This was an assignment that I had in Creative Wiriting and I wanted know if it was good. It has the classic comic book story line with some of my own orginal ideas. Please Review!
"Im sorry, but we just can't fund these kinds of experiments. What would our investors think?
Ms. Keam in the past 8 months you have not presented us one idea that is realistic as far as practicality and cost. Quite frankly we aren't sure of your motives and that worries us"
"But" I tried to get a word in edge wise but Mr. Grew, my boss, put up his hand to stop me.
"I'm sorry but we are going to have to terminate your employment."
"What!" I shrieked. I was completely flabbergasted
"You're firing me?" Mr. Grew jumped at my outburst.
I was coming unglued. They are firing me!Tears sprung to my eyes. I quickly blinked them away. I did not want to cry in front of them.
"You just have not proven to us that there is any reason to keep you on board at Hema Industries. You have an hour to clean out your space and to leave the premise." He paused. The curl in his thin lips suggested that he was enjoying this. "Or we will do it for you."
I could feel my life toppling over me and I could do nothing to stop it. I looked into Mr. Grew's eyes; he showed no remorse, no apology, he was looking at me like I was a discarded piece of food that he had just chewed up and spat out because he didn't like the taste. In that moment I knew exactly what to do.
I ran, sniffling, from the room and made my way down the sad, mauve coloured hallway with a new purpose, my shock and sadness growing into red hot anger with every click of my heel to the linoleum flooring.
Once I got to my office my hands were shaking with rage. I had to try three time times to turn the knob. I swung the door open so hard that when it hit the door jam the venation blinds clattered to the ground. I didn't bother turning on the lights. I liked the dark.
My hands fluttered across the room in search of what I needed. As soon as my fingers wrapped around the glass vial containing my life's work, I smiled. I pulled that cork out of the tube and pressed the cold glass to my lips.
'Was this really what I wanted to do?' I asked myself 'YES it is' I tipped the tube back and let the cool liquid drip down my throat. It tasted like pennies. I scrunched my face in disgust 'I should've added flavouring' I thought grimly.
I let the vial fall to the floor, watching it shatter into a million pieces. When I looked up the room seem to tilt. I blinked my eyes. Nothing was straight; every object seemed to have sprouted hairs out their edges creating a fuzzy quality. I stumbled and when put my hand out to steady myself I grasped at nothing. I crumpled to the floor. I could feel the broken glass press through my skin and everything went black.
I pushed my ear buds in to my ears and turned up the volume on my iPod. Fast beat techno was successful at drowning out the sound of the Beaverbrook High School parking lot. I pushed the tiny device into my black skinny jeans as I walked towards the crowded bus that would take me home.
Grade 10 had turned out to be twice as difficult as I ever could have imagined. Even going home would give me no solace; I still had piles of homework to do. After a day of pushing through condescending grade 11s' and 12s' all I wanted to do was have a marathon of the Underworld movie series and curl up on my couch. No doubt my little brother will have the television and the couch occupied watching mindless shows and antagonizing my OCD ways by throwing his empty chip bags and pop cans on the floor.
Thank God that I only live with one of my brothers.
My mind switched from what I wanted to do to what I could and needed to do. 'Maybe I could order in Chinese or Greek food and do my homework. Yeah that sounded like a good night'. I got onto the bus craving sweet and sour pork.
A shooting pain radiating from my face and arm woke me up. I was lying on the floor of my office in a pile of glass.
'What happened?' The distinct smell of pennies hit my nose and it had all come rushing back. 'I was fired' Rage suddenly consumed my entire being.
I scrambled to my feet and wretched the door open. The harsh fluorescent lights of the hallway burned my eyes. For some reason that made me even angrier. I stormed to Mr. Grew's office and nearly ripped the door from its hinges when I opened it. His pretty little secretary jumped and looked at me startled.
I made my way to the door to the inner office.
"You can't go in there!" the secretary said in a shrill voice "He's in a conference call with the CEO's in Toronto!" I turned at just looked at her.
My hands were clutched in fists and ready to swing. I guessed that my expression adequately displayed my feelings because she immediately retreated behind her small pine IKEA desk and was suddenly very interested in her shoes.
I turned on my heel and let myself in. Grew was sitting in his leather chair with his back to me. "Hold on sir" he said and pressed a button on the console on the desk. "I seem to remember saying that I didn't want to be disturbed Clare" He said sharply as he swivelled around in his chair.
When he saw that I wasn't the tiny blond Clare who he was expecting, his eyebrows converged in the middle of his for head. "Keam, what are you doing in here? You should be off my property by now!" His jowly face was turning redder with every word.
"I want my job back" I said in a steady voice. Give me my job back. I held his gaze for what seemed like minutes until he smiled at me and said
"Ms. Keam it is an honour to have you on board with our team of scientists. I don't know what I was thinking. And don't worry about your funding you'll get it with no questions asked." Grew's fat face twisted itself even further into a smile which looked almost painful to make.
I smiled back at him. "Thank you Mr. Grew and have a good rest of your day" I turned and left. The curve of my lips stayed steady as walked past the snooty secretary's desk.
She looked up from her screen at me with out neither ceasing her work nor moving her head. She seemed to be quivering. I flashed a huge smile her way and stopped just short of skipping to my office. My mind control potion worked.
Jeez. Standing in lines are always such a hassle and Starbucks is the worst for them.
All of these people don't need there coffee they can just go home or to work and wait 'til lunch to officially wake up.
