to what we had before, less than a week.”

  What went unsaid, was that nobody here would work those hours. Not anymore, not at the pay they were getting. Most of them were here due to pride, and now… now they had nothing to be prideful of.

  The jobs that had stuck around weren’t near enough to meet quota. We would have to… No, I would have to crawl before all those different companies I had gleefully snubbed last month and beg for forgiveness. I would have to accept any job they give me, no matter how scandalously low the offers were.

  It didn’t help that we, I, I couldn’t lie, this was all on me, I had burned so many bridges moving as fast as I did, all to push ahead. I should have gone slower, but… Could I really? Going slower means less opportunities for strength. I had hoped that I could get to the point where work handles itself, giving me more time to cultivate my own power.

  Was I too greedy? Had I flown too close to the sun? Did I even have the luxury of going slower?

  I inhaled… Exhaled.

  No. Even if I went slower, our division wouldn’t have lasted long as it was. The cracks were showing. Even with Liche and Joan joining, they were just a stop gap.

  “We need more work, either through quantity or quality.” I stated as calmly as I could. My voice cold and dry like the tundra.

  “Nobody will hire us, ya know?” Leo added, unhelpfully. He was like a kid, poking an angry bear with a stick. Luckily, I wasn’t a bear. I was a glacier.

  “Indeed, my actions in the last month have about burned all the bridges we have.” I accepted responsibility easily enough. “I plan to spend today calling who I can. Tomorrow, I’ll probably head out early to make personal visits to the companies.”

  “Personal visits?” Leo asked, a frown on his face. “What would that achieve? I doubt anybody would even answer your calls, well, other than to gloat.” He continued.

  Terada though, his eyes widened at my words. Even more so as I answered Leo’s question, confirming what he suspected.

  “You would be right. I plan to, starting tomorrow, to visit each company in turn and apologize. I will make this right, I will make sure not a single one of us loses our jobs.”

  Terada was stunned, allowing Leo to speak up again. “Not like they will though. You’ll need to re-institute those cutthroat hours. They managed before, but with the rumors and the looming pay cut.” He shrugs. “Nobody would be crazy enough to do that.”

  “I can vouch for you.” Terada said, taking a step forward.

  “Seriously?” Leo asked back in shock. “You would vouch for her? I thought you were pissed she superseded you and took over my job.”

  “I am. I still am.” Terada answered slowly, his eyes never leaving mine. “I think what you did was wrong. What you did completely destroyed the bonds we as employees have. What bond we had. Instead of coming to me with your problems, you immediately stepped above me and confronted Leo about this. Instead of talking with me and working something out.”

  “Would you have though?” I snapped back, the intensity behind my words had him falter, his feet shuffled a half-step backwards. Sensing weakness, I pounced. Powered by my own stewing frustration with the man, combined with my current stress.

  “Don’t get me wrong Terada, you’re a great man, a great boss, but you’re also a great slave driver. You push us to our very limit, even as we’re abused and broken-down day after day. You’re no better than a slave master, one that thinks they’re doing the best not for their workers but for their own needs. We get shit pay, shit benefits, you even pay for our food out of your pocket. All so we can keep working for this brat.” I pointed to Leo. Smartly, he chose not to respond.

  I didn’t get up as I levelled a stare. Even as every drop of my being wanted nothing more than to shove him into the wall and give him not just a piece of my mind, but a whole fistful of it.

  “I superseded you, because I knew you wouldn’t do anything to disrupt the current climate. You’re perfectly happy working yourself to the death, but what of everyone else? Do you think they’d be happy working themselves to death? Don’t they have families too? Wives, husbands, sons, daughters. What about them!?”

  I slammed a fist on the desk. It rattled due to the impact.

  Terada was silent. He said nothing. He merely stared at me. His fists clenched at his side. His breathing heavy. Eyes bloodshot. He looked like he was do something, but… one look at Leo and just like that, he deflated.

  In a single instant, it appeared like Terada had aged decades. The luster in his eyes dimmed, ever so much.

  Seeing that, I sorely wanted to click my tongue. To swear at him, to cry out, ‘Are you even a man!?’ But the damage was done. I hadn’t quite broken the man, but he was damn near it. A slight push would send him careening over the edge. Even Leo could see it. His lips pursed. What entertainment he was getting out of this, was gone.

  In the end, the silence was broken by me. After all, we had to move forward. Someone had to break the ice. “Even if you vouch for me, we won’t get anything done. Everyone here is near the breaking point, they’ve only held on due to accumulated stress. The new workload has loosened them up and immediately rushing back into it will break them. Not to mention the rumors spreading about me, then the loss of our ranking… Hell, they probably think I’m some bad luck charm or a modern Jezebel.”

  I took a moment to let that settle in. Terada knew I was right, Leo did as well.

  “Which is why… Mm… Leo, I need you to call in Liche and Joan. Once you do that, I need you both to wait outside while I discuss something with them.” Leo gave me an odd look but didn’t question it. Terada though, didn’t move. He didn’t say anything. Not until Leo came back with the pair. Leo almost had to lead the older man out.

