Behind the Puppet Master

A New Perspective

Bright, fluorescent lights turn on, blinding me. I squint, trying to block out the light, as my eyes attempt to adjust. It doesn’t help that the walls, floor, and ceiling are all white. There’s so much whiteness, it hurts to look at any of it. I get up off the ground and look around the room, confused. I find a reflection of myself in the mirror, noticing that I’m completely bald and look terribly sick. I start walking towards it, despite knowing it’s a two-way glass mirror. I’m shaking as I look at my own reflection. What happened to me? I raise my hand, and just as I’m about to touch my palm to the glass, a loud, high-pitched, ringing sound fills the room. I cover my ears as the excruciating sound echoes in the empty room. I collapse to the ground; the ringing goes on for what feels like forever, and I’m left laying there in the fetal position. I close my eyes, screaming as loud as I can, trying to block out the overwhelming sensory overload. The ringing eventually stops, but I continue to lay there, bracing for another round of what may come next. Except nothing happens, at least not for a few minutes. Finally I find the courage to open my eyes, and uncover my ears. I feel my heart trying to jump out of my chest. Suddenly, I hear a mysterious woman’s voice over the intercom, “Good, you’re finally awake- it’s time to-”

“Good morning. It is 5:45AM and today is Monday, Apri-”

My alarm goes off. I quickly jolt up, turning it off, while shaking and sweating profusely. What the hell was that? I breathe in and out, trying to calm myself down. I feel around my soaked bed, and realize just how much I’ve been sweating. My throat burns and I feel extremely parched. I reach up to feel my scalp, and a wave of relief rushes over me as I feel my hair. It was such a strange and vivid dream. I open the curtains revealing the beautiful sun beginning to rise. Maybe I’m just really nervous. I’ve spent all weekend stressing over this huge promotion, and today is finally Monday. Every time I tried to call William, he would always tell me to wait. My dad wasn’t any different, he just kept telling me to stop stressing, and that he knows I can do it.

I get out of bed and begin my usual morning routine. I call Wayne and ask him to come pick me up by 8:30AM. Go through my morning workout, my usual shower and proceed downstairs to have breakfast. As I start eating my breakfast, my dad walks into the kitchen, asking me when I’m leaving.

“I want to head out by 8:30, hopefully the traffic won’t be too terrible in the carpool lane.” I answer him, “when are you coming to work?”

“I probably won’t be going in today. I have an appointment I have to go to, and it might run long.”

“Oh,” I start, “is everything okay?”

“Yes, of course, sweetheart,” he comes and rubs my back, reassuring me, “you need to relax yourself, you stress too much, darling.” 

“I’m sorry, dad, it’s just ever since mom-”

“I know.” he kisses my cheek and gives me a hug, “I love you, good luck today honey- not that you need it.”

“Thanks, dad, I love you too.” I watch as he goes back out of the kitchen, and I proceed to finish my breakfast. Once my breakfast is finished, I clean up and go grab my tablet. It’s a convertible tablet that turns into a personal laptop. I scroll through my tablet to go over my itinerary for today. I have to meet with William so he can give me my first tasks. I don’t know how long the meeting will run, but I know I have a lot to do. I can’t stop thinking about that strange dream. I mean, I’ve had dreams before, but none have ever felt so vivid. Maybe it is just the nerves of everything, or the stress- I don’t know. I try to brush it off, and head outside, where Wayne is just pulling up. 

“Good morning, Ms. Alina.” He greets me as he opens the door for me.

“Good morning, Wayne. Thank you.” I say as I get in.

“So, it’s a big day today isn’t it?” he says as he starts driving out.

“Yeah, it really is. I’m nervous.”

“Don’t be. So, anything you want to do for the drive out? Movies? Music? It’ll be about 2 hours.”

“I think I’ll just do a little bit of work and go over the itinerary again.” I tell him, and he nods before the divider comes up between us.

I turn on my tablet again, even though I already have it memorized. I can’t stop thinking about that damn dream. I mean, I know dreams can sometimes have meanings or they’re just random, but I can’t shake the feeling of how real the whole thing felt. Almost like I’ve lived through it already. I go over my emails again, and reread the itinerary. I feel my stomach being tied into knots and my hands can’t stop shaking. I feel a migraine coming and so I ask Wayne, through the intercom, for a bottle of water to which he informs me there’s a mini fridge filled with beverages. I look around and find a button with a fridge symbol on it, I press it and it reveals the concealed fridge. How did I never notice this before? It’s stocked with all sorts of soda, water, champagne and anything else you can think of. I grab the water and take an acetaminophen. I close my eyes to help with the headache, and before I know it, we reach headquarters.  

