I backed away immediately after taking or perhaps snatching the pen from his hand. The shocked expression on my face elicited a quizzical look from his countenance. I bowed my head, apologising for tripping backwards suddenly.
'How many excuses will you make?' asked my brain. 'Do you want to dig your grave already?'
'I wish I could,' I answered with a slow shake of my head and a facepalm that looked like I was clutching my head to the audience.
The hallucinations were already getting worse from one day to another, and it started to make me question my sanity. I wanted to claim that it was due to the lack of sleep, but the fact that there could be so many of those creatures lurking in the room without anyone's knowledge made me anxious and worried.
For the welfare of the people to know about the situation they were in, I wanted to hunt for the answers myself and try to get them out for the safety of the people. I felt that they needed to know their danger and prepare themselves rather than live in an ignorant world.
'Do you know what you are asking for, Smarty Pants?' asked the voice in my head. 'If they got to know about it, there would be no less of a massacre in the world and the people will just hide in their rooms and be too afraid to come out of it. They would die of starvation and that would surely be the end of this world when the beasts will have no cure nor food for themselves.'
'Then tell me why I have been shown this world?' I snapped at it, now realising how much easier my world would have been if my body hadn't been resistant to the memory serum. Now I had an extra load of worries to carry than I already had. There was that was right in front of me and now I felt frightened of making an erroneous mistake that couldn't be corrected and would spoil my view in the eyes of the public.
'Stop overthinking,' I told myself. 'You will get through it as you got through everything else. You just need to finish the task in front of you first before diving into another one.'
With a deep breath, I stepped on the podium and restarted from where I had left out, trying to knock sense in my head whenever it went back to thinking what had happened this morning and looking at the people in whose faces I had seen the nightmare resurface.
When the event ended, I gave out a huge sigh while folding the papers and making way for the CEO to speak his words on the presentation and the company he had been entrusted with to handle. But my mind was elsewhere to be listening to anything he was saying.
'If there are werewolves on this land, just why am I seeing them now?' I thought. 'They should have been lesser in number so that they wouldn't attract the attention of many people, but it looks like there are many as that glint in their eyes was very evident. Or maybe it was really just my brain making things up from the lack of sleep, except for what had actually happened this morning.'
'Do you know the meaning of the appearance of such beasts suddenly in a region?' asked the voice, making me furrow my brows in deep thought. 'The only you remember reading and keeping in that strong memory bank of yours is the appearance of such creatures in an isolated area and the last thing you remember seeing was only the appearance of them in an area near which you were attacked. Visiting that aisle might trigger something.'
'You do know that it is a very dangerous thing to do, given the fact that I'm weaponless and I am vulnerable to being eaten or turned into one of them very easily. That one fatal bite is enough to change me into a vicious beast that I would rather not be. It would rather be wiser to get them to control their abilities as a beast instead of killing without a second's thought. That is more damaging as it will only increase the number of beasts in the country.'
'You need to go there to see a big truth for yourself and know what is in that area that the King of the Lycans wants to hide from everyone's eyes. Once you find the answer, you'll know what your purpose is.'
My head whirled around and turned very heavy with the thoughts that I nearly dozed off from all the things running in my head. With a slight shake of my head, I was able to wake up and clearly hear the words that had been meant for me, but I had somehow missed them.
"Ms Denver!" whisper-yelled the secretary behind me as I had spaced out at the wrong time.
"Yes, sir?" I returned in an oblivious tone since I couldn't recollect a word I had heard of the CEO's elaborate speech that lasted for quite some time. I couldn't believe that I had lost track of time and had dived in a world that probably had nothing to do with me, but had me pulled into it.
"You have been called to give out the final views on the project," he said in a sour tone. "For waking you up, you need to pay —"
I was already up from there and walking towards the grim-looking demon. I didn't want to hear more about the secretary's strange games where he made me pay for such petty things when it was surely beneficial for me.
'This is a give-and-take world, darling,' said the voice in my head. 'You can't expect any less of a beast who is money hungry, can you?'
'I wonder why couldn't werewolves be like that at times instead of feeding on human's and turning their living carcasses to one of their kind,' I fired back at the smart comment it had decided to make when it had gotten me into enough trouble by making me think about the day's events and answering my questions at that time than any later.
I bowed my head when I saw the demon's stare burn my skin as lasers would. I couldn't meet his eyes as I realised that I had come under the spotlight again when I had already explained each small detail.
'It's a small part,' I said when I read the paper he hand passed me when he stood on the podium beside me, not budging from there as he wanted to do this part of the presentation of it with me.
