Who Has the Time?

Chapter 3- 1884

I jumped back from Mr. Layole's grip and let my back hit the elevator, what was that?

"Miss Bernard, are you alright?" Braydon asked as he gave me a weird look. He put the back of his hand on my forehead to check my temperature.

"Are you sure the doctor released you?" He asked again when I didn't respond to his first question. I pushed my hair behind my ears and laughed.

"I am so sorry Mr Layole, I just had a second of deja vu. It won't happen again." I smiled as I just waited for the elevator to hit my floor. When we hit the 18th floor the doors dinged open. Braydon held his hand out gesturing me to step out of the elevator. I got out and took a look around. There was this aesthetically pleasing look about this floor. It was very modern with a lot of different shades of Gray. It was simple yet so elegant. There were only 2 other people on my floor and it was Braydon, his assistant, and me. His assistants name was Randy, who has scraggly red hair and light blue eyes. He reminded me of someone, I jsut couldn't put my finger on it.

"Miss Bernard you will-" he started but I quickly cut him off. "Carolina." I said.

"Excuse me?" He said turning around with a puzzled look on his face.

"I think it would be easier if you called me Carolina. Miss Bernard is really formal, if that's what you want to call me then that works to." I ramble, realizing that of course it was fucking formal! I'm at a formal job! I mentally face palmed myself and waited for Braydon to reply.

"Miss Bernard. Your job will be to design new business cards for everyone in this office. You will also be helping me with company technology that revolves around PowerPoint and so on. If Randy happens to need to step out, you will step in. Capiche?" He asks as he folds his arms over his sport coat. I nod my head and he continues walking. I follow behind him and wave at his assistant Randy.

My office is situated next to his office and it looks like a conference room that they scrambled into an office. There is windows aroudn me so it feels like I'm in a fish bowl. I walk in and take a brief look at the view. It is breathtaking, I am in the biggest bubble of the world. New York City.

Mr. Layole must've noticed me staring because he put his hand on my shoulder and the same damn thing from earlier happened again.

1884

"Mary Anne Smith, you can't keep running off like that." The man that had a slight resemblance to Braydon said. He had long hair and it was covered with a cowboy hat. Mary was wearing a prairie style dress with pink floral embroidered flowers.

"John you may be the sheriff, but I still am going to run free." Mary mocked. Damn she really didn't know how to listen.

"I, Johnathan Fred Pope, will not gate you in Mary. But you need to understand that if the people of this town see you act like this, they will question my authority and such." He said with a slight southern drawl. Mary rolled her eyes and made her way down to the river.

Johns eyes widened as Mary looked him dead in the eye and jumped in. John watched Mary flap around in the water, I could very easily see that Mary needs help. I wanted to scream but nothing was coming out. John then noticed her cries were not ones of laughter, they were terror. The dress that Mary was wearing had begun to weigh her down. She was going to sink like a brick.

John dove into the lake and dragged Mary to the side. She was gasping for air and John was hitting her back as if she was a baby that needed to burp. This was too hard to watch.

"God damnit Mary! Why are you so stubborn!" He scolded as he began to strip her of her outer wear.

-

I didn't even notice that Braydon walked away. Who the hell is John Pope and Mary Smith. The only explanation for this is that I didn't get enough sleep... I got situated at my desk and looked to see if anyone was looking and logged on. I went to the google search bar and typed in, "Johnathan Fred Pope, Sheriff" only a couple articles came up and they were just obituaries and accomplishments. I saw one thing that caught my eye.

The name on one of the articles had the name Mary flagged. I quickly clicked it and there was an image of those 2 at the lake... the same thing I saw. The story had said that Mary had been sneaking around with the town sheriff and was so ashamed that people found out, that she tried to drown herself... that wasn't what happened? A tap on the glass in-front of my knocked me out of my research, it was Randy point at some papers in his hand. I waved at him to come in.

"What can I do you for Randy?" I asked trying to give him my warmest smile.

"Uh- Miss Bernard, Caroline. Mr. Layole wanted to ask how his business card in particular was going and if they have a personal touch? He also wants to request your presence for lunch tomorrow." Randy stuttered as he kept fiddling his hands.

"Tell Mr. Layole they will be done in 10 and that I can meet him for lunch. Thanks Randy, you don't need to call me Miss Bernard. Randy would you like to go to lunch today?" I asked, hoping he would want to be my first friend here. Randy quickly glanced at Braydons office and shook his head yes.  I gave Randy a thumbs up and he scurried out of my office. He reminded me of a mix between a Chucky and Chester from the TV show RugRats.

I quickly clicked out of my tabs and went to a section to start designing a business card for Braydon. I close a sleek silver card with the building as the background. Then in bold letters I wrote "Braydon Layole, CEO of Layole Operations." I then proceeded to put down his contact information and a picture of him in the corner. I then emailed him to get the final thumbs up to be published.

I waited for a little while and then my inbox dinged, Braydon literally just sent me a thumbs up. I shook my head and got them printed. Now I wait for lunch with Randy.