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Vera walked into the office the following Monday morning and stopped short as she realized that something was very wrong. A petite redheaded young woman was sitting at her desk, a Starbucks coffee cup and a muffin in front of her as she worked at the computer. Vera's brow furrowed as she walked slowly towards where the woman sat, the red-head looking up at her and then smiling.
“Good Morning. May I help you?” she greeted pleasantly.
“Um, yeah.” Vera stammered, glancing towards Asshole's closed door. “Is Mr. Hartwig in?”
“Yes, he is. Can I have your name, please?” she asked as Vera just stared at the stranger who had made herself quite at home at her desk.
She didn't know who the hell this girl was, but she was going to get to the bottom of it.
“My name is Vera and actually, you are sitting in my seat. This is my desk.”
The redhead just stared and then slowly began to shake her head back and forth as her glossed lips pursed, her eyes narrowing now as she became all-business.
“I've been here since last week, just hired actually. I was told the previous person left...”
Oh shit.
The promotion.
She had gotten her promotion!
“Is....is that what Mr. Hartwig told you?” Vera asked, a smile beginning to tug at the corners of her mouth.
She had done it.
After all of her hard work, after all of the time she'd put in with Asshole her dreams were finally coming true.
But why not tell her?
Then she remembered that they probably hadn't wanted to bother her since she was out of the office on bereavement. Vera snapped to attention as she vaguely heard the red-head asking her something.
“Sorry, I have been out of the office due to a death in the family,” she admitted, as the redhead's face suddenly crumpled in sympathy.
“Oh, I'm so sorry.”
“Thank you. It was my father.”
Now the young woman's mouth fell open slightly as she almost gaped.
“My God, how terrible....”
“I'll be okay, really,” Vera said, pasting on a fake sad smile as she moved past the woman. “I guess I should go and speak with him.”
And before the replacement could stop her, Vera knocked on the door and then waited until Asshole called out.
“Come in, Stephanie!”
He sounded positively giddy as the door opened and Vera walked into his office.
The smile instantly left Asshole's face.
“What are you doing here?” he barked, to Vera's surprise.
“Good Morning, Mr. Hartwig. I just came here to....”
“Clean out your desk?” Asshole inquired in a snarky tone, a nasty and satisfied smile coming to his face. “Good of you to finally show up.”
Vera was confused at his behavior and she started to get a gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach as he picked up his phone and asked for security.
“I was out on bereavement, Mr. Hartwig.” Vera reminded him, “Remember? I emailed you that my father passed away over the weekend....”
“Never got it.” Asshole insisted, the blatant lie evident in his tone. “In any event, you missed several days without calling in and company policy states that is grounds for immediate termination. No exception.”
“Termination!?” Vera cried, “But I emailed and told you, even called HR.....”
“Between you just taking an unauthorized vacation on company time, not to mention how lousy your work has been lately, I don't think you're a good fit here anymore, Vera.”
“But...” Vera stuttered, tears welling in her eyes as she felt her heart begin to shatter. “You can't....I can't....”
She began to cry just as two security guards showed up and stood by, waiting.
“Gentleman, would you please escort Miss Willis out of the building and see to it that she leaves the premises?” Asshole asked as one of the guards moved closer to her, laying a gentle hand on her arm.
“Don't touch me!!” Vera screamed, rounding on him as the older man backed away at her glare. Next, she turned back to Asshole who seemed amused at this whole thing.
“I know what you did.” Vera snarled, in a low voice as she moved towards Asshole, who now wore a dangerous look on his face. “But you won't get away with it. Firing me because I know what you did won't help. You will get yours.”
“Is that a threat, Vera?” Asshole asked, loudly. By now the whole office was practically outside the door watching it all finally unfold between them.
“It's a promise, asshole.” Vera spat hotly, pivoting and stalking from the office.
Smartly, Stephanie had moved away from the desk while Vera had been inside and she stood in the aisle looking at the unhinged woman, with pity. Tears blurred Vera's eyes as she hurriedly snatched the cardboard box her personal items had been carelessly thrown into and set aside. Vera ripped open the bottom file-cabinet drawer where she kept her granola bars and other snacks and threw them into her purse. Most importantly, she got her hidden folder of emails she kept copies of. She always had them in case she had to prove that she sent emails to Hartwig. How glad Vera was that she had had the foresight to do this so that there was evidence that she’d emailed him that past Monday.
