Boat at Sea

Leaving port

"This is no good," The man slapped a thick portfolio onto her desk. "You need to pick up the pace on these reports Nadia. You're costing us money."

The girl bit her lip, eager to retaliate. If the company had handed the right numbers for the quarter instead of the ones from a couple weeks ago this wouldn't have happened... I did my fucking job. But she sighed internally and continued to mindlessly listen to the broken record.

"I know you're new to this, but you have to stay on top of things. You wouldn't want to be jobless, now would you? You're very lucky to be here, especially since you didn't have nay experience in this field before. But you're stretching our patience thin Nadia. I suggest you get these papers corrected by the end of tonight." He paused, his silk tie bouncing off of his thicker belly before he slammed a meaty finger down. "No overtime."

With that, the man left her alone. The girl slouched over in her seat, her white skeletal hands running over her face with a deep sigh. She ran her fingers through her amber hair. Phones rang in the backgrounds like dead birds as the artificial light above her gave her a sicklier tone. Nadia thought she looked like a zombie. Huh... Now that she thought about it, that would probably be better than her life right now. All work and no play, she recalled the sentence as she tiredly reached out and took up the papers. Stress was starting to take its toll on her. Though her body was relatively curvy, she was starting to bear the features of a gaunt vampire, with purple rings over her eyes and a starved waist. Nadia couldn't remember the last time she had eaten. She didn't think she'd really like to either. Her hair, usually curly and vibrant was tied back and falling out in a messy half-assed bun she had thrown together this morning in the middle of the 5:30 local news reports. Strands hung down like dead vines over her pale jaded eyes and she stared blankly at her computer screen and started clicking. Anxiety had blended her days together, which wasn't very unusual for the most. It had been like this ever since college, and even before that, when she was in high school, she would put aside her social activities for her studies. Nadia had been a slave to her work. That's how she stayed alive. But it was getting harder and harder, the girl noticed. She barely had the will to snap at her boss anymore. She felt like a dog ready for the lashing. Stab her. Beat her. It didn't matter. Nadia would take it all with the same undead expression, cold and lifeless. Her jaw clenched. No overtime. A wound right to the kidneys. It left her bleeding out. But she mushed forward, no repent, and silently stalked ahead.

A few hours later her work was done, the plethora of cubicles now a ghost town. Nadia wouldn't really mind it right now if a ghost decided to snap her neck. But that was pushing it to the demented side. Grabbing her coat and umbrella, she dragged herself out of the office, shutting off the lights and letting the void consume what was left of the space. Stepping past a few ferns and a couple of hallways she treaded carefully down the stairs. She could see the janitor working from the corner of her eye.

"Buenos noches, Marti." Nadia said, giving the man a wave.

The man looked up at her and smiled, although a couple of his teeth were missing. "Buenos noches Senora." He waved a gloved hand at her merrily before he went back to mopping the floor.

Nadia gave him a trying smile. Marti was the only one who really liked her here, so it brightened her spirits a little to see a smile on such a nice man's face. He didn't say much to any other people because they couldn't understand Spanish, but since Nadia had taken four years of it in high school, she could understand him almost perfectly. Apparently, he had come to the U.S. on a work visa—he told her when she had snuck away from her rowdy office party and hid downstairs. Nadia didn't know if that was completely true, but illegal or not, she still considered him one of the kindest people she had ever met. Padding softly past him she made for the exit.