“I’m not sure what time everything will be done, Wayne, but I will definitely keep you updated.” I tell him as we pull up to the front.

“Sure thing, Ms. Alina.” he gets out of the car to open the door for me.

“Thank you, Wayne. I’ll see you later.” I get out and walk towards the entrance. Again, I have my badge, but the security guard buzzes open the door for me before I reach it.

“Good morning!” I tell him.

“Good morning, Ms. Monroe. Good luck today.”

“Thank you.” I smile at him and go towards the elevator. He grants me access and I head on up to the top floor. I look around as the elevator goes up, and see all the employees going about their day, business as usual. “Boy, don’t I wish I could be this calm.” I think to myself. I reach the top floor and again, hear the woman announce, “Welcome to the Top Floor.” 

I get out and am immediately greeted by the assistants again. “Good morning Ms. Monroe, Mr. Fay will see you in a moment. Would you like some water while you wait?” The first assistant greets me. 

“Oh, good morning, no, no thanks.” 

“Let me know if you change your mind.” She takes some of my personal belongings, and she leaves with the second assistant. I head towards the waiting area, and I only have to wait for a couple of minutes before William comes out to greet me. We shake hands and he’s extremely excited- almost as giddy as an unsupervised child, with a hundred dollars, in a candy store. He asks me how my morning was so far and if I’m nervous, to which I tell him that I’m extremely nervous. He chuckles and tells me not to worry about a thing. He leads me back into his office, offers me some beverages, and we quickly sit down and get to our business.

“So, I’m sure you’ve been wondering all weekend long what your first tasks will be, even though I told you that you don’t have anything to worry about- yet.” He starts, and I nod in answer. “Well, as you know, the new research and development facility is still underway. The construction workers gave me an estimate of under four months till completion, so we should be able to begin conducting business by the fall.” I jot down some notes while he’s talking. “Now, obviously we still have much to do until then. We’ll need to hire all the employees and have them trained before the facility opens. You’ll need to find the appropriate-”

“THIS IS BULLSHIT!” William and I get startled as we hear a loud commotion outside his office. There’s yelling and things being thrown, then Nick storms through the door uninvited. The assistant rushes in after him, apologizing to William. William dismisses her and looks at his son who is fuming with rage. “What is it Nick?” He addresses him calmly.

“I should be asking you ‘what is it?’! I thought you were joking this weekend, but nope, here she is, in your office, doing god knows what!”

I get up to start protesting but William speaks for me, “Nicholas, as we discussed this weekend, you are not a good fit for what this company needs. The board of directors, Henry, and I don’t believe you have what it takes.”

“I do! I can prove it if you gave me the chance- like you did for her!”

“Nicholas, the decision is final, and has been final for a while. You won’t change our minds." William reaches under his desk, I'm assuming to press a button. "Now, I’m going to have the security guards escort you off the premises. Please, son, stop making a fool of yourself.”

"You did all this to embarrass me. Everything you did was to make me look bad. That pretentious banquet? You knew I deserved that, you knew, but you didn't tell me! You did it all to make some point. It was you, not me, you embarrassed me."

“Son, please, maybe one day you will get the chance to prove yourself, but this is not one of those times.” 

“You’ll regret this.” he tells William through gritted teeth. “Mark my words: I’ll make sure you pay!”

The security guards arrive to escort him out. They grab his shoulders to guide him out, but he shoves their hands off of him, “I know how to walk out my damn self.” He ignores me completely as he walks out and I feel a sense of unease. William sits down and lets out a frustrated sigh. “I have to apologize for Nick’s behavior again. He hasn’t taken the announcement very well.”

“I’m sorry to ask this, but why did you guys choose me?” I find the courage to ask.

“What do you mean?” William asks me, almost surprised.

