The next day, Martha used makeup to cover the cut on her cheek, but she couldn't conceal the black eye so she had to deal with it. In the cafeteria, she sadly stared at her food, not even bothering to touch it. Franklin suddenly came in and slowly went over to her table.
"Is something wrong?" He asked. "You hardly touched anything on your plate."
"I don't wanna talk, Franklin." Martha muttered.
"Eating will help."
"Leave me alone."
"Not until I see you eat something."
Martha rolled her eyes, dipped her grilled cheese sandwich in her bowl of tomato soup, and reluctantly took a bite.
"Happy now?" She asked with her mouth full.
"Yes." Franklin said, a little grossed out at the sight before noticing the black eye. "Martha, dear, what happened to your eye?"
"I don't want to talk about it, Franklin." Martha argued, swallowing her bite of sandwich; she held back tears.
Franklin kept quiet; he knew better than to pry any further.
Back at the office, Martha sat at her desk in silence. But she wasn't working on anything; no, she was looking at something in her lap beneath her desk. Heather suddenly came back with a small stack of papers. She glanced in Martha's direction and sneered before going over and taking what was in Martha's hands.
"Hey! Give it back!" Martha cried.
"Not until you tell me what this is." Heather hissed, holding up the framed photo of Martha and the Grinch together. "What is this green thing? When was this taken? And why do you look so happy with it?"
"He is NOT a thing." Martha snapped, snatching the photo from her co-worker. "He is the Grinch... he's my friend."
"Your friend? That? You can't be serious." Heather scoffed.
"I am serious, Heather." Martha sat back down and sighed. "He and I met when I was a little girl. It was Christmastime and my parents and I were on vacation in Whoville."
It was then that Martha told Heather the entire story. She told her of how she first met the Grinch, how he saved her, and every encounter she had with him, including the time he helped her during the Christmas Pageant when that very picture was taken. Heather was taken aback; she honestly couldn't fathom how and why Martha could care for this thing.
"After that Christmas, my folks and I went back home and I never saw him again." Martha sighed, gazing at the picture sadly.
"...Have you ever tried going back?" Heather asked.
"I begged my parents to go back to Whoville when I was in middle school, but they always refused. They said that they can't afford a big vacation like that anymore, especially during the holiday season and I guess that is pretty understandable. But when I reached my senior year high school, I stopped asking."
"But... you're a grown woman now. You can make your own decisions."
"So?"
"So you can go back to Whoville whenever you want."
"Believe me, I tried... and August wouldn't have any of it."
Heather grimaced at the mention of August May-Who; she somehow knew he would have something to do with this.
"Girls?" Johanna's voice called.
Heather and Martha looked at each other before reluctantly heading into Johanna's office. She gave them a look they couldn't quite decipher.
YOU ARE READING
Working in Fashion
General Fiction[The Grinch 2018] Martha May went to school to become a teacher and she thought that would become just that. But instead, she ended up getting a job at Who Runway Fashion Magazine... and she hated it.
