--SHORT STORY COMPILATION--

-R E V I S E D V E R S I O N-

-Edited/Revised version-

That day, I knew what it felt like to be famous.

"Oh Nana...Earth to Nana...Nana!"

"What is it?" I shift my attention from the computer screen to my colleague, Jacklyn, whose standing at the entrance of my cubicle, while tapping her heels impatiently and biting the inside of her cheek—crossed armed.

Jacklyn lets out a loud sigh and swings her arms to her sides, "Jeez Nana. . . It's time to lock up!"

"Oh already? Do you mind going on ahead of me, I'm staying a bit longer."

Ever since a week ago, I've been staying overtime at the office. Not because I'm some diligent worker. Oh no, I'm just a selfish individual, doing it for her own selfish reasons. It started after watching the news that has taken not only me, but the world for a spin. Consecutive warnings about a spy, hacking into companies all over the world, especially stock markets, has taken over the media. Because of this spy, many CEO's and owners had to resign from their jobs—ensuing in many reliable, loyal and hardworking employees to lose everything. The scary thing is that, no one has a single clue who this spy is. While everyone in this company is sitting on their little bottoms—not giving a care in the world, partying and living their lives like they normally would, I'm here researching my ass off to get this little spy into a perfect place he can call home. Jail. And why would a short, chubby, middle aged woman go through all this trouble? Simple. I cannot risk losing a job that I have spent too much of my valuable time on. Because in the end, all my efforts would go down the trash can. I'm a selfish person, and nothing but money matters to me.

Jacklyn peeks her head over my shoulder, "Huh? Are you seriously researching this stuff again?" She pauses, waiting for a reply. But doesn't get one, "Just leave it to the professionals Nana. I mean they're called professionals for a reason."

I let out a sigh and continued to glare at the computer screen while jotting some notes down on a scrap piece of paper, "You don't get it! I will not sleep until I find the culprit." I hissed.

"Sheesh. An office lady doing the job of a cop. Bravo! How admirable." Jacklyn starts to clap slowly, as she heads for her cubicle. Before taking a seat, she looks up, and her tone becomes more serious, "I'll keep you company until the last bus arrives."

"Mmk. Thanks." I mumbled.

Except for my occasional typing, the room was dead silent and the illumination from my computer screen reflected onto my glasses, seeming ten times brighter than it usually does. This was the first time this week that I worked with no distractions.

Jacklyn lets out a groan, "Come on Nana, it's already 2am. I'm soo bored."

I scrolled down through a random Australian website, that I happened to stumble upon. It displayed former prisoners' mug shots along with descriptions of each individual. After scanning through their descriptions, I spotted one that sounds awfully familiar, "Shh. I-I think I found him."

"Stop pulling my leg. No you didn't, there's no way you could."

I turn towards Jacklyn and glare at her, "Try me."

She wobbles towards my computer, scans through the page, and froze like a statue when her eyes met with the bald man, that resembled a potato, "This isn't him, just forget about it."

"What's wrong with you all of a sudden? You gotta admit that this culprits' felony is similar to the recent spy hacker." I point to the screen, "It reads: Michael Kultchivik, a spy who hacked many secret company files, resulting in the destruction of many well-known organizations. Jacklyn, can't you see that this man may very well be responsible for what's going on, now?"

Jacklyn stares at me, and doesn't say a single word. I disregarded her and copy and pasted, "Michael Kultchivik," into google. I clicked on the third link and a list of companies that he had messed around with recently, appeared right before my very eyes. I impatiently scrolled all the way to the bottom of the page and there it was, "Found Company." We were next. I wriggled my hands towards my phone and quickly dialed 9-1-1. There was no way I was going to let the culprit get away.

"This is the police department, what's your emergency?" a robotic, woman's voice answers on the other end.

But before the words could come out of my mouth, Jacklyn jumps onto me, tugging tightly onto my blazer, "Why did you have to come and ruin my plan? I wasn't going to hurt you, but now I have no other choice. You brought this onto yourself Nana."

I didn't understand what was going on, but the only thing I managed to do was swallow a large puddle of spit, and shiver from the iron taste, that burned as it slid down my esophagus. But Jacklyn had already gripped tightly onto my neck before I could swallow.

"Everything was going according to plan. He hacked and we'd split the money. Why do CEO's get to live in luxury, while I have to live in a rundown, one bedroom apartment. How is that fair? Huh Nana? You love money, I know you do. So why not join me and Michael? You'd make more money than you ever dreamed you could make."

Just when I felt like I wasn't able to hold in much longer. A pack of police officers came barging in, knocking the metal door down to the ground with ease, "Freeze!"

A police officer came in and pulled Jacklyn off of me. At this point, she followed submissively and didn't put up a fight. There was no way she'd win with the amount of police officers in that room. Although she was right about me living for money, I don't want to receive it and live with guilt for the rest of my life. But the truth is, I wouldn't have known that about myself until this incident.

Jacklyn was sentenced in jail for nearly a decade, and surprisingly enough the police had found Michael Kultchivik that same day. Jacklyn and Michael were forced to return the money back to the companies they had hacked. People must've heard about the case being resolved, because a day after, an army of journalists, reporters, and writers surrounded the exterior of my apartment building, welcoming me with an overwhelming amount of questions, one after the other. That day, I stopped believing that hard work goes unnoticed.