I leave for one week and come back to find out you’re a hero now? How? Why?

Timeline/World: Edge of Forever – Shifting Sands
Current Date: April 1, 2024

Character: Jiah Curtis
Race: Shifter – Ferret
Age: 36
Current residence: Haparanda, Sweden
 

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I was honest with my boss the first time he told me that I had to schedule some time off. I looked at him like he’d sprouted a second head and told him that while I was aware that I was allowed to take time off, I never had—other than my regularly scheduled off weekends, that was. He looked… angry, to say the least, and the uncertainty must have shown on my face because he told me that he wasn’t angry with me, he was angry with the other branch I had worked with for years before transferring.

It’s still clear in my mind despite the fact that I’ve now been here for close to three years. I knew I could—was supposed to, really—take time off back at the other office, but no one had ever come to me to ask me when I wanted to take that time off, I’d never heard of any sheet or anywhere in the system to file for that request and just, all in all, I didn’t know how to go about getting to that time off.

So, when my boss here learned about it, I don’t fully know all he did, but I ended up receiving a substantial amount sent in via an e-cheque for the vacation time I’d never taken, nor been paid for. Here, it’s twenty-five days per year. It has to be at least twenty and the last five can be kept for the following year. So, during the allowed time frame, I took one week during each of the three months I could and that was that. It was strange.

When I came back, I didn’t expect much of anything. I expected my desk to be about as busy as it had been when I left—it was a little less so, strangely enough—and my plants watered—I’d asked someone to check in but they’d all been given their needed water before I left as was but that was mostly that. I expected no miracle, no fanfare, nothing. I was just one worker of plenty who had gone off on vacation. The first ever in my life.

Instead, when I came in the morning after my time off had ended, I found a little ‘Hero’ sticker on my desk. It was still on its paper, meaning that someone had left it there for me—or had accidentally dropped it there—and that I was now a hero. Or well, not really, but the thought made me smile somewhat. It brought back a few memories of this beautiful ghost from my past who’d give me this loving smile and call me his hero whenever I would come home with something he’d been craving for a while.

I tried not to let that memory hang on too long. I do what I can to not spend my life thinking about his ghost anymore. Sure, the memories of him are no longer as bittersweet as they used to be, I’ve been able to move on and I’m happier for it. He’ll always be in my life but I’m no longer living in the shadow of the time we’ve had together.

When Anya checked in on me about half an hour after I’d clocked in, she gave me this bright-eyed look, especially as she spotted the little sticker that I’d temporarily set on the base of my monitor. She asked me how my vacation had gone, what I’d done during my time away if I’d been ever naughty—all questions that I knew she meant no harm by, especially that last one. She, more than any of the others in the office, knows that I might just never be naughty ever again. I could be wrong, there could be someone at some point, but I doubt it.

I gave her short but thoughtful answers and told her that, clearly, in the week I’d been gone, I had been decorated as a hero. As I expected her to, she slipped right into the role of the surprised soul, she asked to know what it was that I’d done to be decorated as a hero and how was it possible that I’d managed that feat in all of a single week. She wanted all of the details, she needed to know, and she desired to take notes.

It made me smile.

She reminds me of him just a little. In some of her mannerisms. She’s a good work colleague and I think she’ll make it far in the office. She’s been here about a year now and she always has this bouncy energy, I don’t know how she manages. It never fails to make me smile, however, so I think that this, in itself, is a good thing. Her good moods are contagious.

Final Word Count: 802

I want to know why I’m the only one finding all these ghosts.

 
Timeline/World: Edge of Forever – Shifting Sands
Characters: Jiah Curtis
Race: Shifter – Ferret
Age: 33
Current residence: Haparanda, Sweden
Final Word Count: 772 words
 

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It’s been quietly comfortable here. It’s been close to a year since I asked for the transfer. Getting used to the weather is probably the one thing that I had to worry about the most. The apartments are gorgeous, the view is just as beautiful. This place is a lot smaller than what I was used to but it’s so much more peaceful.

I’d known about the possibility of moving to just about anywhere with this company, but I guess I’d really been clinging to the old memories of my life with him before he was taken from me. It took a lot of effort to be able to overcome that pain and, in a way, I think that moving across the pond is the one thing that cemented the fact that yes, I had needed to get away.

I got away from co-workers who didn’t know how to mind their own business. I got away from stressful bosses who didn’t seem to know how to directly reach people in the office and had to go through others to get there. I got away from all the old memories and the ghosts of the past.

In a way, I guess that it is the ghost part that made me decide it was finally time. That and the one co-worker issue that thought they knew me better than I knew myself despite having only worked at the safe office I did for a few months.

Looking back, I can still pinpoint just how much I was clinging to the past. Everything I would look at would remind me of him. That one trinket that we’d found during an outing. This one item of clothing. That one photo of a place we used to visit. You have to understand that after he’d been taken from me, I took down and put away the few photos of us I’d had. I’ve never been very comfortable being in front of a camera and he seemed to understand that. We still had a few photos and all of those I put away not too long after his departure.

