Cursed, Charmed, and Uninsured

Honesty is the Worst Policy

The colander shifted toward the edge of the couch. Kay's dispassionate gaze followed its progress. When it came close enough for the animated electronic to poke its plastic edge free, she nudged it back across the cushions with the rubber sole of her shoe. Each time it trilled a ringtone of frustration and spazzed out with a hint of scorched upholstery before it settled down and slowly inched along the cushion once again.

Clearly, her cell phone was feral. Or crazy. Wasn't that the very definition of insanity? Repeating the same action over again and expecting different results? Could something be insane without every truly being alive?

Kay sighed. The burn of unshed tears throbbed in her sinuses. She was an idiot.

Jess hadn't returned in hours. The echo of the slammed door still rang in her ears. How had she screwed this up so badly? Jess was talking to her again. She helped Kay avoid a worse situation with her parents. They laughed with each other. But what happened when it was time for answers?

Kay's lips refused to move.

They sat there in confused silence until Jess's jaw set and she left the apartment, punctuating her anger with the unfortunate door. She didn't tell Kay where she was going or when she would be back, not that Kay deserved it.

What the hell was wrong with her?

What was the point of protecting a secret that was well and truly out of the bag? She brought home a cursed object! Cursed because she blatantly ignored company protocol. The Fantasy Land Inc's clean up crew hadn't burst into the Cave yet so her place wasn't bugged, or maybe they were waiting for the order. Maybe they seized Jess while she was outside, a thought that made Kay's knees shake. Visions of various disasters played through her head until she gave it a hard shake, the tears finally breaking free to perform a slow sad crawl down her cheeks. The colander edged closer. A fat droplet rolled off her chin and absorbed into her jeans.

The worst part was, she wanted to tell Jess. She wanted to tell her roommate everything and she didn't understand why she couldn't force out the words. It wasn't as if she choked on the words, or didn't know what to say. The fear of repercussions wasn't holding her back exactly, she knew those were unavoidable for her now. She wanted to tell Jess so her roommate could avoid them. Instead she sat, mute, and watched the hurt bloom on Jess's face.

Kay buried her over heated face in her hands. Her adrenaline had long since drained out of her and left a sucking void of exhaustion and stress. She listened to the faint strains of her cell phone inching across the couch cushions as something swelled and broke inside her.

What if the cell phone wasn't the only thing cursed?

She spread her fingers, staring hard at the floor as her mind turned over those heavily redacted pages she'd received from Shaffer. She'd made the critical mistake of not pouring over the NDA on her first pass, but she'd read it as well as she could between blocks of black marker. The heading 'Cautionary Preventative Measures' kept tugging at her thoughts. It was a heavily marked out section but she remembered one of the few visible sentences.

"The signing of this document absolves Fantasy Land Inc of any complications that arise from company mandated measures to maintain anonymity and discretion."  

Oh good gravy, what had she absolved or given permission for without even reading it through?

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," she muttered to herself. What if they did something to her? How would she even know? Her eyes narrowed. Who would know? Would Stanley answer her if she asked him directly? Though, Kay knew she would be pushing her luck after their earlier encounter. Would he even know? Stanley seemed like he rarely left the building.