Contessa

Log Two

My commute to work became longer after I moved back home to be with my foster parents, who were the closest thing to a family I had. They both died five months after I moved back home, mama had a bad heart, and dad he was just so heartbroken when she left us, he followed shortly after. I couldn't sell the house they left to me because it held so many fond memories. Like how they always threw me crazy-themed birthday parties. I remembered one year they threw me a hero party. Everyone dressed up as superheroes and we took down the evil ParTye Minion and saved the birthday cake. I was still grieving, but I had to move on with life because that's just what was expected of a model adult to do. One can't stay stuck in the past forever, as my foster dad used to say. Not that I can remember much about my past. Or my memories of my childhood before my foster parents were ones I wanted to desperately forget. I did always wonder what kind of people my actual family was like, though. If they ever missed me or were they even looking for me. That could explain the dreams and there was that voice I heard one night. Then again, I could have been going through a mental crisis and just needed sleep. I told myself that I would one day continue the search for my past and find the answers I needed, but as of right now keeping myself busy was my number one priority. It kept me from thinking about things I shouldn't be.

I'd had a long crummy day, not to mention I had a crummy long night for the past few nights. I just could not wait to go home and snuggle up to my new favorite novel. Maybe even call Alex, my boyfriend of two years,and see if he wanted to come over and catch a movie on the T.V., but I knew that more than likely that wouldn't happen.  He had been distanced over the last five months. I had no idea if we could even be called a couple anymore. We hadn't seen each other in so long and he barely even contacted me if I didn't contact him first. Even if I had invited him over, he'd find a reason to ask for a raincheck. I would more than likely be up until dawn with my face buried deep into my computer trying to finish work.

After a full year of grunt work, they finally gave me a project worth my time and abilities. Mr. Peterson, the head director of my project, was breathing down my neck most of the day suggesting our new product's presentation should be "Top notch" and "Never seen before". The stress from that alone was enough to put anyone in the hospital. He can be a little overbearing at times, but surprisingly I did well under all that pressure. Although, someone should slip some cold medicine into his coffee one day so he can get the much-needed nap he kept skipping.

A knock came on my door, and I heard my coworker, Sarah, quickly say to me as she made her way for the elevator,

"Good night, Contessa. See you tomorrow, okay." 

I yelled waving back at my empty doorway where she was just standing,

"Oh, good night, Sarah. Be safe on your way home." 

I gathered up the last of my files to place in my bag so I could go over them later. Then I sat at my desk and tried to shut down my computer. The company made it a new rule for everyone to have their computers shut down when they were going home for the day. I realized it was taking longer than it normally did and thought it was weird at first how it would not shut down, being that it was brand new and had freshly installed updates since that morning. It was my replacement for the last one that broke as requested by the CEO himself. I had to admit that sometimes being the fancy of a company boss had its moments. Although I always found a way to turn him down when he requested a date.

I tried everything I could think of including the new tricks I learned from James, one of the computer technicians on the fifth floor. The only thing it kept doing was showing a message saying 'One Moment Please...' in a small blue box. I eventually quit trying and just waited for it to do what it needed to do; figured I must have pressed too many buttons and it just needed a little more time to shut down. At least that was what I hoped was wrong.