The Boss & The Assistant - Rewritten Edition of "The Boss"

Chapter 8 - Lafayette

Emerson did not make much noise when he was on the other side of my office door, save for the clicking of his keyboard and the occasional phone call. After he left, the silence was staggering, and I didn't understand why. I didn't want to dwell on it. I was already dwelling on our conversation about crying over lunch. I can't believe he was crying over my family. I never cried. Crying had been scared out of me. So it was actually kind of touching that he got teary-eyed about my family.

I went onto the website for the vendor that stocks our break rooms. We only had a small break room on our floor because most of us didn't tend to it, but Emerson liked to sit in there for lunch sometimes. I placed an order to restock some of our free snacks and supplies, making sure to include oranges on the list this time.

When it was a little past seven, I decided to work out for about two hours. I showered. I ate a piece of chocolate cake and a bag of chips. I slept until midnight and then I woke up feeling sick, so I walked on the treadmill because walking helps food digest faster. Food just didn't like to sit right with me, but I had to eat. When I felt better, I sat down on my bed and pulled out my tablet to watch Youtube videos. I did this for about two hours until I fell asleep, but I woke up again around four-thirty in the morning. 

I figured I would just wake up in a few hours anyway, so in my pajamas and slippers I went downstairs to my office to see what emails had flooded my inbox already. As I was sitting at my desk, I heard a noise on the other side of the door. It was clearly human, whatever it was. Has someone broken in? Was it the cleaning crew?

I grabbed the pepper spray I kept in my desk drawer. A knife or a gun could do more damage, but I didn't want to injure a poor custodian. Plus, pepper spray was worse than people thought it was. It was a lingering pain. So I peeked through the gap between the curtains but I did not see anything. I slowly opened the door and looked out. On the couch, in the dark, there was a figure laying down, sniffling. It didn't take me long to realize it was Emerson.

"Em?" I asked quietly into the dark.

Emerson sat up with a start. The city lights were illuminating the room enough for me to see his crying face. "Oh, Mr. Jett, I am so sorry," he said.

I walked towards him, asking, "What's wrong? What are you doing here?"

"I was just..." He sighed, trying not to cry more.

I took a seat next to him and put my hand on his back. "What is it?" I had no idea why he could be crying at four-thirty in the morning in the office.

"My roommate," he said. He had mentioned his weird roommate to me before.

"What did he do?" I asked, thinking about what damage my pepper spray could do.

"I woke up in the middle of the night to him in my room. I don't know if he was high or what but he was flailing a knife around and I was just so scared," Emerson said, then whimpered. "I left my phone on my bed and then he was cornering me so I tried to grab what I could. I managed to grab my keys but that was it. Then I ran out and I didn't know where to go but I had my badge so I came in here thinking I could call my mom or sister but I don't have their numbers memorized. Isn't that terrible? Who doesn't have their family members' phone numbers memorized?" He dropped his face into his hand.

"A lot of people don't," I said. "It's fine that you came here."

"I just feel so stupid. How could I forget my phone?"

I rubbed his back. "Em, it's alright. We can go back for your phone," I said.

He shook his head. "No, he's a maniac. I'm too scared to go back there," he said.

"You don't have to go inside. You just tell me how to get there, alright? I will talk to your roommate, put him in his place, and then I'll grab your phone and some of your stuff, alright?"