Just My Cat and I Tonight

Just My Cat and I Tonight - A Waste of Energy

My eyes couldn’t shift from the page as I stared down the familiar names scattered across the page. Sweat pounded off my hands as I turned the page and saw the by line I didn’t want to find. By Claire Brooks. My heart started to race, sweat flowed up my hands. I couldn’t think straight, so I reluctantly brought a copy of the newspaper and headed straight for the haven of the hotel. My mind was fogged as I tried to make sense of why my name was in the Morning London. One reason kept creeping into my mind; Jasper. However my loyalty couldn’t quiet accept that he that, or I just didn’t want to accept it. My clicked when I remember the day Jasper had to do filing and figure if he did give the articles to the newspaper that would have been how he got hold of them.

My thoughts were scattered, however my body knew exactly what to do and I raced up to Jasper’s apartment and bang on the door. “Jasper, are you in there?” I cried.

I heard slight movement from the other side of the door and quickly shouted, “I know you’re in there, open up,”

Jasper hesitated, then the door, slowly opened, relieving an innocent looking Jasper.

“Claire, what are you doing here,” he said, in a too polite tone.

“I just came because I wanted to ask you something,” I replied all too innocently.

“Look Claire, I know why you are here,”

“Okay, then my next question is why?”

“Well, I just didn’t think we were working out and I didn’t have the guts to tell her; I know kind of over lapped a bit, but I was planning to tell her,”

I stared at him, trying to fight the overwhelming urge to hurl something at his head.

“What are you taking about?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the fact you gave all our articles for the London spread to London Morning, however please enlighten me about your ‘overlap’, it seems most intriguing, however not surprising,” I shot back sarcastically.

“Maybe I should save that for another time,” he replied, trying to mask his guilt with a pathetic attempt to forge a smile out of me.

“How did you get those articles?” I asked, however the moment I finish the sentence, it hits. The day Jasper was doing Jasmine’s filing. “Jasmine’s filing,” I muttered to myself.

“Yeah, I sent them to the London Morning the next morning,” he quietly replied, confidently moving into the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water.

“Why Jasper?”

Silenced followed. The question hung in the air, waiting for somebody to snatch it.

“Okay, I’ll tell you why,” Jasper said, looking directly at me, “When I told Eric Richerson that none of you were willing to take him up on his offer he asked me to get him all the articles, as well as mine  and he offered double pay and a job,”

“A job?” Stupidly the first thought that crept its way into my mind was how unfair and second how could he be so selfish, however that wasn’t uncharacteristic of him.  I wanted to cry, it suddenly hit me out of know where that all my hard work didn’t matter anymore, Jasper had taken it and used it.

Losing all control of my body, I stood up and headed for the door, trying to fight the desperate tears from falling down my eyes, not wanting to give Jasper the satisfaction of seeing me cry.

“Claire wait,” He stood up and followed me to the door, “I’ve always wanted to live here, and you know that. I just can’t keep living the way I am, going through the routine, I needed a change. I want to be successful in this industry as much as you do, Claire,” he continued, forcefully.

I pulled the handle and looked back at Jasper and said, “Sorry, I didn’t know to be successful and have a life you had to be a pathetic social climber,” Then a swung the door shut right into his face.

It took me a couple of moments to regather and compose myself after the outburst. I stood in the middle of the hall, dumbfounded with myself. I had never blown up in front of someone like that. My conflicted and confused conscience wanted to helplessly ran back and beg for forgiveness, however my legs and other supportive body parts took me back to my room where I consulted the sanity of my mind.

After thirty minutes of conflicting thought, I resolved the matter by agreeing with myself not to think about it and focus on the damage of the newspaper.

Matthew emailed us to assemble for an emergency meeting in five minutes. I quickly composed myself by having a quick shower to wash away the signs of a tangled conscience and slipped on the first appropriate clothing item I could muster.

I boarded the tube and sat blankly glancing out the window at the vast chasm of darkness that clothed the train. The events of the last twenty-four hours replayed in my head like the slides of an old movie. I remembered the smile that I had once fallen for, the hair that I gushed over my morning coffee and the feeling of shame that knocked me out as I knew that I had trusted him as a friend.

I arrived at the office ten minutes later and the elevator climbed to the 30th floor. A bing announced my arrival; however there was the same electric haze present that consumed the employees every day in their work. I followed the path to Matthews’s office where I found the rest of the team already talking seriously with Matthew. No one mention my late arrival.

“Claire take a seat,” Matthew pointed to a chair. “Now to address the matter at hand, I’m sure you have all seen your articles posted in the rival’s newspaper so I won’t repeat the details on the incident. I have reviewed the details of the incident and have come to the conclusion that the newspaper simply cannot afford to peruse the matter, however you all will be given the money you are due,”

Silence filled the room like a toxic gas. My heart sank when I fully realised what effect Jaspers actions had on the company.  The past month had been a waste; the cost of sending five journalists together would not see a return. I could decode the intense pain engraved on Matthew’s face, we all could. No spoke for fear that he would it would force the flood gates to open. The silence was deafening, however Leila soon broke it, “Do we know who sold the stories?”

Matthews’s facial tone twitched into a further degree of despair and that’s when I knew.  Matthew was a world class editor, he knew that Jasper was the one behind the crimes, he knew about the offer and the schemes. In fact, he had most likely experienced all this before.  

“The police were investigating, but I have decided against legal action so there was no reason to investigate the case further,”

Leila did not question his judgement and the room again fell into a deeper and mournful silence. Finally, Matthew gave some hollow information about tomorrow’s flight and dismissed us. We left the office and as I closed the door I curiously snatched a last glance back at Matthew only to see a small droplet of water run away from his cheeks.

A/N Sorry I have not updated in a while, however I hoped you enjoyed this chapter, thanks for reading.