Last Night

Part 12

Monday morning came and with it so did work. I arrived at my usual time, painfully bright and early. As the minutes ticked by others filed into their cubicles and booted up their computers. I always put in headphones to drown out the noises of morning greetings and the occasional gossip, but this morning I needed it to silence my brain. It was almost that day. I couldn't believe that it had snuck up on me. I was usually so aware, so sensitive to it that when I logged onto my computer and saw the date flash across the screen, I nearly spilled my notes and a few folders onto the floor. I had a vague sense that it was approaching thanks to my mother's annoying call, but I didn't realize it was this week. I had barely thought about him at all since all this nonsense with Ian started.

By ten, I unplugged my ears and stretched back in my roller chair. Janiel continued plowing away on whatever draft she was working, but her key strikes had almost a violent smack to them. It wasn't the soft click, click, tick like every other day. Today was tac, tac, thwack, tic, tac, thwack.

I glanced over at her, but she too had headphones in and seemed to give off the 'Do not approach or death' atmosphere so I decided I ought to walk down to Tiffany and Trish's corner. Maybe they knew if she'd had a rough weekend too.

Even from one cubicle away, I could tell something was wrong.

Normally two sets of keyboards would be ticking away and yet, there was only one. I also couldn't hear Tiffany's music blasting through her headphones. She claimed she needed it that loud because of too many rock concerts in her youth. I figured she just wanted to permanently have an empty cubicle next to her so she could sneakily chat with Trish whenever some juicy gossip came up. With neither gossip nor loud rock music, it was obvious she wasn't here.

"Hey Trish, got a minute?" I asked, stepping inside her seemingly private space. "Where's Tiffany and what's up with Janiel?"

Trish never wore headphones, she said she didn't need them with Tiffany's music loud enough to be heard across the way. Her typing stopped and she slowly turned to face me. "Nobody told you yet?"

I shook my head, confused that she was being so hesitant. She practically never withheld information like this. It wasn't her style.

"I figured Janiel would've told you by now. She must be taking it really hard." Her eyes gazed in the direction of Janiel's desk and a worried half-smile crept onto her lips. "Tiffany's sick. Really sick."

"Oh my gosh, what happened?" I asked in a frenzied whisper. Fear squeezed my heart like a wet paper towel causing my chest to ache. Something nagged at the back of my mind, but I cut it off with another question. "Is there anything she needs? What can I do?"

"Find the asshole and get him arrested."

I cocked my head to the side. "What?"

"Some dickhead roofied her." She forced the words through her teeth. Her hands clenched into fists. "I should have realized she wouldn't have gone that overboard. Nathan was beside himself when I called yesterday. She was still getting sick. I haven't called yet today because I know what I'm going to hear. One of my friends in high school experienced it. She wasn't even drinking alcohol. She was the goody-two-shoes of my group and our DD. Monsters who prey on others like that need to be thrown across burning coals."

I flinched, noticing the tears welling up in her eyes, but she wasn't sad at all. There was a fire that burned blood-red, the same one I saw consuming Janiel. I tried to think of something to say. Nothing came to mind though. That ache in my chest grew and echoed as if the whole cavity had hollowed out.

Without another word, I returned to my desk and picked up where I left off. Some small question squirmed in a dark corner of my mind, but when I put my headphones back in, everything was silenced by the crashing of cymbals and the base drum.