I blinked my eyes twice and the glimmer from those eyes of the secretary was gone. I furrowed my eyebrows, wondering what had been happening since the time I had glimpsed into some sort of hallucination of seeing the golden glint in the demonic boss' eyes. The purple glow, the furry beast that I had recognised as a werewolf, the weird coloured eyes on different people known to me and not very well-known to me.
'This must be another of those hallucinations,' I told myself, patting the place over my heart to convince myself that these ridiculous things weren't true and that I was just overthinking things due to lack of sleep.
'But this morning wasn't a dream and you believed it,' said the voice in my head in a very panicky tone. 'You even said you remembered it clearly and remembered reading such an article on the news! How can you disbelieve now?'
'I am having my doubts again, thinking if that injection had meddled with my mind or not. I suppose it was better to have forgotten it and saved my sanity. This is driving me crazy, to think that every person in this room could be such a creature and I would just never know about it.'
'You must be a fool for not believing what you just saw.'
"I was just looking for some paper without having to walk barefoot," I stated simply, moving my eyes away from his face to look at the mess on the sole of my heel.
"Another prank from those two?" he said with a pained, surrendering sigh that held something like defeat.
"How did you know? It's not like you know about me or anything..."
"I'm the secretary. I keep tabs on every single person in this office, or at least this floor, but most importantly with the people who work closely with the CEO. Did you think he wouldn't know about the details of his employees?"
"He must be good at stalking if he can get his hands on a good amount of information on me."
The secretary chuckled, handing me a blank-looking paper. When I turned it around to have a look at it, it seemed to have barely a few words written on it in small black font along with a small printed material.
I looked up at him with questioning eyes but he just eyed me with hard ones. I couldn't understand his unpredictable demeanour that kept changing from one second to the other very peculiarly.
"Do you wish to be late and get the boss as well as yourself in grave trouble?" he asked me in a hard voice as people walked across either side of us, watching us.
I quietly picked up the paper from his hand, twisting my lips at the statement he had put forth to remind me that I was going to face a cross demon soon. After giving it a quick shake like it had dust or some of his germs, I pushed up my glasses and sent a good set of cold glares at the people staring at us.
They immediately scattered away like rats that had been caught in the attic eating away at wood and whatever they liked to sink their teeth into. I didn't know if people knew for the temper I had at times, but they definitely knew that a staring person who had the eyes that could shoot laser beams would be best to avoid.
When they had run away to their respective places, I picked up my foot whilst leaning against the glass window and took the gum off my shoe. Just when I was about to throw the sticky substance away, I heard the secretary say, "For leaning against my window, you'll be charged a hefty fee."
"That is utterly ridiculous," I voiced in a soft whisper as I plunged the paper into a basket. "I had to stand against a support to take it off without dirtying the floor in front of your office."
"Makes the fine become only higher. You had already walked in front of it and made quite a mess. That will be twenty instead of the usual ten."
I looked around on the floor to see the mess that I had created and saw nothing. When I turned to look at him, he had already walked away quite a distance from me. He only turned around to give me a chuckle and pointed towards me with his finger.
I looked down and then at the window of his room. He had placed a sticky note that read, 'Better reach the conference room in a minute unless you want that ten to be tripled and an additional lunch invited added to it. Oh, add the boss' fiery temper to it as well.'
I screamed internally whilst keeping my eyes shut to control my emotions. I opened them again, snatched the paper and ran in those foul heels that killed my legs.
I reached the gates panting and burst through the double doors. I found it empty and dark most astoundingly. For a second, I thought that I had reached early enough until it dawned upon me that I had reached the wrong room.
On turning around, I came face-to-face with the two men, nearly having my heart leap out of my chest. One was chuckling as though he was still in good humour while the other had a sour look on his face like he had eaten something disgusting and undigestable.
"Thank goodness you reached before the special invitation to bring you out did," said my demonic CEO with his hard stare surveying me. "And a good thing that you finally decided to follow my instructions, though I had sent those through the mail boy as well."
"It must have reached already to her and she just happened to come down at the right time," said the secretary with a lunatic smile still etched on his face. "It's a good thing that I was there right at that moment, isn't it?"
"Who knows, Fionnlagh? I have seen the lady arrive at the right time without any delay. A good thing that she works right under me as I need someone punctual enough and not a latecomer to complete all the finances that I have been asked to manage."
Something clicked in my head, but I had decided to disregard it. My head had been filled with worries of the sudden invitation to present in front of important people. And I was also facing the person who wanted me to pay for the help he had provided me with.
The secretary reduced his smile to a normal one with the crinkles around his eyes just increasing by a small degree. He looked like he had been praised when in truth I was the one who had received it. Or perhaps he was happy to be a part of the process to hurry me up when I already had a few scrapes and blisters on my feet from all the running I had done.
The boss of the place just walked past me into the room, switching on the lights to signal that he wanted us to get to work already. I sulked at the fact that although the required amount of time had passed, he had entered the hall a few minutes later than the time he had allotted me.
Although it was a blessing, it made me twist my countenance in displeasure that he had to make the meeting happen right at that moment without a warning, especially when I was tired as hell. I did want it to get over with, but that would cost me my job. This was his perfect way of making sure that I couldn't escape from not doing my work properly.
