More Than Just a Bio-Machine

By Eule Vix

Disclaimer: I do not own Welcome to Night Vale nor do not make money off of this fic.

Chapter 3: The First Big Step

She willed herself to move. He wouldn't have wanted her to waste so much time, to be so slack in productivity. She reminded herself this as she placed one foot in front of the other following the white walled trail back to her office. She should be happy. She had just collected a large box of her favorite supplies. She should be smiling. She had only almost a month ago become the new Vice President. But she was not happy, and she was not smiling. She felt nausea and disgust well, churn, and mix in her chest as she neared the elevator. After the doors had closed, the button for the top floor pressed, she placed a bloodied shaky hand against her face.

"Lauren…you foolish, silly, girl."

[+]-[+]-[+]

It had taken around three years but Lauren now found herself on the threshold of the first large step of her dream. She knew that this was it, the letter was the signature blue with an orange seal on the back. She had always wondered why it was blue, not yellow or red or white or some other happy color. She regarded its meaning as she turned the envelope over in her hand; contents still sealed inside.

She had been waiting for nearly a year for this letter since she had taken over Stacy's position last spring after helping her reorganize her office. She now held the title of Floor Lead for the Research and Development Department; it seemed like such a short time since she was last an intern. She had done it, taken the baby steps from Intern to entry level employee, to Shift Lead, to Floor Lead. The productivity of her department had increased by 10.32% and there was a decrease of 3.58% in employee loss; of course with those numbers who wouldn't want to discuss a promotion with her.

"I do believe promotion letters are meant to be read dear Lauren." She was jostled out of her thoughts and looked up to her friend sitting across from her. Daniel was having his usually order of bio-matter soup, his spoon lay untouched as he eyed Lauren curiously from across the table.

"Oh Daniel~" she cooed tenderly at him. "I will read it! I'm just…a little nervous is all." It was a lie, and Lauren knew this but to say that she was terrified was not a truth she wanted to admit, to give any power to. She wanted to, for as long as she could, feel like she was holding all the cards. She started to bounce her right leg rhythmically, a physical distraction from her rapid beating heart and waves of nauseous worry.

"Nervous? You, Lauren?" He leaned forward and rested his head on one of his hands, the other picking up his spoon. "Unheard of." She placed the letter down on the table, waving a finger in Daniel's face as he continued to watch her and a smug smile on his face.

"I'll have you know it's scarcely even that. Why it's more like the lingering flutter of a kiss from our Smiling God!" She placed her hand back on the table, watching his eyes closely and they adjusted and focused in on her like a camera. "Besides, what is there to be nervous of?" Her own mind answered her with all the possibilities as they were accompanied by Daniel's smile. Typically she found him reassuring and calming for her when it came to new situations. Now he only seemed to be making it worse. She was about to change subject when he leaned back, readjusted his dark blue suit, and rested a hand on the end of his spoon.

"I suppose your right." He tapped the metal edge of his bowl twice, as he always did before starting a meal, and started to spoon the black liquid matter into his mouth. She huffed, and went to her own food, more picking at it then actually trying to eat. She couldn't help push away the worries the blue envelope held, along with the fears of somehow not surviving her first and possibly last promotion.

[+]-[+]

Lunch had long ended and she had still not opened the letter. She was currently on her mandated fifteen minute break, sitting in her gray cubical, designs of her own of a green meadow and a yellow sun. She adverted her eyes from the blue stain and instead focused on the missing patch from the setting she had been working on. The idea of how if sure survived or maybe even avoided the whole promotion that she would be able to come back and finish the last pieces of the small mural; she only needed maybe one or two more weeks for enough mold to grow on the new set of tongues so that he meadow could be the right color. It didn't help when those not smiling thoughts moved back into her head, of if she wasn't good enough, that her productivity had not been what the Smiling God wanted and by some act of their she would be struck down. That someone else would take her place.

She yelped as a sharp pain suddenly stabbed into her left hand. She looked down to find her chair handle had split, the plastic having given way to her grip, and ran a large sliver of splintered hard plastic into her palm. She smiled down at the cut, glad for the physical distraction, and took her time pulling it out.

It was once she had finished, her hand slowly leaking blood, that she felt that she could finally open the cursed thing she had been avoiding. Blood smeared across like her hand it's self was a brush of absolute beauty, but now was not the time to revel in her own art. She flicked open the seal and pulled out the stark white and thick paper.

It detailed who she was, her employee number, her address, her list of accomplishments,ending in the dreaded words she knew were inevitable. It was followed by a time that was fast approaching.

"Please come to the Office of Mark Spinoza at 5 PM today to talk about how your contributions may further Strex Corp.!"

She had never heard of anyone else ever getting a time on their. It had always been a talking point that when you received your letter you had at least till the end of your work day to be able to attend or otherwise they might make you fill out your own Termination papers. She almost felt like going down to Human Resources, filling a complaint and seeing the blood run of whoever had given her a deadline where no one else got one. It was some kind of mockery, it had to be. As though they didn't expect her to be able to keep a deadline or do anything punctual.

She felt ridiculed as though by some in joke the whole floor was in on. The mere idea of the whole floor, every Employee against her, made her heart rate increase and breaths to become deep and long drawn out in an attempt to steady herself. She had been hated before, the orphanage children had made sure of that, but now she had to deal with it at work.

She quickly pulled out her phone and texted the only person she knew would be able to help, the only friendly face she knew in the whole of Strex. She texted Daniel a short and to the point message and gently placed the phone a foot away from her before she let her rage and self-induced sadness get control of her limbs and shatter the small device.

Daniel was extremely efficient, he was there within only a few minutes and found her standing in front of the office door. She heard him approach and could smell him as he entered the room, but she was far too afraid and shaken to greet him or do anything else but stare vacantly at the door she must enter through in just a few agonizing minutes. This was it, this was the end of her dreams shattered at the end of some cruel joke planned by the whole department. There was a clock ticking the seconds away to the tone of her rapid heartbeat. In the distance behind the cubical walls she could feel the eyes watching her and the whispers of doubt and anticipation of failure fluttering I her ears. She went to suck in a breath hoping to steady herself, but as her nails drew blood from her palms he found herself instead hyperventilating.

Then the world went still, for a second the rood got brighter, and she could distinctly feel the warmth of a hand, a familiar hand, the only hand she knew, rest evenly and calm on her shoulder. She took a moment then released her breath and started to breathe normally, her shaking went to a simmer and she found herself able to peel her nails away from flesh of her hands.

That was right, the world had always been against her, but there was one person who believed in her; one person that she regarded as her most wise teacher and friend. She turned to look at him, his face held a smile so wonderful she thought she might be dreaming; it was full of such love and care that she felt it was a gift from the Smiling God themselves.

She nodded and that was all that needed to be said. Daniel believed in her, it didn't matter if the whole building of Strex HQ was against her or if it was just some anxiety fueled dilution. She had at least one friend in this world, in this company and if he the being who was engineered to be perfect could believe in her then there was plenty of reason for her to believe in herself too. She straightened her clothes, and gave Daniel a quick hug and thanks before she rapped on the door and walked into her fate.

It had been an hour, a solid ruthless hour. But after much deliberation and negotiation Lauren emerged from the room victorious. She stood outside of the door, gazing around the room as though she was seeing it for the first time. Employees brave enough peeked from around the corners of their cubicles to see the new tag that simply read 'Manager' now donning her soaked clothes. She stood tall, proud, and felt unmatched. She looked to the newly acquired pen in her hand and smiled. She hadn't realize just how mighty the pen could truly be.