Chapter 2

-Six months ago-

Christie had found the flyer on the bulletin board in the staff break room one day in early spring.

-French lessons, first three lessons free. Experienced French tutor looking for new pupils. Please text or call if interested. -

Christie had always wanted to learn French ever since her father told her that her mother had been raised in France. Christie held on tightly to any connection she could find to her mother, who had passed away when Christie was a little girl. She had called the number listed that very evening. A man answered and when she inquired about the lessons, he told her that he did them through skype and email, and he only took Venmo for payment. They both agreed on times when they would be available. Their skype sessions would be Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7pm for an hour. She had quickly agreed to whenever his schedule allowed, feeling a certain comfort knowing that she could do the lessons from the safety of her own apartment, without having a stranger come to her, or her going to an unknown location.

The first lesson was the next Thursday. Christie had been sitting on her bed with her computer on her lap when she called him on skype. The line rang and he answered but she was looking at a desk with an empty chair behind it. The room she saw was mostly dark, lit only by the screen, but she could make out some metal-looking shelves with boxes on them. It looked almost like a warehouse, or some kind of storage room. There was no natural light and it was very dim.

"Hello?" She asked allowed, confused at the strange scene before her.

There was a muffled noise and then the same man's voice said "Sorry, hold on, just one moment."

"Ok." She said, brushing her hair out of her face. Suddenly, the feed from his camera glitched. The screen became fuzzy with static and then blacked out altogether.

"Are you still there?" She asked in surprise.

"Can you see me?" She heard him ask clearly.

"No, your camera just flipped out or something... it's all black now."

"It's been doing that lately; I need to invest in a new web cam." He stated, not sounding surprised. "We can conduct the lessons anyway; you really only need to hear my voice."

"Ok, sure. Thanks for taking me on as a student. I've always thought that French was a beautiful language and I'm excited to learn from you!" Christie said.

"Well, I'm happy to have a student so willing to learn, I enjoy speaking French and would like to do it more often." He had a nice deep voice, Christie noted then. The way he spoke was clipped and simple, but with strange gentleness that almost reminded her of her father...

-Present day-

She carried her box of belongings down the hall to the elevator. It felt strange, as if she was getting fired or had quit. She was only moving up to the third floor, but she felt like she was ascending into heaven. When the doors opened, she stepped out and headed to Ms. Gary's office. Christie knocked hesitantly. Ms. Gary opened the door. She was a stern looking woman with long straight hair. Her mouth was a perpetual frown, but her eyes had a twinkle of kindness in them.

She took Christie past rows and rows of cubicles. "You'll be in row five, your row will be your sales team and you all have the same scheduled lunch hour. They can answer any questions about the job you may have." Ms. Gary pointed to an empty cubicle. "There's your seat, next to Meg." A pretty blonde girl with rubber ducky earrings lowered her headset and swiveled around in her chair at the sound of her name. "Yes?" She asked.

"This is Christie, she is new, she came up from reception." Ms. Gary told Meg.

Meg smiled at Christie and reached out her hand to shake. After being introduced to her, Ms. Gary handed Christie a stack of papers and told her to memorize them. "This is the script and the information about the sound systems that we offer. You'll be calling areas of Europe as well as other places around the world. Spend the morning on this and then after lunch you can listen in on some of Meg's calls." She walked away and Christie put her box down in her cubicle.

"I don't know why they call it a lunch break, it's at 10pm." Meg said, chuckling.

Christie smiled. "It's going to take me awhile to get used to this schedule change. It feels weird to get to work at 6pm instead of coming home at that time."

"You'll get used to it; coffee helps. I will introduce you to the rest of our team at lunchtime." Meg told her.

Christie spent the next few hours going over the provided material, finally it was lunch time. Christie was already starting to yawn when she followed Meg into the breakroom. There were three small tables and there was a sink and microwave to one side. Also, a fridge and a couple of vending machines lining the walls. The members of team five were already sitting in their usual places at all of the tables.

"Everyone, this is Christie. You might recognize her from reception." Meg announced. She then pointed to each person and said their name. There were five others besides her and Meg. At one table were two tall skinny girls. They seemed to be in their early twenties. With them sat an older man, late thirties, Christie guessed. He had long unkempt hair and he had a beer belly and a red face, he smiled widely at her and Christie had a weird feeling about him.

At another table was a man and a woman. The woman looked about thirty and she was wearing a lot of make-up and had a pile of reddish hair on her head. The man with her looked a few years older than her and had a thick dark, well-trimmed beard. Like the first man, he had a bit of a gut, but didn't have the same unhealthy appearance, the two of them seemed to be a couple. Meg and Christie sat at the empty table and began to chat over their meal. They got along very well and Christie liked her a lot. Meg seemed about a year younger than her and was very warm and inviting. After lunch she listened to Meg make sales and they joked together about some of the strange people she had talked with.

After work, Christie put on her jacket and left through the front doors, she only lived about three blocks from the building but had never walked alone so late before. It was around three am and she was bone-tired from the schedule change. She passed a convenience store. It was one of the only places open at this hour. She was almost home when she heard someone walking behind her. She glanced behind her and saw a man, walking slowly towards her about three or four yards back, how long had he been behind her? She wondered. She sped up her pace and turned the corner. Her apartment was so close, when she reached it, she rushed up to the door. She pulled out her key and slammed it into the lock. she struggled to turn it and she looked back, frantically. Half expecting to see the man right behind her. But when she did see him, he had crossed the street instead of turning at the corner to follow her. She let out a huge sigh of relief and went up to her apartment.

It was only a small studio, but it was what she could afford. She had moved out of the apartment where she had lived with her father almost as soon as he had passed away. She simply couldn't bear living there without him. Nevertheless, she loved her new place, and she wasn't completely alone; she had a goldfish named Gussie. She turned on Netflix and opened a can of spaghetti O's while she got out some cold brew from the fridge. She changed into her pjs and sat down on her bed to catch up on some shows. Occasionally checking to make sure that she had locked the door behind her.

Review, review, review! Thanks!