'Am I so naive that I can get tricked so easily by my own leader?' I quizzed myself when I walked down the steps of the spacious conference hall. 'It is rather irking that I can now easily my lose temper because of my lack of sleep. If I'm going to be this irritable, it can still cost me my job, but he seems to have me in a good fix as I would be forced to control my emotions even in this state.'
"Are you still in need of that money although you're a lot richer than me, sir?" I asked in a bitter tone, pulling up the blinds with the secretary while recounting the moment I had watched the secretary talk with the CEO in what seemed like a rather informal tone to me.
"Of course," he said, taking a seat on one end of the table when the CEO went to the podium to check the projector and the connections. "Money gives you much, doesn't it? I would be ready to accept it after the meeting if you don't mind."
'How demanding when I am not his servant,' I said with a roll of my eyes. 'As though it is my job to obey that command when I'm already having a hard time keeping awake and keep the thoughts of this morning at bay.'
"If you don't do it soon," said the thin-looking man in his black suit, "I might as well spread some rumour of you having an affair with some celebrity. Wouldn't that be amazing?"
"That is blackmailing!" I whisper-yelled when I watched the CEO come in from the back door, nearly taking me by surprise.
"Well, you technically have a choice."
'One that puts you at a greater advantage,' I added the necessary ending in my head. 'This is really ridiculous.'
"Did you find what I had asked you to?" thundered the voice of the man who had just re-entered the hall.
"Of course, sir," answered his secretary. "How can I disobey your very orders?"
I knew at that moment that I wasn't needed there as the conversation between the two of them wasn't my jurisdiction. I walked towards the podium, scrolling through the presentation I had prepared one more time and reviving a few things at the last minute.
I was rather far away from where the two people sat comfortably, conversing in serious voices, to be able to hear what the talk the two of them were exchanging. Since I was too stressed to be able to learn another word in a relaxed way or to not fret about making a stupid mistake while in the spotlight, I decided to eavesdrop on the conversation that appeared to reach my ears clearly.
"What was your find?" asked the demon in a dangerously low tone as he sipped his hot beverage. His question seemed to hold a threat if his question was not answered by the person beside him.
"Nothing much except that one of the filthy bastards had shown his true nature to someone who wasn't supposed to see it," said Mr Fionnalagh in a bored tone. "The peculiar aspect of it was that he had been turned back to the form seen by all the people somehow."
"What about the one with him? And what is that idiot's state right now? I felt a different surge of energy last night, something I had never felt before. It is definitely not a normal thing to have a sudden surge of energy from our kind like that."
"Oh, is the bo—"
"Answer me before you hear your head snap and find yourself being sent to the infirmary."
"Alright, alright. I couldn't trace more than that as it's still under research. Though from what I could sense, it seems like he had lost what had been given to him."
"So it looks like the cure is already walking on the earth. Did you find the person?"
"Isn't that one your mate? Should you be able to find her on your own? Or rather 'him', since everyone thinks you are some weird person to have taken a male secretary instead of a female one."
"Let them think what they like. I like to maintain a low profile and not get in those scandals, especially since this company is going to make its grand debut on the Forum soon."
"As you wish, sire. I'm just here to do your bidding, as always."
When the board of directors arrived, my panic attack had come into full effect as I realised that I had been too distracted even though my eyes had been on the paper for a very long time.
I wished each and every one of them with a wide smile on my countenance despite the nervousness racking away at my nerves and nearly getting the better of me. I took a deep, long breath through my mouth and then exhaled it out very slowly. I did it three times as I watched the seats being filled in as more people, who didn't look like they were a part of the team of directors, filtered in.
I pressed the joints of every finger and knuckle and messaged the back of my neck to release the sudden built up of stress. Then I shook my hands as I read the last bit of details in the file I had without trying to look at the number of people I would be addressing.
The presentation started smoothly and went well enough although I would end up pausing quite a few times either because I forgot or because my words go caught in my dry throat when I looked at the audience.
'Take it easy,' I told myself. 'Just look at the CEO and do it as you did it this morning. Think that he's the only one to whom you have to present this.'
That is how I would do it unless my mind decided to blank out completely. Thankfully, that didn't happen even in my tired state.
The only time I got to rest was when I got to play a small clip that I had created for the vast audience. Amongst them, of course, sat my very own team as I asked myself for what joy they had been brought here to watch me speak to a mass when I had stage fright.
"It is rather irking," I heard the secretary whisper as he watched the presentation with somewhat great enthusiasm, "that the turned ones give so much trouble and don't get themselves treated or hospitalised with the spreading disease."
"That is why they are fun to deal with when you are right in front of them," murmured the demonic man in his suit of brown. "It makes me feel rather powerful after a really long time."
I shook my head lightly and unnoticeably to get back to the work after playing the video. They appeared to be speaking in riddles and yet I was diving into their small talk that I had no right to intrude into or sneak upon.
When the video had ended, I had picked up my weary self to stand up from my chair and walk to the podium again. But the timing had to be right for me to stumble like I was still in a stupor. The marker had to, most annoyingly, roll off near the front of the seats under someone's foot.
"I'm sorry," I said with a sigh as I heard the familiar snicker from the back of the hall. "Please excuse me for my awesome clumsiness today."
I walked to wards the person, who had already picked up the board marker for me. As he held it out with a smile on his face, I saw the eery shadow of my nightmare on his countenance.