The After Parade

4 (Before)

I stared at the placard encased in the glass. "Dr. Chit Mine, Ph.D." it read. I decided to sneak into his office. It was after hours and the janitors weren't due for another 10 minutes, I would have to hurry.

All along the wall were pictures of him and the various members of his rowing crew. Everyone looked the same. Khakis, polo shirts, boat shoes and smug smiles that would make one want to slap the shit out of them for being so...smug. Half of the contents of the sand garden on his desk found their way beneath the stapler just to the left of a vase full of dead flowers. OK?

There were six drawers to choose from. The top two screamed "pencil storage" and "secret gun compartment" at me so I went straight for the bottom right. It was locked. BINGO. The paper clip technique that you see in all the movies was never something I took the time to learn. I was regretting that lack of YouTube education in this moment. I whipped out the Gerber that I kept in my boot and man handled the lock off of the drawer.

Again, BINGO. Dr. Mine is a man of excessive pride so of course he has documentation of everything he's laid a finger on. After 2 minutes of sifting through publications, protocols and plans, I found what I was looking for: "Action: ReOrbing

Status: Classified"

I skimmed through all the documents. There were a lot of words, but not many of them made sense. It's not that I didn't understand it, the words that were strung together just hit me as being illogical. This was just stupid. Using nuclear weapons to target the plates near the Earth's core in an attempt to force them to shift and...

"What do you think you're doing?" Justine the janitor said as she posed in the middle of the door frame.

Shit.

I refrained from making any sudden movements as to not appear suspicious. "I left something in here earlier...how has your day been?" I tried to recover quickly, but she was quicker.

"Then why are you searching in the dark?" She spat softly. She spoke quietly, but the ice in her eyes was loud. Or was it fire. I don't know, but it was fucking nerve grinding. "My day was actually going pretty well until I just stumbled into your mess. WHAT are you doing in here?!" she was yelling now.

I'm not sure if she was concerned for the likes of me or herself. There are plenty of whispers going around about Justine the janitor. I never took the time to follow any particular storyline because I really don't give a shit, but I may be able to use it to my advantage...

"Like I said, I'm looking for something. Don't worry Justine, I'm not looking to expose your...you know..." I said with a smirk on my face.

"You wouldn't! I mean...you can't possibly...you know what Aasha? I never even saw you tonight, ok? Just keep quiet please." She pleaded.

"Fine" I nodded as I smiled. I didn't know what in the shit she was talking about, but she didn't need to know that right now.