Souls Within Roses

[ Chapter One, Life Starts with Work ]

          As the sunlight flooded its way past my red curtains and made itself at home on my couch, somehow, I placed my laptop and freelance files on the desk. Finally letting them and my will to work go. I began to browse through my black file cabinet holding shades of red files, folders, and dividers. Before I could get any further though, a dark brunette woman with a skin complexion of concrete, descent of gargoylian, popped her head into my office with a smile. "The President's visitor just entered the grand lobby!" She announces this with informing intent. "Oh...OH! Thanks, Claire!" I said with a pause then abruptly comprehending what she just said. I closed the filing cabinet with a heavy thud. I then began starting my quick pace walk past Claire. While putting my Work ID lanyard around my neck, I quickly make my way down the stairwell to the lobby. If I mess this up in the slightest, it'll be my head. Sometimes, I find myself wishing I was saying that figuratively but not with this job, not this city. Once I got down to the red, black, and gold accented grand lobby, I quickly spotted the President's visitor through the various amount of people in the lobby. It was practically the times square of New York. I slowly approach him while observing his dark blue suit, and his curled beige buckhorns emerging from his platinum hair. He had those classic black and silver Rayban glasses I've always wanted. Once in front of him, a significant height difference presented itself. It becomes quite troublesome to summon up a smile when someone has such a sinister expression on their face. The significant height difference wasn't a supporting factor either.

          "Hello Mr. Salvent, Welcome to Salem Co. Would you like a tour or straight to the President's office?" I say with a smile corporate would love. "The President's office will be fine, thank you." He says with an intelligent but fiendish tone. I gave him a quick nod then we headed to the top of the red-carpeted grand stairway. Once I approached the elevator, I pressed a black button with the number 11 in white on it and inserted my key card. After a few seconds, the doors to the elevator opened, and Mr. Salvent and I entered. The doors then closed and the elevator headed up. For a while, it was an awkward silence but once we got to the 11th floor without any stops, the quiet and chilling atmosphere in the elevator was gone. The doors had revealed a working and productive office space. I love my co-workers but it's never naturally been like this. I led Mr. Salvent to the President's office doors and gave the custom knock to let the President know it was me. After waiting a moment, I took Mr. Salvent into the office. "Mr. Salvent is here, sir," I say announcing. There was a good minute or two of silence then a voice emerged from the silence. The President stood up to reveal his white dreadlocks in a bun but messy, somehow contemporary. It clashed, aesthetically, with his medium-tone skin, currently, I compare it to a tone of burnt almond, black horns, and a dark black suit. Dark as you can get it apparently. "Alright, thank you." The President spoke with his everyday perpetually ominous and sinister voice. I left the room and returned to my office. As I returned, so did my breathing and additional signs of life. It felt like a necessary act to do. I grabbed my sketch pad and pulled up promotion images for work on my laptop. After sketching for an unknown amount of time, I finally detach myself from my sketching pad. I looked at the time and saw that I'd stayed an hour over what I'm supposed to. I quickly pack up my bag. After looking over the room, I headed to the maintenance desk and turn in my work ID to get my original ID back.

          I took the elevator down this time with my satchel at my side. Once the elevator doors opened, I saw how dark it was outside through the entrance windows. I practically groaned heading to the revolving doors of the building. Outside, I fixed my coat immediately. Cold would be such an understatement of how the night feels. I began my walk in the east direction of the city. I began to grasp a decent pace until I was stopped by someone's voice. "Mr. O'Paris." The familiar but once again sinister voice announced itself. It caused me to stop in my tracks and fix my posture. I slowly turned around to where I was called. Before me, some distance away was the President with his outdoor coat on and hands in the jacket's pockets. "Mr. O'Paris, do you plan to walk home at this hour?" He spoke with a self-reliant tone. I look around the area trying to see if anything were out of the ordinary. What does it honestly look like I'm doing? "I-I usually do, sir," I state with office etiquette...and uneasiness. He walked to his car and opened the back passenger door. Holding the door open, with the intent of me getting into the back seat of the Black Lincoln Conventional. Getting over my hesitations, I approached the vehicle and looked at the tan leather interior. Once in, he closed the door and walked to the other side, and got in. The President and his driver then shared eye contact for maybe a minute and then began to drive on the semi-busy roads of the city.

          Car in motion, I start to talk. "I truly appreciate this sir, but this isn't necessary," I voice trying to speak with some form of confidence within myself. After my words hit his ears he gave me a quick look but with no reply to the words that I had said. I placed my attention on the various buildings that the car passes. Suddenly I feel an ill-filling feeling darting me in the back. I could tell by the recognizable feeling that the President's eyes looking at me. I start to question why the president would offer me a ride home and be glaring at me like this. Did I do something? Jesus...This is where the big boss lets go of his assistant-I've only worked for him for like a year and a half. My mind continues to race and race with questions I don't really want answers to. "Ko, you gotta learn and accept that maybe people just want to be nice." My angel flank voices as she finds a space to say that in between my chaotic questions. But then all my questions stop when The President opens his mouth to say, "I don't have any will to let you go." Everything feels like it stopped for a moment and just stands still. Did I accidentally just say one of those questions out loud? If I did then I'm f-. The President looks out his window resting his chin on his fist-formed hand. I swear I heard a laugh, a chuckle, a something from him too. Eventually, I had gotten out of my head. I noticed that the car had pulled up in front of my apartment building. "I-Um, Thank you, sir, for the ride," I say as I open the door and start to step out of the car. "Mr. O'Paris," he says, requesting my attention, sending chills down my back. I looked back at him, giving him my attention. There was a bit of silence before he spoke again. "Goodnight and I apologize for intruding on your thoughts, without approval,"

          He said this with the tone that I've been working with for a while. However, something became different from it. Was it the 5% sensitivity? Or was it that this man was apologizing to me? I smile at him and say, "It's fine." Completely not acknowledging or speaking on the fact that this man, my boss, was in my head. No, literally reading my mind. The driver then closed the door to the vehicle after The President gives me a slight nod and looks away. I then stepped back and began to walk to the front doors of my apartment building. Once I'd gotten into the lobby, I decided to look back in curiosity. The President's car was there for a moment but then began to move and pull off back into the city's traffic. 

The traffic of the city, Roseraie, that I also know as home.