Author's note: It's a helluva boss story but since the section doesn't exist yet, I put it here. Even if it doesn't look like it with the first chapters.
It was the end of the day. Nathaniel Demerest, a student rather slack in his studies, had just finished his day of classes.
He was a young man in his early twenties, fairly thin-built with brown hair, styled back in a style reminiscent of Hannibal Lecter. He wore a professional outfit consisting of a shirt with a tie and a black jacket, all underneath his large dark leather coat that looked worn out.
He had, as usual, greeted his comrades with whom he got along well. But that evening, he had a big heart. Earlier in the day, he had been summoned to the principal's office at his school, and he knew immediately from the headteacher's face that the news was not going to be good.
He had sat down quietly in front of his headteacher, who began one of the long monologues he had been given.
"Nathaniel, Nathaniel, Nathaniel... How am I going to be able to tell you this?" Says the headteacher.
Terms such as "success rate" and "lack of interest" followed, before ending on a good old-fashioned line: "If this continues, we'll have to fire you".
Those eight words brought Nathaniel, who hadn't been listening for a few minutes, back to reality: he was in danger of being fired.
When the headteacher told him he could go out, he got up without saying a word, walked to the classroom where he had class, and when the day was over, he started walking home.
He was in no hurry to get home, he was accused of being too lax and not concentrating enough on his studies, while at the same time putting pressure on him to get his driver's license without taking into account his lack of desire to have it. Then telling them that he was on the tightrope for his studies, would surely make the situation worse.
As he walked slowly, taking advantage of the landscape to take his mind off things, something caught his attention. In the middle of a green space along the road was a door.
Not a building! Just a door.
Nathaniel, guided by curiosity, decided to go and observe the curious door.
Once he got close enough, he caught a glimpse of a small sign that read: "Knock before entering".
Finding it funny, even ridiculous, Nathaniel knocked on the door and opened it. And what a surprise it was when he discovered that behind the door was a room!
A desk to be more precise.
This desk had a red wallpaper with here and there a few words seemingly written in elven language straight out of the lord of the rings, as well as some lamps hanging on the walls of an ancient look. Among the furniture was of course a desk and with a chair in front and another one behind, but not only that. There were also several shelves behind the desk, on which were several, and on the other side of the room was a sofa and two armchairs, as well as a small table.
It was as if this room was both an office and a living room.
Sitting on the chair behind the desk was a man in a suit and tie.
"Nathaniel Demerest? Please sit down." Says the man in a warm voice.
Nathaniel entered by closing the door behind him and sat down right in front of him.
He could see a detail he had not seen before, on the wall above the door was a clock, and the second hand, the hand that indicates seconds, was constantly moving back and forth.
Tick, tock, tick, tock.
"It looks like your clock is damaged." Says Nathaniel, trying a little humour to overcome the quirk of the situation.
"On the contrary, it works perfectly." Retorted the man calmly.
"But don't you see that it goes back and forth a second all the time?" Said Nathaniel, surprised by the answer of his interlocutor.
"That's how it works, Nathaniel." The man began. "Everything behind the door belongs to a different temporality, time does not flow in the same way, and space and time are variables that can easily be played with..." He explained before returning to the main topic. "But let's get back to our sheep. You could be expelled from your school if I'm not mistaken?" He says.
"Uh... yes. How did you know that?" Nathaniel asked, surprised and now suspicious of man.
"It doesn't matter." Said the man in the suit before reaching out his hand. "You are committed." He said.
"Wait, I'd like to know more, and...and no, this is beyond me, I'll have to go, my... my family has to wait for me." Says Nathaniel, completely overwhelmed by events.
A door without walls leading to an office where there is a man who wants to offer him a job. Anyone would at least be alarmed by such a thing.
"Don't worry! When you leave this office, the door will lead you straight home! And on the other side of the door only three minutes have passed, so please stay there." Said the man who wanted to put the student at ease.
"All right, all right, tell me what the job is about." Said Nathaniel, seeing this as a possible opportunity to deliver his bad news, along with a much better one.
"No idea." The man simply replied.
"What do you mean, no idea?" Nathaniel asked, not knowing whether he should laugh or shout at the man.
"Well, I don't know, all I know is that you're very well paid and you have a nice office, I mean..." The man simply replied.
"But, maybe you already know someone in this position who could tell me more?" Nathaniel asked.
"But, this is my job!" Replied the man, marking a little silence while Nathaniel had his mouth wide open because of the absurdity of the moment.
"Well, why would you give it to me then?" He asked.
"Because I'm tired of spending my time doing nothing, and on top of that, I'm not getting any older, you see, and that's pretty annoying." Replied the man.
"That is to say?" Nathaniel asked.
"Well, you... how old do you... how old do you think I am?" Asked the man in turn.
"Bah la... Forties at the most." replied the young man.
"I'm sixty-two years old." Corrected the man.
« Vous êtes sacrément bien conservé. » Commenta Nathaniel.
"Well, let me tell you that my wife is getting older, she's starting to wonder about the fact that I'm not." Reproached the man.
"But how come?" Nathaniel asked, surprised.
"Well, when you're on this side of the door, you don't get old, you don't get hungry, you don't get thirsty, you don't have to pee, you don't have to feel like anything. It's as if the world continues to turn without us, and I'm getting a little tired of it." Explained the man.
"But I don't understand, why are you looking for a successor? Why don't you just slam the door?" Nathaniel asked.
"Because of the door. I told you earlier that when you leave the premises you will instantly find yourself at home. Well, when I leave my home, I find myself instantly here, and I can't leave before 7 p.m., otherwise I am automatically propelled back into my office. If I want to get back to normal life I need a successor, that's why I'm offering you the job." Replied the man.
"And if I refuse?" Nathaniel asked.
"Oh, you'll be forever stuck in this office." Says the man.
"What do you mean?" Asked the intrigued young man.
"The door won't open until you sign, you're stuck here." Explained the man.
"And if I refuse?" Nathaniel asked.
"Oh, you'll be forever stuck in this office." Says the man.
"What do you mean?" Asked the intrigued young man.
"The door won't open until you sign, you're stuck here." Explained the man.
The man, by who knows what magic, made a contract and a pen appear. Nathaniel began to read the contract very carefully, to avoid falling into a trap of the man he ended up distrusting. He signed it, and the man, looking relieved, tapped Nathaniel on the shoulder.
"Thank you, man. Thank you for setting me free." Said the man before he walked out the door and disappeared, no doubt he had found himself at home, this time for good.
Nathaniel looked at all the books on the shelf and he smiled, not only did he win a job, but by reading the whole contract he found the solution to all his problems.
This man had lied to him about his work when he gave him the door... But when he read the contract, he knew that the man had given him a gift that would change his life... in the most beautiful way possible.