As always, she covered her ass.
And she was most assuredly planning to go to Human Resources to try and get her job back.
She had to!
Even if it wasn’t working for him, she would get a job in some capacity in this company.
As she walked to the elevators between the two big guards, Vera felt the eyes of every person in that office on her. Some of them whispered behind their hands or clucked in sympathy. After all, she had always been shy, quiet little Vera. Who'd have ever thought that it would end like this for her?
“I want to go to Human Resources,” Vera demanded as they got to the elevators.
“Sorry, Miss. We have direct orders to escort you from the building...”
“From Hartwig? Puuleeeze...” Vera scoffed, waving a hand towards where Asshole was watching, hands on his hips as Stephanie, bug-eyed, looked completely embarrassed at what had just happened, “Seriously, I have a right to talk to Human Resources about this. Right now.”
The two guards looked at each other, as one of them pressed the button for the third floor, where the Human Resource office was located.
“Wait right here. Harry...” the guard ordered, motioning to his partner to stay with Vera as he disappeared into the glass inner door of the office. He was gone less than five minutes before he came back and motioned her forward.
“Thank you,” Vera said, hurrying into the office to greet Maria, the front-desk receptionist.
“Hi, can I help you?” Maria asked, evenly.
“Hi, my name is Vera Willis and I was just terminated by Brandon Hartwig.” she said, shrugging her small shoulders as if what had happened was the impossible, “I'm not exactly sure what is going on here, but I'd like to speak to someone about this.”
“Just a moment, please,” Maria said, picking up the phone and dialing an extension. Vera politely stepped back a bit from the desk to give Maria privacy as she spoke on the phone to whoever was at the other end.
“Miss?” Maria beckoned her towards the desk, “I'm sorry, but the termination actually came from this office and Mr. Hartwig simply carried it out.”
Vera was stunned.
“Listen, my father died this past weekend and I took a few days off for a bereavement period, which I am entitled to. I emailed Mr. Hartwig about it and I even carbon-copied that message here to someone in your office and....”
“Just a moment.” Maria interrupted, a bit of an annoyance on her face now as she picked up the phone again.
Not five seconds after Maria hung up, an older woman came out of the office and walked up to her.
“Good morning, Miss Willis.” she said, crisply as Vera mumbled a reply, “My name is Catherine Beeks and I am the office manager here in Human Resources.”
“Hello,” Vera greeted, putting her hand out to shake Catherine's. “I hope we can clear all of this up...”
“The termination comes from your most recent reviews and the fact that you failed to notify this office of you taking more than three days off without authorization.”
“But....”
“Now we will investigate the email matter, and we are very sorry for your loss but the reviews plus the unauthorized absences are the real problems here.”
Vera glanced over Ms. Beeks’ shoulder to see Audrey Devereaux smirking at her, and she was beginning to understand how this had happened. Asshole and Audrey had done this to her. Vera was determined to make them understand that she was not at fault here, but wasn’t sure if Ms. Beeks would believe such an outrageous accusation.
“But...I've always done everything he asked me to do....” Vera said, weakly, as she realized that she was losing her fight.
The older woman stared at her for a moment and then shook her head slightly before lowering her voice slightly.
“You have had negative performance reviews for the better part of two years. And then you disappear for five days and without notice. I'm truly sorry, Miss Willis, but we had no choice.”
“What bad reviews? My reviews have always been above average and one or two neutral, or at least they have been neutral since I started working with Mr. Hartwig....”
“Mr. Hartwig furnished reviews he has submitted over the past two years, written warnings about your failure to follow instructions....”
“I have nothing like that in my records!” Vera argued as the older woman's eyes widened incredulously at her outburst. “He's lying. Don't you see? He's trying to make me look bad because he found out about the promotion I was going for...”
“What promotion?”
“The one for the Executive Assistant for the CEO....”
Catherine shook her head, and then touched a sympathetic hand to Vera's arm as she sighed before making admission to her.
