One Page Stories

Anika MacCailin

It had been raining for a while now as Anika MacCailin stared out the window. She had no idea how long she had been sitting there, five minutes or maybe even five hours, in her boredom she had lost track.She was sitting in the waiting room of her parents' company, absentminded watching the raindrops slowly fall down the windowpane. Anika wasn't even sure why she was here, her parents had pulled her out of school that day to give her a tour of their accounting firm and introduced her to all the top tier executives and managers. She had introduced herself politely always shaking their outreached hands and answering all their questions with a practiced ease. The whole experience had been a waste of time in her opinion. Now that the day was drawing to a close she sat there impatiently waiting for  her parents to finish their meeting and they could go home. A part of her wondered why they had done this today specifically there was nothing important happening soon, not that she knew of at least. Anika decided it was most likely her parents showing her off, waiting for one of their associates to suggest a merger of their two families.Not wanting to dwell on that train of thought she chose to focus on the people on the ground below her, as her parents' office was on the 30thfloor of the building she could see the world below her with a bird's eye view. She watched cars drive down the streets, their windscreen wipers going back and forth as quickly as they were able. She watched the people on the side walk, most had umbrellas but occasionally she would spot a few people jogging through the crowd rushing to the cover of one of the high rise buildings out of the rain. Anika envied them on some level. Whenever she was in here it always made her feel uncomfortable but she wasn't sure why.

Anika didn't turn around when she heard the door open, she knew it would still take a while before they paid her any mind; they were too busy engaging in idle chatter. She had no interest in listening to them.Unlike the rest of her family numbers never really fascinated her,although she had inherited her family's talent for numbers and could even do complex equations in her head without much trouble thinking about a career that surrounded her with numbers made her shudder. A hand placed on her shoulder jolted Anika out of her thoughts, she turned to face her mother who had a disapproving look on her face. Apparently she had been calling her name a number of times and she hadn't responded. Anita stood up and followed her parents into the elevator that would take them down to the ground floor where a limousine would be waiting for them just as it always did. The fact that they hadn't said a word to her on the way down meant that Anika had done something wrong, she was going to get an earful when they reached the limo.

As soon as they we all safely in the limo Anika was right. Her parents were mad.

"How could you Anika, I was about to introduce you to one of our most important clients and you were just daydreaming away. Do you know how embarrassed your father and I were! You insulted them and us. I'm very disappointed in you, we brought you here so you could make contacts in the industry and network and you just smiled and pretended to care. Yes. We can tell when you're not paying attention, you might fool other people but it was blatantly clear to us. You should be more appreciative of what your father and I do for you. Not everyone is lucky enough to have the kind of opportunities you do. In just a few days we'll be attending a party hosted by one of our shareholders. You will be in attendance and you will be attentive and polite to everyone there. I will not have you tarnish our reputation." Anika's mother spoke in a flat monotonous tone.That's how she knew she was in major trouble. Her mother only spoke that calmly when she was majorly ticked off at her. While her father didn't speak she could see the simmering disappointed look in his dark eyes.

"I promise I'll be on my best behaviour at the party. You won't have to worry about me being a disappointment." Anika tried to hide the bitter tone in her voice but failed miserably. If she had her way she wouldn't be going to this stupid party, she'd much rather be at home curled up in the library reading a book. Parties were not her thing. Her mother sighed exasperatedly, she just wished her child would just behave. The rest of the trip back home was in an uncomfortable silence.

When they arrived at home Anika quickly retreated to her room. She had no intention of listening to her parents tell her how much of a disappointment she was again. The lectures were getting old, and if they complained about her avoiding them, she could always use the excuse of going to study that would keep them quiet for a while. When she reached her room she quickly locked the door, just in case. Anika practically fell on her perfectly made bed with her right arm draped over her eyes. Today had been long and tedious, she really hated dealing with accountants; they were always just so boring. Anika groaned, remembering that she had to go to that stupid party.Stockholder parties always meant, long elegant dresses,high heels, weird expensive foods and worst of all, socialising with rich entitled people and their bratty children. I suppose she couldn't complain about the last one as she and her family would also fall under that category as well but that didn't mean she enjoyed interacting with them. She sat up from her bed when she heard a noise coming from outside her door, before she could get caught out not studying by her parents, especially her mother, she rushed over to the desk and pulled out her mathematics textbook and her notebook.She figured that with them mad at her it would be the best if her parents saw her working on the subject the coveted the most. As soon as she had placed pen to paper the door opened. It was her father,she relaxed slightly since he was always more understanding than her mother was.

"I know that we were harsh on you on the way back home but we just want the best for you, I know that you clearly have no interest in accounting but it would be good for you, it's a stable job, you get well paid and since you inherited our head for numbers you won't find it difficult. We only want what's best for you. Think about it, this party will do wonders for you, you'll end up with connections, and in this world connections are everything in business." Her father offered her a reassuring smile before leaving the room, closing the door on his way out. Anika closed the book and turned to look out the window to her left. It was raining again, did it ever even stop? She wasn't sure any more. A long sigh escaped her lips, maybe they were right, perhaps it was better if she just accepted the advice and become an accountant for her parents' firm.As her father said, it would be an easy job. She stood up from the chair and stretched before walking over to her bedside table. She tuned on her radio and started to listen to the sounds of Vivaldi's Four Seasons: Winter. Whenever she felt stressed or frustrated classical musical always helped her wind down. Anika let the music wash over her and she felt calm, as each note relaxed her. Idly she closed her eyes and twirled around the room in time with the music.It felt liberating to do something simply because she felt like it.The most slipped by quickly as one of the maids knocked on her door informing her that dinner was being served in the dining room. Her face fell at those words and walked over to the radio switching it off. She then quickly left her bedroom and made her way to where her parents would be patiently waiting for her in the dining room. Anika knew she had to hurry as her mother could not stand tardiness but instead of rushing to the dining room she decided to take a leisurely pace as she was feeling a bit more rebellious than normal. Her mother was already unhappy with her so she thought there'd be no harm in taking a bit longer than normal. As she walked Anika thought of something that would really annoy her mother. In that moment she decided that she wasn't going to the stockholder's party.