Running Away

The grinding and pounding of the machine echoed in the concrete room. Javier stood quietly, scribbling notes to himself as the others stood around talking amongst themselves. The tedious task of resolving another issue fell upon him, and all it took was five minutes of adjusting a few dials, which he has shown the machine operators a hundred times before. Jotting down the final thoughts, he tapped the pen against the page and closed it firmly. He walked out of the room with a huff while the others spoke down on him as if he couldn’t hear them.

Politics is never a fun game to play but being in my late 20s meant no time to worry about it. Javier was just here to do his job and move on, sitting in his desk mindlessly bored. He didn’t have much to do and all he could was sit and daydream. He dreamed of the day he would win the lottery but never bought a ticket cause knew it was a scam. He hoped that his stock portfolio would skyrocket and he’d have a mansion with 20 rooms but he only invest 100$. He was hoping he’d get into some big lawsuit where he’d get half the companies earning but even then, he always played it safe and never dared leave his company. He had it too good.

He barely sat with enough to cover the bills. Each day he kept stretching himself thinner and thinner trying to figure out some way to get out of the bills and calls coming to him. His wife was quitting her full time job so she could be a stay at home mother. They were going to adopt another child and he told her he could cover the bills but without her income he could barely handle the mortgage and grocery cost as it was. He sat silently, waiting for the clock to strike three so he could spend another afternoon hoping for an impossible miracle.

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Ashley was in the closet of an office her boss had shared with the custodian supply. She smirked knowing how great it would be tell him off for all the times he made inappropriate comments to her. He never respected her marriage and made it all the sweeter to know she would never have to deal with him again. Her boss came through the door.

“Sorry about that. You leaving is putting us in quite a situation”, he muttered, sitting in his fold up chair.

“It’s alright! I hope it’s not too hard replacing me!” she sang.

“Well, besides this being your last day, the district manager actually wanted to speak with both of us before you head out. Is that alright?”

“Oh yes! I’m glad he could make time to see before I head off!”.

She held back her smile. A light knock came to the door as the district manager walked into the room. His head looked heavy as it hung like a rock from his neck. The room felt tense and heavy. Ashley kicked her feet happily.

“Mrs. Lopez, I’ve been receiving your emails and I am here to tell you now that we will not be intimidated by bogus claims”. Her heart dropped. She had been sending the district manager active proof of how the manager had been a little bit more friendly than most with certain pictures she received and texts and even emails! She couldn’t believe he was going to back up such a sleazeball.

“How can you stand there and tell me that what he did was right? You saw the messages and saw the –”

He threw his hands up and shook his head at her. “I don’t know what I saw Mrs. Lopez but I can tell you that you better stop spreading slander or you’ll have a lawsuit on your hands!”

Ashley took a deep breath. She didn’t know what to do. She thought the district manager would do the right thing and at least write him up. She was hoping for a firing but as she saw was a man ready to protect another perverted man. She was ready to give up.

“You know, if you want to sue me for trying to defend myself for feeling violated? Fine! I will see you in court then!” She stood ready to leave when the district manager said “Wait!”

“Look, we can’t afford another lawsuit. I’m honestly not sure how to resolve this because we can’t hire another manager when we have a high turn around and limited resources. However the company is willing to ‘compensate’ you if you’re willing to relinquish all evidence you have of this incident.”

She hadn’t even considered monetary compensation. She thought it was some sort of rumor she heard of on the news. She didn’t know how she felt about letting go of an incident that really bothered her. However, feeling her hesitation, the district manager looked at her with grimace.

“We’re prepared to offer you $20,000”.

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Javier pulled up to the cafe. He was hoping the menu wasn’t too expensive but his wife said she had news. He grabbed his little black book sitting on the passenger seat. Was almost full, he’d probably have to get a new one. He walked towards the cafe but didn’t see her car anywhere. She must be running late. Today was her last day anyways.

He grabbed a table in the front to see her when she arrived. He took out his phone and started to scroll casually. He always made sure to scroll away from his banking app. The negative charges were too hard to look at. He had always boosted to others he was fine. He had investments here and there but in reality it was eating away at him that he couldn’t bring it to tell his wife. He knew she hated her job and if he told her the truth she would probably leave him. He just wanted to be a good husband but it wasn’t easy when he kept adding people to his list of debtors.

He looked around, only seeing a few cars in the lot. She was only 30 minutes late. It wasn’t something to worry about. She was a slow driver anyways. He tapped on his notebook, his thoughts eating away at him when one inspired him to pick up his pen and open his notebook. He jotted down those inspired dreams, the deepest hidden treasures of his mind. The only escape in all his damning reality, emotional poetry escaping into creative strokes of each line. For him, it was the last resort to keep fighting. He wanted this book to change their lives. One more stroke of the pen to keep him going to make a chance for them to be free of their struggles.

He had been sitting for quite a while. It was over an hour past their time. Where was she?

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As the phone rang in her bag, Ashley kept throwing clothes in her bag rushing as fast as she could. She had been planning it for a while but had no idea how to do it. She had her chance. She wanted to be free. Now she was.