“Uh-huh…”
“I liked Dawn.” My voice sounds almost whiny, but I can’t help it. “She and I were friends. Good friends. If anything, I protected her from other people bullying her. She was different, you know? But I liked that about her. I liked that she was different.”
“I get it,” Rita says, “but I just feel like the climate is wrong right now. I can’t take the side of the enemy, you know?”
“I’m not the enemy!” I want to pound my fists on my desk. “I’m the one who found out she was missing in the first place!”
“Yeah, I saw a post mentioning that.” Rita coughs. “It was hashtag suspicious.”
I’m too stunned to speak. It takes a second for my voice to come back to me. “You know, I have an alibi for the night she disappeared.”
“I’m sure you do,” Rita says vaguely. “Look, I just don’t think it’s a good idea to do this interview right now. But I hope it all works out for you, Natalie.”
“Gosh, thanks, Rita. I appreciate your support.”
Before she can respond, I hang up the phone. That was unbelievable. Rita has been interviewing me every single year since I started doing the 5K. I thought we were friends. I can’t believe she would hang me out to dry like that after just a hint of a rumor.
Now that I’m off the phone, I have to see what Rita was talking about. I bring up my Twitter feed, and I type in the hashtag.
Oh no. This is worse than I thought.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
We are trending. In 280 characters or less, everybody on the internet is sharing stories about workplace bullying and how awful it is that poor Dawn was tormented the way she was. Even though it’s almost physically painful, I scan through the litany of horrible comments about my company and the people who work there. It’s almost too awful to read. People as a whole can be terrible. Mob mentality and all.
The people who work at that company should all go to jail. #VixedBullies
Child bullies grow up to be adult bullies. #justicefordawn #VixedBullies
I took Collahealth and it was the most useless supplement I have ever tried. Basically sugar pills. Did nothing. #VixedSucks
You’re lucky it did nothing. It made my hair fall out. #VixedSucks
Oh my God, Collahealth does not make your hair fall out. That is a complete lie. Yes, it doesn’t work for everyone. But for the people that do have benefits, the effects can be amazing. I mean, I don’t take Collahealth personally. My collagen is already fine. But I’ve read the literature on it, and it’s a really good product.
After a while, I’m just searching for my name. For the most part, whoever leaked the story about Dawn has kept my name out of it. Thank God. But a few people have chosen to criticize me as an employee of Vixed.
Natalie from Vixed is the worst lying snake you will ever meet. She will say anything to get you to buy their crap. #VixedSucks
It’s hard not to take it personally.
“Nat?”
Seth is standing over me, hovering at the entrance to my cubicle, wearing his trench coat. I was so absorbed in looking at my Twitter feed that I didn’t even see him approach. His eyebrows are scrunched together.
“Hi,” I mumble.
“You okay, Nat?”
I drag my gaze away from my phone. “We’re getting trashed on the internet, you know.”
“I know.” He seems unperturbed, given that his name got mentioned quite a bit as well. Manager Seth Hoffman did nothing to stop the bullying. “You should stop looking at it.”
“How can I?” Even as I’m talking to him, I’m looking back down again to read the next comment. There’s a new one popping up every few seconds.
“It’s easy.” He reaches out and snatches my phone off the desk. “Just stop. It’s not going to help find who did this to Dawn.”
“Hey!”
“It’s for your own good, Nat.”
“Everyone thinks I bullied Dawn. That I’m a terrible person.”
“That’s bullshit.” Seth says the words so vehemently, I almost want to hug him. Even Kim seemed to believe that I had been bullying Dawn, and she’s my best friend. “You were nice to Dawn. You didn’t do anything wrong. These people on the internet are just speculating. They’re just looking for somebody to blame. They don’t know you like I do.”
I tug at a lock of my hair. “Aren’t you freaking out though? Corporate is not going to be happy about this.”
“It’s fine. They know it’s just a rumor and it will blow over. What happened to Dawn is terrible, but it wasn’t our fault.”
“What if they fire you?”
He grins crookedly. “Then my income drops precipitously, which will be great for my divorce proceedings. Relax, Nat. This is going to be okay.”
“Give me back my phone.”
“I’m going to walk you to your car, then I’ll give it back to you.”
Seth seems intent on holding my phone hostage, so I snatch my jacket off the back of my chair and wrap it around myself. There’s a chance he could be right. I’m pretty sure nothing good can come from reading these posts. It is what it is.
At least nobody has called me a murderer. So there’s that.
I follow Seth down the hall to the elevators. He’s still got my phone shoved into his own coat pocket. I still don’t understand all the hate directed at us. We didn’t bully Dawn, although God knows, we could have, because she blatantly disregarded so many social conventions. But we were nice to her—I mean, mostly. Were there a few times I got irritated and snapped at her? Sure, I’m only human. But I really did try to be patient with her, in general. I even made an effort to include her in work events. Like even though she wasn’t friends with Kim and was sometimes outright rude to her, I made a point of inviting her to the bridal shower we threw for her—even though she didn’t end up coming.
And even if we did bully her, what does that have to do with her murder, for God’s sake? Do they think we bullied her to death?
“You’re still thinking about it,” he notes.
“I can’t help it!” I tug at my pantyhose, which rip slightly under my fingernail. Damn it. “I’m not used to people hating me.” Well, except for his wife. But even she seems to have lost interest in harassing me.
“Nobody hates you, Nat.” His light brown eyes meet mine across the elevator. “I sure don’t.”
I look away from him. This is not going to lead to anything good.
The sun has already gone down when we get out of the building. The weather is brisk and it’s almost drizzling. November just started, and it’s promising to be a wet, cold month. Soon it will start snowing. Saturday is supposed to be nice at least.
Seth stands close to me as we walk through the parking lot in the direction of my car. I notice he’s parked only a few spots away from mine. A few times as we walk, his shoulder brushes against mine. I don’t comment on that.
When we reach my car, I turn to look at him. “Can I have my phone back now?”