"I will explain and ask you some of the questions," he whispered as he turned the slide to one I had not created. "Your only responsibility is controlling the slides and ensuring the right one is on when I'm explaining the graphs."
"There's something called a laser remote controller," I muttered under my breath to have him glare at me. I pursed my lips and just turned around to see the presentation.
I had to somehow time the slides with his speech when I didn't know a word about his speech since I wasn't provided with the script. Now I had become as alert as a dear who had sensed a predator in its surroundings and was quietly trying to find its escape without giving away its location.
His explanation was fairly good and simple, making it easy for a simple audience to understand. He used very few elaborate words to explain some of the slopes, and for a few moments, I was impressed that he knew something about finance though he claimed to know nothing.
I felt slightly defeated as my language had been a little complicated since I had to present many things, not the history, the present and the future, but about the global market and its two-way impact. It made me feel a little like a fool since I realised that not every one of them would be acquainted with the terminologies I had used.
The strange fact was that the CEO was explaining a few of those things again but only with the company's prospect in mind. When I saw them nodding their heads in understanding, I felt a sting arise in my chest like my position was pointless.
'Can you not think so much?' my brain demanded of me. 'You did alright, and it was to the point. And the terms you used are utilised fairly often in businesses. The only thing that matters was if, amongst them, there are pure finances who made head and tail out of this presentation.
'If people don't know basic terms, then not even the CEO can get to them without them knowing about these. That would be like teaching kids, something which we can't do now.'
'I only hope you're right about it,' I told it and left it at that.
The CEO was great in getting work done out of his people. Or maybe, he did it like that since he didn't know much about the topic himself. I felt certain that it was the latter since there was not even one question that was asked by him to me. By that, he had meant that he would make me answer the questions raised by the audience.
'Hah, this devil of a man,' I scoffed. 'Who does he think he is to make me answer the questions that are directed at him?'
'He is your boss and you can't question him,' fired my brain at me like I was being stupid for asking such a question.
'He is a leader so he must handle the situation as one. Why am I being made to answer all of those questions when those are for him?'
'Perhaps, he is testing you and your skills. Didn't he say so yesterday that he was going to check how skillfully you will be working as the head of the department?'
'I only hope that is true. But with the way he is handling things, it doesn't seem like it one bit. He should be a leader to the people, helping them out, and not a boss who gets work done out of people and does nothing himself.'
When I felt the strong gaze of someone on me, I realised that I had been standing there dazed out again. Now I felt like slapping myself so hard for forgetting the reality of where I was standing.
I looked at his angry face and moved my finger to change the slide when I heard the question being repeated. I almost made another blunder, but I was glad that I was not in the spotlight in the dark room to be called out for my near error.
I answered it fluently when the light fell on me, without missing a point. I was glad that the light blinded me enough so that I couldn't see the audience and get freaked out. But my superstitious mind kept thinking that if things went too smoothly, it would only mean that more trouble lay for me.
When the whole thing finally ended, I knew that the wrath I would be facing from the CEO for spacing out was right around the corner. I hid well near the backstage, trying to quickly arrange the wires back neatly and take away the laptop when I found the chance.
Just when I found the perfect opportunity to slip away by tiptoeing towards the exit, the CEO had to notice me whilst talking to his secretary and call me out. I could only curse under my breath for such perfect timing.
"Is it anything urgent, sir?" I asked in a slightly impatient voice, which got his sharp eyes on me. I could only curl my lips up for being so slippery with my tongue. The lack of sleep was getting to me rather quickly.
"You did well," he complimented, taking me by surprise. "For a sleep-deprived woman."
That turned the small smile on my face into a sour expression. He loved to spoil the happy moment with curt and hurtful remarks.
'You do know that the deprivation of my sleep was because of you, right?' I said in my head, wishing I could have the guts to voice them out loud without screwing myself.
"What's the emergency that you have to run soon from here?" he asked with a tilt of his head, surveying me with his strong gaze.
"I need to use the restroom," I answered quickly, pointing towards the exit.
'And avoid the secretary's games,' I finished in my head whilst pursing my lips.
When he dismissed me with his hand, I dashed for the door without waiting for a single second.
"You can't leave until you have paid for your fares!" said the man in his black suit, still claiming for money like I was a thief that had stolen it.
But I was already out with the hope that it was out of a normal human's earshot and could be easily ignored. I prayed that it would last me for a good day as I was certainly not up to play such money-grubbing games.