“We filled that position, a week ago. And based on your unsatisfactory reviews and the letters stating insubordination in your file.....I'm very sorry. You would never have been able to obtain that position.”
Vera stared at the woman blankly and continued to do so until she felt someone take her arm and lead her from the office. It was raining by the time they took her downstairs and led her to the door, seeing her out of the building as Vera stood stupidly just outside. People were stampeding everywhere, trying to get out of the rain.
But not Vera.
No.
Vera just stood there as the rain pelted down on her, soaking her to the skin to mix with the tears streaming down her cheeks as she openly wept.
She was ruined.
***
Flashing lights. Red strobes. Blue strobes. It was all a blur in her mind as she revisited the familiar scene in her dreams. Blood on the pavement. Marianne screaming as people came running at the sound of her cries. Bradford trying to maintain some sense of control. More blood. There was blood all over the car seat, dribbling down as the vehicle finally stopped rolling over and collided with another object. Someone was in the seat next to her, but the girl was no longer moving. A shrill scream sounded from somewhere outside of the mangled car, a world once known now forever gone.
“We need help here!” a voice called as Vera felt herself being slowly pulled away from the wrecked automobile.
“Can you hear me, Vera? Blink if you can understand!” the voice said as Vera stared up at the man who was waving a light into her dazed eyes.
“Get her on the gurney.” He ordered as Vera’s body was lifted after being put on a rolling gurney, “Coroner’s on his way for the other one....”
Marianne’s screams were still in the air and Vera looked towards her parents, who were both holding each other as they sobbed.
Bright lights now as she was put into an ambulance and it screamed away into the night....
“Vera....you’re going to be okay. Can you hear me? Vera? She’s going into shock......Vera?.....”
“My baby!” Marianne wailed as she ran to the overturned vehicle. “My baby! Oh my God! Victoria!”
The police officers on the scene struggled to pull Marianne away from the wreck as a paramedic approached to administer a sedative. Marianne was placed onto a stretcher and loaded into the ambulance as a black van with the words CORONER on the double back doors moved into to retrieve the badly shattered body of the twelve-year-old girl trapped within.
Vera was still in and out of consciousness as they rolled her towards a second ambulance. The child could see her father staring at her, his expression blank as he slowly turned away and climbed into the back of the ambulance Marianne had been put into. The sirens screamed into the warm night air as the coroner’s van left the scene to head straight to the morgue and the dual ambulances went in the other direction towards the local hospital. Vera shivered as the nice lady sitting next to her in the ambulance assured her that she would be all right. She even held her hand as they reached the hospital and Vera was taken from the ambulance. Bradford was already there, speaking to the doctors standing outside waiting on them all.
Vera's eyes flitted to the men who were removing an oblong black, zippered bag containing Victoria's body. The bag was put on a stretcher and quickly wheeled out of sight into another entrance of the hospital. Tears slid down Vera's cheeks as she wept, wanting her sister to be with her so badly. Why had they done it? Why? She had always been the straight-laced one while Victoria, who was older, usually knew better.
She hadn't even wanted to take the car, but Vicki said that it would be fine, even though neither of them was old enough to drive. That Vicki was something else, but their parents never suspected because she played the good-girl role in front of everyone.
Why would they?
Vera already knew that her parents were going to blame her for everything because they always did despite clear evidence that she hadn't done anything wrong.
Every. Single. Time.
Sometimes she wished she'd never been born, but it was Vicki that loved her most and she loved her sister. She had loved Vicki more than anything in this world and now she was gone. No one said anything as Bradford came over to glare at her.
"How could you do this, Vera?" He demanded as a nurse instantly showed up and signaled to security, "You killed her! Do you realize what you've done?!”
"Sir, please...."
"Worthless. You are completely worthless." Bradford declared, shaking off the security guards' hands as he stalked off and down the hall.
Vera started sobbing loudly then as the nurse patted her hand sympathetically.
"Your father is just upset, dear. I'm sure he didn't mean any of that...." The nurse soothed and then started talking about people grieving in strange ways.
But Vera was no longer listening to the woman because she realized that life was going to be worse now. They would never forgive her or let her forget....
Vera jerked awake, in a panic as her heart hammered in triple-time. Lizzie was up and in the shower already, and she could hear her friend moving around in the bathroom as she got ready to go into the office.
