AFTER HOURS

My eyes moved with the hands of the clock, and eyelids were only held by the fear of not angering my boss who sat next to me. Fidgeting a bit in my seat and playing with my pen as the endless words poured out of the chairman's mouth about the start of the year goals and targets, pumped the slumber and exhaustion of the day, swelling into my eyes. My phone buzzed. A Dj booth and a tie being waved in my hand, is what I could anticipate. I couldn't stop imagining the hum of my engine and chatter of the streets, surrounding me in traffic, as I sing away to the radio songs and listen to the banter filled conversations the hosts had. Drifted and consumed into my imagination, a smile appeared out of nowhere as I looked out through the windows, into the horizon. "I see you are excited, we like that here" The chairman said. In a split moment, I slammed my pen on the smoothly polished wooden desk "Haha yes! Enthusiasm. Yes! Yes!" I said. "Wow! You must be really excited. Keep that for when the work starts." The chairman said. Before I could prop my stance to listen further, the meeting was immediately ended. The elevator and stairs, were majestically painted in my view, as I folded my coat in anticipation to get there. I suddenly felt a hand push me away from the lift "Eh, eh, eh. . . I don't think it's time to leave yet. Put that eagerness to use with this work" My boss said.

The smile, that molded itself on my face, was only a layer to cover the squashed thoughts of anger and regret as to how I was going to use my first salary, after a long time. My phone imprinted itself in my long hollow pockets, as it shook with a great buzz, while accepting the fresh heap of papers that covered the corner of my desk. The sun begin to set and cast shadows on the brown carpet floor. "Hello" I picked up the phone. "It's Friiiiiday, theeeeen It's Saturday, Sunday WHHHAAAT! Where we going ma boy??" Fred said. Slowly sinking into my chair and sliding to the ground "No Fred. I got work" I replied. "What! Ahhh man! Should I come? Party! Party!" Fred said. I lay on the ground, with darkness slowly covering the skies, as the call kept going with music booming from his car. It wasn't until Fred cancelled the call, that I heard a few screeches of some desks that echoed in the workplace. I stood up, with my heart pulsing throughout my turning left and right to the darkness that faded into the florescent light bulbs lighting the walls. In the suspense choking into my nerves, I peeked under the desk, like a roaming rodent in the alleys of the street.

"He..llo?" I talked into the air. The silence was only broken by the screeching sounds of monitors, and the distant chatter from several floors down at the pavements of the street. I could breath my own fear, from the swamps of sweat on my armpits, slightly hinted with scents of deodorant. The screech came out again and stayed on for much longer. My muscles further clenched into the creases of my pants and I squeezed myself into the bottom of my desk and rolled into a ball like an armadillo. The screech again appeared but much more aggressively. Sweat smeared itself onto my forehead and dampened my shirt, a million droplets after another. A short silence filled the work place, before my breathing returned to normal, and thud knocked the ground and red droplets splattered.