Yes, that one co-worker and just too much stress over one particular issue are what pushed me to ask for the transfer but, at the same time, I remember how, one morning, I was looking at my tired reflection in the mirror and I was asking myself why I still kept finding all of these ghosts of my past. All of these little things that would bring him painfully back to the surface when I was so sure it wasn’t normal for me to still be hanging on like that when I knew he wasn’t coming back.

Somehow, I feel as though I shouldn’t have been clinging to the past and these ghosts the way I was. I just don’t know how to put it down into words.

I still have these few photos. I still have these clothing items. I still have the trinkets. Moving from this huge metropolis that I barely ever even spent any time out exploring and into this much, much quieter city has been the one thing I did truly need. Yes, the photos are up, but now I look at them and I find myself just reminiscing about what once was. I don’t feel pangs of faded hurt. I don’t feel as though my life is still in its crumbled stage. Moving away feels like I’ve cut ties with these ghosts that were hounding me, and I’ve been able to have a bit of a fresh start.

I’m not saying that there aren’t brief times when I don’t think about him, I do still think about him but it’s not as common and I can come home without feeling his presence everywhere. I’ve needed to move on for years and I guess I just wasn’t ready. I can’t find means to look at it any other way at this point.

This place is home now. It’s quiet compared to what I grew up with but it’s just perfect. In the short year since I’ve been here, I’ve even moved from the front desk, to an office job on the open floor and, even now, I’ve actually moved up again. It’s still a fairly similar job but, at the same time, it’s different. The things I handle aren’t the same. I don’t want to state they’re more important, because they’re not, they’re just on a higher level of thing. It’s still administrative work, as that’s what I do, but hey, I have an office of my own at this point and I love it.

You don’t have to defend yourself. I already know you didn’t do it.

 
Timeline/World: Edge of Forever – Shifting Sands
Characters: Jiah Curtis
Race: Shifter – Ferret
Age: 32
Final Word Count: 722 words
 

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When I first asked to be transferred across the pond, I didn’t expect it to happen as quickly as it did. I thought I’d still have to wait for some months before they would finally be telling me that they couldn’t transfer me because they had all the personnel they needed for the job I could hold. What happened instead is that one Tuesday afternoon, I talked to my boss about requesting a transfer and, by Friday, he told me that they were expecting me by the end of the month—two weeks after that particular day.

He told me that I could and was encouraged to take that time off to deal with whatever I needed to. The apartment wasn’t a problem, I lived in a building that was owned by my company and I assumed I would do the same over there. It was mostly a case of packing myself up and letting them know just what kind of items they were looking at to transport. There wasn’t much. The apartment had come fully furnished and there really only ended up being plenty of boxes for me to pack up. Books, dishes, cutlery, clothes; my computer, a game console I barely played and that was about it. The rest wasn’t mine and had never been. The television, the bed, the washer and dryer, the oven, microwave, the fridge. None of it was mine and that was fine by me.

Though I’m not going to lie, it was really weird stepping into that apartment the first time. I had so little to my name that I was worried about how I would live in that apartment but it was a charm. It took some getting used to but I loved it. Not all employees chose to live in these apartments but I’ve never regretted it.

I haven’t had a single moment of regret since asking for the transfer, either. That was, until today.

I came into work to find out that someone had completely fucked up—excuse my French—the office’s main printer. That thing is a beast but it does everything; it can be used as a fax, a copier, a printer, a scanner, just, you name it, it can do it short of making coffee but the coffee machine is pretty sweet too. I thought my old office was nice but this one is almost sort of posh. I felt like I stood out like a sore thumb at first but everyone was so welcoming. One particular co-worker especially but I’d rather not get into that, I don’t know how ready I am to start thinking about that, no matter how long it’s been since he was taken from me.

Now, the scrapped printer; as there had been no one overnight, I was afraid that the blame for the printer would fall on me. I was one of the last to leave the office yesterday but it still had been fine when I’d left. As the first in the office that morning, well you can imagine what was going on through my mind.

I didn’t really want to wait until someone else came in and noticed, so the moment my boss stepped into the office, I flagged him down and started explaining this issue. He just gave me this patient look and smile and told me I didn’t have to defend myself—which, technically, was what I was ready to do. I guess old habits die hard and I’d been blamed often enough at the other office for this like that. He told me that he knew I wasn’t at fault and that he’d gotten the information from the IT folks about getting a ping from the machine itself when something went wrong with its inner programming. I didn’t even know it could do that.

You have no idea how relieved I was, no idea. I apologized to my boss for bothering him about that—which again he told me it was quite all right—and I disappeared back into my office. It’s nice to have moved from being a ‘lowly’ receptionist to doing more. Not that being a receptionist is a bad thing, but I was often a little bored at that particular desk before and now, where I am, there’s something new every day. It’s refreshing.