  Liche looked unbothered, whereas Joan looked ready to cry.

  “S’up boss. You need something?” Liche asked, her eyes were on me, but they looked bored.

  “I do in fact need something; I need funds.”

  “Funds?” Liche replies.

  “Indeed, as you’ve probably heard, we’re in a spot of trouble. If this continues, we might end up collapsing. So, I need money.”

  “For what, exactly?”

  “We’ll have to go back to hell hours.” I stated calmly. “I plan to get hours wherever and however I can, but I need to motivate the division. And the best way of doing that, is with cash.”

  “So, you plan to pay out bonuses?” She asked.

  “Not just bonuses, I plan to pay out what they are owed, with the hopes of getting it back in the future, when our funding is back on track.”

  Liche nodded, but Joan looked confused.

  “That could work.” She said, with a nod. “Only… why should we trust you?” She asked.

  I had to pause at that statement. My fingers drummed against the desk. That, was a valid question. “What do you want?” I instead asked, cutting to the point.

  “What can you even give us?” Liche said.

  Liche, knew what she was doing. Clearly, she also knew how this worked. I wasn’t going to pretend that I didn’t understand her side of things how it might look. After all, I was essentially demanding the cash they had just earned yesterday.

  The problem was, what exactly could I offer in the moment?

  “You can be my second?” I offered, though…

  “Is that an actual offer or a question?” She replied back.

  “An offer… I don’t plan to just stop here. I plan to work my way up the corporate ladder, and I can keep you at my side as my second. The higher I get, the higher you get.”

  She hummed, though… “Is that really all?” She said, a predatory smile on her face. “I mean, that’s not exactly something tangible, all I have is your word. And you haven’t exactly been trustworthy in this last month or so…”

  She trailed off and yet…

  “And I don’t exactly have much to offer in the now. Do you want lessons? Because I’m not that ahead of you, do you want money? Because why would I ask for money if I had money? Or do you just want to see me beg?”

  “I suppose you’re not wrong…” She hummed. Though, her posture made me think of a cat playing with a mouse, and clearly, I was the mouse. “Though, I do agree, some sincerity would be nice…” She trails off again, and suddenly I had a bad feeling.

  “You… want me to beg?” I asked, putting the pieces together.

  She said nothing and yet… her smile widened.

  “Liche, I think…” Joan spoke up, only to be hushed.

  “Hush Joan, we’re negotiating here. Prima knows what’s up, don’t you?”

  I did… fully. She was testing me. Joan seemed uncomfortable with this whole conversation, but she clung to Liche. I wasn’t going to find any help there. Meaning, I had to do something…

  I stood. Liche tensed, but the smile didn’t leave her lips. When I stepped out from behind the desk, I could see her body shake.

  Was she expecting me to get violent? It was rather amusing. A huff left my lips, an aborted laugh, and even that had Liche take a step back. Her smile was gone, replaced with a grimace.

  She really was expecting me to get violent, wasn’t she? Who did she think I was? The only one that didn’t seem to think that was Joan, but… she was giving me an odd look. Did she notice?

  Well, regardless… I began to take my tie off. I followed up by taking off my jacket, unbuttoning my blouse.

  “What ARE you doing?” Liche demanded as I started messing with my suspenders and pants.

  “Stripping, obviously.” I said.

  “And why are you doing that?”

  “You wanted sincerity? Yes?” I asked, almost like I was talking to a child, she nodded.

  “Well, if it isn’t already obvious, I’m going to strip, get down on my hands and knees, then beg you for your aid. And if that’s not enough, feel free to take pictures, surely that would be enough for blackmail, if needed.”

  Liche’s jaw worked. Like she wasn’t quite sure what to say to that.

  “Seriously?” She asked.

  “Yes, now, should I continue?” In response, she nodded, though, stiffly.

  So, I continued to strip. Down to my underwear, and as I reached for my shorts, she shouted, “Stop!” I froze.

  “What?” I asked, looking at her oddly. “Isn’t this what you wanted?”

  “No, yes?” She said, asked?

  “Is there a problem? Am I not supposed to be doing this? Were you expecting something else?” I continued to press. “Because, I’d like to get this done with, and the longer I stand here in my underwear, the more likely something is going to happen.”

  “That’s not…” She groans and stamps her foot. “You’re not supposed to do this!”

  “And exactly, what was I supposed to do?”

  “Ask nicely?”

  “Would that have been enough?”

  “Well, no, but, aaugh!” She shouts and clutches her head. Almost like she was physically pained by this.

  “Fine, whatever, take our money or whatever, I don’t care anymore. So, stop stripping, okay?”

  “But how am I supposed to show my sincerity if I don’t follow through?”

  “Just dress dammit!” She shouted. I simply shrugged and started dressing again. Once dressed, I sat back down at the desk, both Liche and Joan were sitting at a pair of chairs inside the office.

  Liche seemed upset, and Joan, she was just looking between us, as if she was unsure how to even process what was going.

  Either way, it seems I procured my funds.