Chapter 1
"Unfortunately, we are downsizing. All the executives were told to drop employees, so this isn't personal," the senior editor in charge stood before the six of us, pretending this was anything but a money-grabbing exercise. We'd all seen the advertising agency's profit announcement. Fifty million dollars, a new record, and they fired us junior editors who were on measly salaries anyway. What a bunch of dicks.
The room remained deadly silent, and unease curled in my stomach. My mind raced with recollections of the eight hundred dollars I had in my savings, though how long before I chewed through that? I might need to get a roommate after all, which sucked.
Cherry remained standing at the head of the table in our meeting room in her power suit. I sighed heavily, wanting to leave already, rip the Band-Aid off and move on. All the years I put into my job meant nothing to them. The ache deepened that I would be unemployed and in need for another job fast.
"As your last day is today, I'll need each of you to pack your belongings, hand in your phones, laptops, and key passes." She watched us emotionless and flicked the chestnut curl dangling over her brow. I never liked the woman when she started here six months earlier and brown-nosed to everyone, including flirting to keep her job, and I sure didn't like her now.
A soft mumble of whispers rose around the table from my worried colleagues.
I tuned out as she rattled on and instead I shook all thoughts out of my mind, my knees bouncing under the table. This wasn't what I needed when I had bills pilling up, and neither was the rising sickness hitting the back of my throat. The lights in the room flickered like they might go out. Everyone stared up, and I cringed on the inside.
"Excuse me." I rose to my feet, needing to head to the bathroom before I threw up everywhere. I had this horrible gag reflex to high anxiety and the lights popped. I didn't need to check to know that the lights in the building were flicking as well.
It happened whenever I was stressed or annoyed, just like vomiting. Yeah, I was complicated. Mom taught me to control how I let the power rush through me. That was about as much as I let her teach me about the way of life of a witch that I'd inherited from her, and it was generally enough. She wasn’t the loving, caring kind of Mother, but more of the do-it-this-way-or-else approach. And she wasn’t shy to lock me in the cupboard under the stairs for full days as punishment. I cringed at the memories. As soon as I hit eighteen, I moved out, and even now at twenty-six, I didn’t look back.
I made it to the bathroom just in time and hurled out my lunch, the lights still flickering crazily. When I finished spewing my guts out, I washed my mouth out at the sink and looked at my reflection in the mirror. The flashing light settled as my pulse did. I stared at the glassiness of my green eyes, the messy ponytail holding my red hair, and a spec of something on my shirt. I glanced down. Oh, please don't be vomit.
Hastily, I washed the blemish, leaving a wet patch over my heart revealing the top of lace bra. I huffed. Who the hell cared, right? Not like I worked at the agency anymore. That part left me sighing again.
"Okay," I said to myself. "You'll get a new job. You've got experience, and you'll also apply for unemployed benefits tonight." Then why did my stomach hurt again?
Shaking myself physically, I pushed the loose strands off my face and headed out of the bathroom.
A screeching laugh came from the hallway to my left, and I looked in that direction to find my ex, Liam, hugging and tickling the new graphic designer they just employed.
My whole body froze solid. We'd just broken up two weeks ago, and his parting words would never leave me. Don't shed a parting tear for me. Asshole.
I turned away, figuring I wasn't going to walk past them so I'd go the long way back to the meeting room.
"Nilsa," Liam called out.
"Oh, God," I mumbled under my breath.
"Hey." He touched my shoulder, and I turned to him, forcing a smile like everything in my life was superb. His new girlfriend was nowhere in sight. "I heard the news, and I wanted to say I’m so sorry."
I blinked at him, trying to decipher his sarcasm. "It's fine, I was going to leave anyway, so it's perfect timing." I hated how easily I lied, but Liam did that to me after he split us up for me not being career driven enough. What sort of crap excuse was that? He was an editor, one hop up from my position. Anyway, I had enough of him.
"Really? But you used to tell me this was your dream job,” he continued, his eyes narrowing as if he was ready to pick apart my lie to pieces.
"Yeah well, things change," I answered a bit too fast. Taking a deep breath, my words spilled out. "I got another offer as senior editor at The New Tribune."
His mouth dropped open. "Wow. They're the biggest paper in town." He ran a hand through his light hair, his pale blue eyes staring at me with that look that made me fall for him in the first place.
Except I slapped myself mentally, remembering Liam was a player.
"Yep. I can't wait. And haven't you been trying to become senior editor for a while?"
He nodded, the wheels spinning behind his eyes at how I could possibly have jumped in my career above him.
"Well, I better go." The lies were coming too easily which scared me, and one call to the paper would reveal my fib. But I'd be long gone from the agency by then. And it was everything to see the fallen expression on his face.
Call me sadistic, but after he made me cry for a week straight from dumping me, well, I enjoyed every moment of seeing his shock.
I hurried down the corridor.
"Hey Nilsa, want to catch up for drinks after work like the old days. I miss you."
And there he was... the real Liam. Dickhead extraordinaire.
I glanced over my shoulder to where his new fling stood farther down the hall behind him and said, "I think your new girlfriend might have an issue with that."
"Liam?" she blurted, her cheeks blanching.
I smiled and hiked it out of there, but there wasn't a part of me that didn't believe this would somehow come back and bite me. Hell!
Hi guys, it's the sweetest witch again.
Well, today didn't run the way I wanted it to. Woke up, got my coffee, headed in to work. The subway was a little too packed, so I had to stand all the way. Sure, it's only two stops, but it still sucks all the camel testicles.
Got to the office. Someone got in a little too early and put the thermostat a little higher than I like. We're in the middle of goddamn summer. If you want to work in a sweat lodge, why not step outside and get the work done there?
Oh, and I got fired today too.
I know, way to bury the lede, right Nilsa?
I know that I didn't do anything. I mean, sure, everyone says that sort of thing, but in the end, when I was talking to the senior editor in charge of my division, he said that all the executives were being told to drop employees, and that just meant that all the junior editors were getting dropped. The guy fired us in a group meeting. How fucking lazy is that?
It always sucks to be fired from a job that you love. I liked working for the Echo Agency. I'm good at my job, so it's not like I can't find work elsewhere, especially with a recommendation waiting for me. And the severance package was pretty sweet too. But it certainly isn't where I wanted to be at the end of the day.