Rachel blinked at the
computer monitor, the lines of text slowly blurring together from
the long hours of hammering together the lengthy report starting to
turn her mind into a gray sort of slush. It was her first week on
the job, though, and her first important project. It had been given
with high expectations, with a deadline in the morning, and so
she ’d stuck around far after everyone else
had already gathered up their gear and wandered home, plucking away
at her keyboard in hopes of getting everything finalized and making
a good impression. She needed this job, and a glowing review on her
first big assignment would go far to keeping her employed and
putting her foot onto the rungs of the corporate ladder.
Which was why she swore
loudly when the computer screen blipped to blue a few moments
later, a single repeating note blaring out of the box at her feet.
Her eyes went wide in blind panic, and she scrambled to reboot the
computer in hopes that her work was still there, safely tucked away
in a backup somewhere.
“ Come on,” she whispered,
urging the computer to boot faster, nudging it with one shoe,
sending every bit of good-will she could muster towards the device.
It turned back on with agonizing slowness and logged back into the
company network. Her fingers flew across the keyboard, heart
pounding with growing trepidation. “Please, oh please, oh
please.”
She opened the document. It
was empty.
“ Shit,” she snarled, batting
a stack of spiral-bound notebooks off onto the floor. Icy panic
sluiced down into her stomach, and she shook as she stared at the
blank document. Hours of work undone, with the deadline the next
morning. This wasn’t just an important assignment, though. She’d
been trusted to get the report to her superiors on time for a
meeting at the start of business with a new client - one that the
business was keen on securing. No report, no client. Her fingers
twitched as she stared at the screen, mind too numb to think. She
was going to be fired. There was no way about it. She’d botched the
task they’d given her to prove herself, to help secure an important
client for the company. There was no way they’d keep her now. Hot
tears seared at her eyes as she sat, shoulders slumped.
“ Rachel?” The voice wafted
around from the door of the small office she shared during the day.
Rachel quickly blotted her eyes and glanced up. Her direct boss,
Henry, hovered in the entry, frowning with concern down at her. Her
heart sank. She didn’t have even a little bit of time before her
mistake was found. For a moment, she considered sprinting past him
and out into the parking lot to her car, but fought the urges down.
She’d have to face the consequences at some point - it might as
well be now. “I thought I heard you. What’s wrong? You don’t look
so good.”
“ That report I was working
on?” she said slowly, hating the way her voice quavered. Henry just
nodded, sliding into the room and closing the door behind her. The
blinds were closed, though the office lights had long been dimmed
once the normal shift had ended, leaving the room in perpetual
twilight, broken only by the gleam from the empty document on her
computer monitor. She gestured at it in impotent futility. “The
computer crashed. I lost it all.”
“ Okay,” Henry said, nodding.
“So, pull it from the backup store.”
Rachel blinked. Hope
flickered and kindled within her. She dared to smile a little up at
her boss, who had been fairly nice and friendly towards her the
last five days she’d been there.
“ Backup store?” she said, a
small laugh escaping her. She blew out a relieved breath and slid
down into her chair, spinning a bit from side to side. A feeling of
giddy lightheadedness flitted through her. That had been close!
“Oh, thank God. I was worried for a moment, you know? I’ve been
here, working hard, trying to make sure I had this all ready for
tomorrow. How do I get it back?”
Henry’s jovial smile
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