“Here,” Lizzie said a short while later, spooning some oatmeal into Vera's mouth that she had just made from one of those Quaker instant packets. “I hate to leave you like this...”
“I'll be okay,” Vera convinced her, nodding as Lizzie slipped on her high heels and leaned to kiss her cheek softly before leaving the room.
“Call me if you need anything!”
Vera heard the front door close and she rolled over in bed, the tears coursing down her cheeks as she reviewed the last twenty-four hours in her mind. Asshole had given her fake evaluations to sign, neutral ones, yet he had submitted bad ones. Evaluations that she'd never laid eyes on telling Human Resources that she was habitually late, did shoddy, sloppy work, was insubordinate and did not follow up with him on time regarding projects and tasks. Somehow he had either forged or photocopied her signature from one of the fake evaluations she'd legally signed onto blank pages that he then typed and printed out to make it look as if she'd signed those instead.
Human resources had mailed her the proof, at her request, and it was only then that she was able to comprehend just how evil Brandon Hartwig was. There was no way that she could prove it, as none of the fake evaluations she had in her files contained his signature, only hers. He had encouraged her to sign and keep the so-called evaluations for her records. Vera had thought that strange, but he assured her that it was just for office files anyway and was not a big deal. And like a dutiful idiot, she did exactly that, never beginning to even imagine that Hartwig would do something like this. Vera had been very naive when she had first started working with Asshole and hadn't put up a fuss when he said this. Vera did not like confrontation and did not want to antagonize her new boss, who had already begun to exhibit his sociopathic behavior back then. It should have been a warning to just how diabolically sick this man really was.
He had fucked her over.
Royally.
Of course, Human Resources had never received an email from her about the bereavement time, but Vera had remembered something else about that part of it. The same woman who she'd seen with Hartwig in the cafe that day, Audrey Devereux, worked in the Human Resources Department.
And Audrey Devereaux was screwing Hartwig.
She knew now that Asshole had had this bitch delete the email. It was the only explanation. Vera wanted to kick herself for not realizing this earlier because at least she could have called Audrey on her bullshit right then and there in front of Ms. Beeks when she had the opportunity.
“But I'm a nobody.” Vera groaned, out loud as the tears started up again, “Why do this to me when I've never done anything to anyone? Why?”
She allowed herself to cry over it for a few minutes and then went back to sleep for a while. It had rained all night and was still raining now, which attributed to her just wanting to lie there. Vera finally got up around noon, took a shower, and then rooted around in the cabinet to find something for lunch. Nothing there, but that was not a problem. She'd treat herself to lunch at the Panera Bread on the corner for one last time, the quick dining establishment high on her list of favorite places to eat. She had savings, but it wouldn't last long now that she was out of work. At least she had just paid the rent so she had about a month left of savings after paying bills, for rent.
She wouldn't be homeless.
Yet.
But it was lurking nearby as she struggled to divide up her money to try and pay everything, for now, to buy time later. Vera had applied for unemployment, but if she knew Hartwig he would make sure that she wouldn't get it since according to him she had violated company policy. Vera also knew that she wouldn't be able to get so much as a reference letter, so that she could at least get another job, for the same reason. Brandon Hartwig had effectively ruined her entire life, just for kicks. And just thinking of that started the waterworks again as Vera collapsed on the couch and cried as if her heart was breaking.
***
“Vera!” she heard a familiar voice call as she walked out of Panera Bread an hour or so later, folding up the New York Times where she'd been reading the classifieds.
She had to find another job and fast. Her meager savings was dwindling by the day. Already that fat slob DelVecchio was coming around asking about the rent. “Wait up!”
Vera watched as the husky guy made his way across the bustling street to where she stood. He was dressed in his customary desert-colored fatigue jacket, white sleeveless tee-shirt, blue jeans, and combat boots on his feet.
Rugged.
“Oh, hi,” Vera said, recognizing Aaron as he got closer to her. “Lizzie's at work.”
“If you must know, I was looking for you.” he admitted as they began to walk slowly down the street towards her building, “Lizzie told me what happened with your job and all. That sucks.”
