Her Sanctuary

A ray of light

I sat in my cabin looking at the modified layout designs with adjustments made according to the materials provided in the upcoming tender. I rubbed my head, feeling a migraine build as my eyes drift to the photograph of my son kept beside the table.

I try to tell myself that I am doing this for him, but unlike always it just didn't work.

What am I doing? Giving unstable and illegal buildings to the next generation? I am designing buildings that will fall by an earthquake measuring even 5.5 on the seismic index.

My hands open another tab on my laptop as I draft my resignation and one month notice, still contradicted about ever sending it, when a voice interrupts me.

"Mrs. Shah, May I come in?" My boss says walking inside the open door of my glass cabin overlooking the cubicles of half the floor.

"Please, come in." I say in sarcasm when my boss had already taken a chair opposite me. He is one of the three senior partners in the construction firm and the one with the least moral values.

"And It's Miss Rattan." I correct him as he shrugs.

"What difference does that make?" he says as if my identity was nothing but a joke to him.

"So, I didn't receive the final draft of the Mittal's..."

"Because I'm not doing it." I say and take a deep breath looking at the picture of my son.

He can live with less luxuries, but not less moral values.

"Excuse me?" Mr. Rai speaks raising his eyebrow.

"The use of inferior raw material, just ridiculous cost cutting is life threatening in the long run. This is everything I stand against."

"That's not your job. You have to work on making it look pretty and easy to access. Materials and infrastructure is the job of engineers and..." he was saying as I raised my index finger. He shut his mouth and looked at me bewildered. I typed the salutation at the end and pressed the enter key on my laptop.

"Check your mail." I say as his brows furrow.

"I resign and I have to work for the next month, since you'll be paying me for it. So, this building will not be designed the way you want it. If you want to hire someone else, please go ahead." I add as he gets up turning red unlike the panda in the disney movie.. But just red, picking up the photo frame with my son's picture and throwing it away as the glass breaks and scatters.

I get up from my chair and walk towards him.

"How dare you?" I say as he gets up to look into my eye, falling short by an inch or two.

"HOW DARE YOU?" he says, his voice booming all over the floor.

"No wonder you got left. You bitch." He says approaching towards me with a look of threat as I take a step back.

"I will report this building to the Corporation of..." I was going to say as his hand raises to go around my throat.

"You will not complain. You'll be the quiet slut that takes orders from me." He says pushing down on my wind pipe as all the times in the past when it was my husband's hand around my throat comes rushing back to me.

Not this time. Never again.

I close my eyes, shifting a little and kick him, my knee connected with his balls as his grip on my neck leaves to cup his testicles.

"YOUUU..." he screams as I pick up my bag and car keys ready to leave as his hand grabs my ankle.

I rotate my feet letting my pencil heel put pressure on his palm as he screams like a baby. I kick him again in the stomach before stepping over him and running for the elevator.