Immediately the line cleared up and everyone moved towards the exit. I was free to walk to the counter uninterrupted. The cashiers smiled through her surprise at the sudden disperse of people.
"I would like a light café mocha with extra whip, please" With out a word she turned and sharpied my order onto a white paper cup and handed it to a pierced co-worker who began to fill it with the specified liquids.
"That will be –"free "on the house today" and she passed the full cup to me and I walked out to my car.
I haven't seen Mr. Grew since I got my job back. So I really had no knowledge as to what extent my mind control was working to. Everyday I was able to go back to the same Starbucks and do the same thing without much of a problem but every day's cashier has been different so I don't what will happen when I run into someone whose mind I have already controlled. Truthfully, I don't care, just as long as it keeps working I love the way it makes me feel as though I control everything. I can do what ever I want.
Parking was always hell at work so I just illegally parked in front of a fire hydrant knowing I could just think my way out of a ticket. I clicked my car locked and made my way towards my office. I had a plan for the day; I was going to examine my blood to see just how long these affects will last. It would be embarrassing, getting myself into a situation and not be able to think my way out of it.
As I walked down the hallway to my office and noticed that without a thought everyone moved out of my way and looked down at their shoes. Either every one was suddenly very interested in their shoes or my new power was identifiable by just looking at me. I could feel a new found confidence emanating in every direction from myself. I leaped into my swivel office chair once I entered into my workspace and angled myself to my desk.
After I bit of searching I found a sterilized syringe in one of my drawers. I ripped the wrapper and the plastic cap from the miniscule point and shuddered. I hate needles. I was suddenly enraged by how much I hated needles. My hand gripping the needles was losing to gain control of its want to crush the tiny piece of glass. My vision was blurring into red spots.
'I hate needles!' I realized that I was holding my breath. I exhaled deeply and inhaled slowly in an attempt to keep my anger from simmering over. I put the needle down and ran my hands through my hair. 'What was wrong with me?' I sat in my dark office for minutes just controlling my breathing and calming myself down.
Once my breathing was back to normal I stuck the needle in to my arm and held back my tears. I pulled on the plug and watched the tube fill with red. I pulled the needle from my arm and swallowed back a wave of nausea. I shot the liquid onto a glass slide and sandwiched it in between a second one and discarded the syringe into a bio hazardous waste basket in the corner of my desk. I carefully cradled the delicate slide in my hand and exited the room.
"I need a full work up done on this sample. Don't leave any tests out" I said to the young technician. "Even if you think it would be irrelevant, do it anyways." The pimply face in front of me just nodded and took the sample of my blood and went to work. "I want the report by the end of the day" He just nodded without looking up from his complex machines.
I went back to my office and started up my computer. I would have to wait at least a couple of hours for the report and I had nothing better to do so I logged on and started up a game of solitaire. I woke up with a start in pool of my own drool.
A loud knock was sounding from my door. I wheeled my chair to the door and turned the knob. The tech from this afternoon pushed the door open I wheeled back, behind my desk.
"What have you got?" I demanded. He dropped a folder on my desk, pushing a gust into my face blowing my face back. I flipped open the file and started reading. There were at least 30 pages of notes and test results that would take me hours to read. "Can you just tell what you found?" The tech smiled, obviously proud of the work that he had done.
"In the sample that you gave me there seems to be high amount of a chemical called Pentadolphalamine." I had never heard of it. I looked up at him from my chair, expectantly. He waited a beat, enjoying that he knew something that I didn't. "It is newly found compound that has been linked to many mental health related crimes and breakdowns. The human brain seems to have a bad reaction to it. It blocks neurotransmitters that help to control the minds sense of right and wrong, addiction, hatred, narcissism, anger control and the ability to make good choices. So in other words you wouldn't want to give this shit to a junkie, who already has a habit of loosing his temper on his children. The longer the chemical stays in the blood stream the more extreme the symptoms will become. In high doses, such as this, death inevitable." I looked up at him, dumbstruck. I balled my shaking hands into fists.
"So far there isn't a cure or a way to reverse any of the symptoms. Whose ever blood that is, that you gave me, is going to be a really mean person for the rest of their life and that won't be for much longer, mind you."
He seemed to be saying this in a taunting manner. Almost like he knew that it was my blood. How dare he talk to me like that! I was his superior! You can't take the pressure of this job any more you want to kill yourself. The tech's face twisted in pain and just stared at me. Now! He spun on his heel and ran from my office. A smile crept across my lips for a moment until I realized what I had just been told. 'I'm going to die.'
I quickly slipped through the closing bus doors and flashed the driver my pass. The bus was jam packed and there was no way I was going to get a seat. I leaned against and plastic partition that separated the driver from the unruly students. "Hey Kaylie." A voice sounded from across the aisle, over my music. I looked up and searched for the owner of the greeting. I looked into the eyes of the occupants until mine met with the person's I was looking for.
"Hey" I answered and quickly looked down at my feet. I didn't want to talk, especially to her. She inched her way closer to me, weaving through the crowd in between us. "What did you get on your test?" She asked her eyes wide, trying to convey innocence. I had to control myself not to spit on her flawless skin.
"Fine" I answered, venom spewing from each letter. She knew how I did on the test. She probably would go as far as sleeping to with a teacher to get the test scores of her peers just to prove to her self that she got the highest mark. The test she was talking about was a unit final in chemistry. I had failed because I fell asleep during the test because I had stayed up all night studying; a grim irony that I was in no mood to laugh at.