Rita
I rushed to my manager's office. This morning, I've managed to sleep in, get up in a panic attack, forget to brush my hair, and wear the wrong shoe on my left foot. Yup, that's good-'ol clumsy me, and that's why I rush every morning to my manager's office to apologize for being late the thousandth time and hope that he would forget me and give me yet another chance to get him what he calls "a juicy story" for our newspaper.
I knock nervously on his door- "come in Rita", great, he's expecting me, I open the door and try to put on the best smile I can muster, but he isn't smiling back - I gulp and go to stand in front of his desk, his blue eyes stare daggers at me, and I gulp again, he clears his throat and points at a board where he keeps a record of all his employee's sign-ins and outs. My eyes widen and I start "Mr.Richards I-' he cuts me with a slam of his large hand on the wooden desk "Mrs.Ramirez! I will not hear another word from you, this is the eleventh time that you come in late this month, I have told you the last time- that I will not tolerate any more late come-ins or silly excuses", he stands up, put his hands in his pockets and takes a deep breath to calm down, then he speaks again, the worst words possible, the last thing I wanted to hear "Mrs.Ramirez, gather your things and leave this office- you are fired starting from this very moment". My heart drops, I stare at his mouth agape and eyes wide like I've been shot in the chest, or like I've just received a blow to my stomach, he studies my face then looks away "I'm sorry, but I've given you too many chances, if I keep doing that, the rest of the employees will start to think that I'm running a kindergarten here instead of an office- and I can't afford that to happen".
I find my voice again, "Mr.Richards, please listen to me, I totally get it, I understand, you have the responsibility over the office and its employees, but sir- I don't have any other job, and I can barely make it to the end of the month with the salary that I'm being paid- at least give me a chance to find another job- please Mr.Richards, I'm begging you", at this point, tears start to swell in my eyes and my voice becomes squeaky, I've recently moved from Panama to the US, life had been rough back there, my parents did their best to raise me and my sisters, but they ended up being taken by the local mobs, it was either to be raped or to be butchered like animals and having their organs sold in illegal black markets. So I decided to run, to escape hell, I wanted to live a better life, afford a house, and get my parents to safety- luckily, they are not "interesting" to the mob, since they are both pretty old and useless to them.
I look at Mr.Richards and give him my best puppy eyes, we all know that he is stern, but he has a soft spot in him, especially when a woman cried in front of him, I wasn't even acting when my tears actually started to pour down my cheeks- and it worked, because Mr.Richards' deep frown vanished and his eyes widened as he rounded his desk and came to stand beside me as he patted my shoulder "there, there, don't cry, I'm sure you'll find a better job here", shit, looks like it wasn't as successful as I hoped it to be, so I start crying even harder, "Mr.Richards, I love it here, and I swear I'm trying my best to do my job- I'm doing a research, and that's why I'm staying up late and end up showing up late to work, you have to give me a chance, please". Mr.Richards' face turns into a grimace, but then he moves to sit down again , he seems thoughtful for a moment as I calm down and dry my tears with a tissue, he finally sighs and closes his eyes as he speaks, it is obvious at this point that he's tired of my bullshit, "Mrs.Ramirez, would you please explain to me what the research you're doing is about exactly?" ,and just like that, my face breaks into a huge grin, I quickly reach into my purse and pull a paper- I hand it to Mr.Richards and he takes it and puts on his glasses, as he reads, I start explaining, "I've been searching for a good story, so i thought to myself- what is the topic that people are mostly talking about these days- and it turns out ot be Dogmen, so I searched the web, and somehow ended up breaching into a government website that had this report", Mr.Richards' face turns into a white shade, his hands start to shake as he reads the paper, then he puts it down and rips the glasses from his face, he looks at me with both fear and anger written all over his face "do you have any idea what you've done here Mr.Rmirez?!" , I frown in confusion , "what are you talking about?" he slams his hands on the table, causing me to jump, then he stand up and walks up to me to the point where his face is right in front of mine, he whispers "you know very well that I don't do government shit, this is too risky, and this is only another good reason why I should fire you Mr.Ramirez, because if you dig any deeper into this , you will only get us into trouble", I stare at him, but turn angry instead of scared "Mr.Richards, Dogmen are known among society, they are not a secret, unless you've been living under a rock for the past three years sir, this is a normal topic to talk about, just as normal as sports and celebrities" he shakes his head, "it is normal , until it reaches to the point where you breach into secret government files ! , this is bigger than you and me, and we both know that". I study his face for a second, then I take a step back and scratch my head "then I put my hands on my hips "well, what else should I write about then? fucking Kardashians?!" Mr.Richards points a finger in my face "you watch your tongue now young lady, you know well that I don't allow colorful language here ", I quickly apologize and sigh, I needed to calm down, but when I think about all my job going down the drain, I get angry again, "Mr.Richards, please give me a chance, and I will try my best to write a report that doesn't include the paper you've read- you can shred the paper, I will find other resources to lay on. ok?" he looks back at the paper lying on his disk, then he sighs and runs a hand over his face and head, I fumble with my fingers nervously as I pray silently that he lets me do it, after what seems like forever, he finally looks me in the eyes and says "all right, you have a month- after one month, you will either submit your best report or your resignation letter, do you understand?" I smile widely at him and clasp my hands in front of me excitedly "yes sir!".
I close the door behind me as I walk out of Mr.Richard's office, then I walk and sit in front of my computer, putting my purse on the side table, I grab my phone and unlock it. My fingers find the right contact, and they tap over the screen lightly as I type the message "Stan, we have a green light, meet me tonight, in the local park at 00:00 PM- tell Jerry to bring his camera and mic as well". Then I unlock my phone again, turn on my computer and start to work with a smile on my face, I will get the report and the proof, one vivid and clear picture along with a visual and audio recording.
Tonight, everything changes.