I can’t believe I’m still in love with you after what you’ve turned out to be.

 
Timeline/World: Edge of Forever – Shifting Sands
Characters: Jiah Curtis
Race: Shifter – Ferret
Age: 30
Final Word Count: 597 words
 

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The words stung. No amount of trying to wrap my mind around them made them sting any less. The cold, calculated look on their face was sending uncomfortable chills down my spine. Though to be absolutely honest, when have chills ever been good? Don’t answer that, I know, I’ve heard it before. Good chills, what the heck are good chills? I’ve heard people say ‘oh that person gives me chills’ and mean it in a good, sexual way but I just can’t wrap my mind around that.

It’s not even the insult that hurt the most. That insult came out of nowhere. We hadn’t known one another for more than a few months. I suppose a few months, nowadays, is enough for someone to claim they know someone so well that they can point out all the ways that person has changed over the course of their lives though. I just don’t know but it makes no sense. It was their false claim of still being in love with me that stung the most.

Why?

We’d spent time together; I’m not going to deny that. We worked in the same building, the same office, almost the same team. I’ve spent time with them the way I’ve spent time with Gary, Ella and Rhonda. The way I spent time with most everyone I’ve worked with. Our relationship was a work-based relationship and that was that. There were no outings, no drinks, not even any shared lunches. We spent some time together between the hours of eight to five and that ended there.

I knew, however, from the start, that something wasn’t quite right with them. I honestly wouldn’t be very surprised if someone told me that they had a background in a psychiatric ward, it would just make sense. There always were the little things. Small details that no one else seemed to notice but I noticed them, I had to. I could begin to write them all down but I wouldn’t be done come morning and I’d like to actually get some sleep tonight if I can get those words out of my brain; why did they have to go and ruin what had been the beginning of a really nice evening?

I don’t want to imagine that I might eventually be told that they found a secret room in their home with my photos everywhere on the wall and an altar or something. That would be beyond the realm of the uncomfortable. I suppose that the timing might be a little more rushed than I was hoping but I had been thinking of asking my boss to transfer me to another branch. Now I might just ask to be transferred not so much into the next city over but either across the continent or beyond the water.

Starting over in a brand new city, on a brand new continent where nobody knows me actually sounds like something I should have done a while ago. I just hadn’t had the guts. This place, the apartment I rent, the places I visit almost like clockwork, they’re all things I used to do with him, things that no longer feel the same now that he’s gone but I’ve been clinging to the past. So I think that getting away from this one co-worker is what I need and if I have to mention my reasons to my boss, I will.

I value my mental and emotional health more than the odd looks I might get if I ask that my new location isn’t discussed with my ex-co-workers.

Boss wanted to see you. Said it was important.

Timeline/World: Mixed Races
Characters: Jiah Curtis
Race: Shifter – Ferret
Age: 29
Final Word Count: 512 words

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Usually, when a coworker tells you that the boss wants to see you, you tend to get up, head over to the proper office and just sort of get in there. Doubly so when there is an ‘it’s important’ tacked onto the end of it.

As far as Morrison is concerned, that wasn’t really something to worry about. Point made, he only made sure to avoid worrying about twice before the boss fired him.

First time around, Thornbull is the one who delivered the message. Stopped by his desk, told him almost breathlessly that the boss wanted to see him and that it was important, he had to make sure to step into that office quickly. Morrison just shrugged his shoulders, mumbled something none of us understood and went back to typing up whatever he was working on. It certainly didn’t seem like a report to me but I don’t know these kinds of things, I just man the telephone up front, answer visitors, deal with the mail… well you know, front desk stuff. Not glamorous but it sure pays the bills.

When Morrison made it to that office, the door hadn’t even finished sliding shut that the yelling started and it was something to listen to.

The second time, the boss called my desk to ask me to send Morrison to his office, again with the clear mention that it was important. Since his desk was just a few paces from mine, I spared the idea of calling him and just got him, walked to his desk and told him exactly what Thornbull had said just a few weeks back. Boss wanted him in his office and it was important. I added in a small extra that just maybe he wanted to not keep the boss waiting. He gave me that look, the look everyone gives me because I’m just the lowly secretary but I rolled my eyes, went back to my desk and called the boss to tell him the message had been delivered and Morrison would be by shortly.

Why our boss doesn’t call him directly is beyond me.

Morrison was in that office almost an hour after I had told him to get his butt in there.

There was no yelling this time, only almost silence. None of us really know what went on behind that closed door but when Morrison came out, he was pale, he was shaky and he went to pack up his things.

His office has been cleared since then and no one really was hired to take his spot yet.

I suppose it doesn’t really matter but, really. If someone tells you that the boss is looking to talk to you, don’t keep them waiting. Even more important is the fact to not keep that boss waiting if whatever they need to discuss is important. Failing to adhere to that school of thought will instantly drag you off into joblesstown as far as I’m aware. The guy is paying your salary, the least you can do is heel when he tells you to.