“Yeah.” she said, holding up her newspaper to show him, “I was just looking at jobs right now and hoping that I can find one soon. I don't know what I'll do if I can't.”
“This guy, Hartwig, is a real asshole,” Aaron said as, despite how bad she felt, Vera burst out laughing.
“Yeah, you hit the nail on the head,” Vera said, thinking of her special nickname for Hartwig.
“I really am sorry,” Aaron said, shaking his head. “Jobs are so hard to come by these days. He seemed to seriously have it in for you.”
“Tell me about it.” Vera sighed, shaking her head, “I think it's because I know what he did to Lizzie. That's got to be it!!”
A man passing them on the street openly stared as he walked by.
“What are you staring at?” Vera snapped at the man, as he shook his head and continued on his way. “Assholes sprouting up everywhere today. The rain must bring them.”
Aaron started laughing and then she did too, uproariously. More stares from passersby as they carried on for a minute, enjoying each other’s company. Vera stifled her laughter behind her hand as Aaron tried to calm himself down.
“You might be onto something, Vera,” Aaron said, just as they reached her building.
“Maybe,” Vera said, taking out her keys as Aaron stared at her for a moment, thoughtfully and his brown eyes warmed. He moved closer to Vera, his lips parting as if he were going to lean in for a kiss. She held his gaze, wishing that he would just do it already. She could easily admit that she'd developed feelings for Aaron over the short time she'd gotten to know him. But someone like Aaron probably wouldn't be interested in her romantically anyway.
They never were.
“Listen, tell Lizzie that I'll call her later.” Aaron said suddenly, looking over his shoulder before heading back across the street, “See ya around, Vera.”
And then he was gone.
He was weird, but Aaron had filled Vera's thoughts more and more lately. Her cell phone vibrated against her buttocks where it rested in the back pocket of her jeans. Hoping it was a call about a job or at least a follow-up interview, Vera quickly looked at the small screen. Her hope turned to disdain as the words Pain-In-The-Ass flashed across the backlit screen. Of course, Marianne had called ten times today already, Bradford's funeral service in the works as they waited for out-of-town relatives to fly or drive in from wherever. Her mother had insisted that she help with the eulogy, but Vera had passed not wanting the plum opportunity to write a scathing account of just how she felt about her father. She had begged off and told her mother she'd be at the service at nine on Friday morning.
Vera knew that it was going to be a long day. As usual, no one would talk to her or ask her what she was up to, nothing. Her family usually said stuff out of politeness to one another, but even that wasn't afforded to Vera. It was as if she were invisible unless, of course, they needed something from her. She was not putting up with it anymore.
***
Lizzie was full of news when she stopped by that evening. Although she had gone to work, she hadn't gone anywhere near Asshole's office since the incident between them. But she had gotten some valuable intel through the grapevine that she was all too eager to share with Vera.
“Hartwig's little girlfriend from H.R. was on the floor today, giving that new girl Stephanie some trouble.”
“Yeah, the asshole likes redheaded women so that's nothing new.”
“And the bitch seems to be threatened by the newer, younger model of herself, so now she's starting something up with Stephanie already. I saw her crying in the ladies' room after Audrey left.”
“Asshole,” Vera grumbled, as Lizzie nodded and then bit her lip. Something was up. “What else happened?”
“I put in my notice today.” Lizzie admitted, as Vera gasped in surprise and immediately began to protest, “He was getting on to the elevator just as I was leaving and I got off and took the stairs instead. I could hear him laughing at me as I left him standing there. I just can't deal with seeing him all of the time. Not after what he did.”
Vera nodded, sad that Lizzie felt that leaving a job that she enjoyed was her only option.
“Maybe we could complain to H.R. together. Maybe they'll listen to both of us.”
Lizzie shook her head.
Vera thought about how Audrey had helped the asshole on his quest to ruin her life. It was hopeless since Audrey pretty much had the run of the Human Resources department. She was working just under the General Manager. Lizzie was right, Audrey was a cunt.
“I've got a better idea,” she said, picking up her cell phone.
“What are you doing?” Vera asked as Lizzie sent a text, a slow smile spreading across her beautiful face.
“Getting us some help,” Lizzie answered.
