Punch to the Gut

Fuck me

Veronica May stepped out of her cozy apartments that housed her cute and cuddly- sphynx cat, who preferred fish pate cat food instead of meat pates and started walking down the salt covered sidewalks of 105 West and 73rd Street, New York, New York. She wrestled with her scarf that was around her neck, it was there for more fashion purposes than keeping her warm, and tucked her hands inside of her armpits when the sharp winds of winter blew past her face- feeling like the cheap makeup brush she used to apply powder to her face.

She had job interviews at several places today so she made sure she was dressed as professionally as she could get with her limited closet and her makeup was concrete on her face to ensure it would last the day. She had many stops which included: a magazine company, which owned and edited and produced many of the popular magazines- an eco-friendly farming company, and even one renewable resource company- which she had her fingers crossed on because after internships were over the pay was beyond decent. After college, she scored a job as one of the editors of a smaller magazine company, in New York, after dedicating two years of her time there, for less pay than she deserved, she was given only one month's advanced pay before she was let go- that was three months ago. Ever since then her mother had been helping her out by picking off some money from her retirement and trying to convince her to just come home, her home was in Pennslyvania, and Veronica had made no plans to head back anytime soon.

Veronica arrived near her first job interview location an hour earlier than she had planned, because she was so afraid of being late she was up early- so she stopped by a coffee shop and tried to calm her nerves with a chai tea, but while she sat there sipping, and occasionally staring at the cute boy behind the counter- all she could do was worry more- so after adjusting her skirt and checking her stockings for holes in the small mirror in the bathroom (she would have to hop on her short heels to check her butt to make sure there were no embarrassing stains) she headed across the street into Bryers industries, a renewable energy company, exactly 22 minutes early.

She caught her reflection again in the shiny marble counter while she spoke to the blonde man behind the desk and tried to fix her hair while trying her best to be unnoticed.

"Hi how are you-" She had beat him to saying it and the man smiled quickly recognizing her nervous face and shifting eyes- he had been seeing them all week in people coming in for interviews for the minimal ten job openings.

The ten job openings opened unexpectedly when a small group of people were caught directing up to 5% of funds coming in from China, Japan, Korea and etc- to their own bank accounts.

As minimal and stupid as this sounds- this group of people were actually very smart- originally they only took about 2% of the funds, at random dates and times so that it was virtually unnoticeable- but after 2 years they got comfortable and created a pattern, without even noticing. How and when they took the money was still smart- and still very hard to spot, but CEO of Bryers industries, Raffe Bryers, was smarter.

"Are you here for the 7 o'clock interview?" He asked politely, glancing down the time in the corner of his small computer screen.

"No- I'm actually here for the 7:20 interview," Veronica smiled back nervously- running her tongue over her front teeth once she stopped.

"What is your name"

"Veronica May- M-a-y May," She smiled nervously again and the man, whose name tag read Jon, tapped at his keyboard seemingly slow then activated what looked like a key card then gestured towards the elevator while he handed it to her.