“Well, I just-” I’m struggling to find the right way to ask him, “I dunno, I just figured the board of directors would hire from outside like always. I didn’t realize I was even up for consideration”

He chuckles, and shakes his head. “You really ought to give yourself more credit, Alina.” I tilt my head in confusion. “You understand that we are branching our business into the field of weapons development?” I nod my head. “You have been dealing with weapons ever since you were ten years old. Your father brought you to the gun range, explained everything about gun safety and you know guns like the back of your hand. Right?” I keep listening. “You would be able to direct the research and development of weaponry, because you know how guns can be improved. You worked under Dr. Evelyn Virgil for years, learning everything you can from her. You have the experience with guns, managerial experience, and you are very much a ‘people person’. Dr. Virgil herself, vouched for you. We need someone who has the experience as well as the vision to push the company towards the future.” 

“Okay, that may be true, I have gun experience, but what made you think I’m visionary and like you? The things you come up with still continue to blow my mind. I don’t think I can be like you.”

“I’m not asking you to be like me, I’m asking you to be you.”

“But, I haven’t came up with anything unique or invented anything.”

“You don’t have to invent it, my dear. You just have to be wild enough to come up with the concept, and explain your vision to push our engineers.” 

“Okay, but I haven’t came up with anything.”

“Not that you know of at least,” he starts and I’m taken aback. Before I can ask him what he means, he answers, “your father has always given credit, where credit was due. The solar powered cars? You came up with that when you were six years old. You were playing with a toy car when your father was complaining about running out of gas. That’s when you asked him why cars couldn’t use the sun like the house. You see, you got your father thinking. He explained the concept to our engineers at the time, and now we have solar powered cars. It was a child’s imagination that changed the way we see transportation. It took years to perfect the concept, but now we released the latest model of the Mosaic.”

I sit there and think about what he said. As I’m about to ask him another question, it’s almost like he knew what I was going to ask, “Yes, I know, you were too young at the time to actually remember, but your father fully disclosed how he came up with that concept. People thought he was crazy, at first, but we were willing to take that chance. That was just one example of how you, from a young age, inspired your father to push the company forward. He acted as the middleman then, but now you are old enough to lead the engineers yourself. People will laugh and think that we are fools for taking that chance now, but you have proven for years that you have the vision this company needs.”

I continue to sit there and take it all in. No pressure on me right? 

“I mean, if you don’t want this job, just say the word and that’s that. We will find someone who might be able to come up with something new- but I know that you can come up with something extraordinary.” I just sigh and nod my head. “Good. That’s settled then. Now, let's get back to business shall we?” I nod my head and take out my tablet to continue to jot down some notes. “Where were we?” he asks, I skim through the notes and remind him, “right, right. You will need to find the appropriate people who can carry out your vision. I can suggest some people for you, if you’d like, but I’m sure you’ll find the best people for the job. You’ll need people like accountants to handle the budgets. You’ll need engineers, technicians, doctors and so forth. Everything will need to be settled and ready to go by the fall. It’s a tight schedule, but I know you can manage.”

He presses a button, which projects a virtual building information model(BIM) of the new facility. You can interact with it and go into all the rooms. He proceeds to give me a virtual tour of the facility, just to give me an idea of what I’ll need. The facility is spectacular and far more advanced than anything I’ve seen. The weapons wing will have both a virtual, and real-life shooting range, where we will test out the weapons we build. It will show the accuracy and efficiency for the weapons, as well as the person who uses the weapons. There will be the manufacturing floor, where we build the weapons, a research facility, where we develop more advanced weaponry, and the armory is in a tight vault with extremely high security protocols. The medical research wing will include its own laboratory where we will test, develop, and improve medicine. There will be a medical wing where we will conduct clinical trials on site, under the care of local hospitals. We zoom in on the medical wing and for some reason, when we reach the quarantine chamber, my dream flashes into my mind and I begin panicking. The room looks exactly like the room in my dream, I feel my palms getting sweaty and my heart begins racing. My breathing speeds up and I feel all levels of anxiety.

“Is everything okay?” William asks, bringing me back to reality. “If this is too overwhelming for you, we can continue another day. You have nothing to worry about though, you’ll do great.”

“Oh, no, no, I’m fine. It’s- it’s nothing, really.”

He nods and proceeds with the virtual tour. By the end of the tour, I have a clearer picture of what we’ll need by the time the facility opens. We sit down, brainstorm some more, and before we know it, hours have gone by. I’m starting to feel more confident and William gives me some more resources to help as a guide. Willam orders some lunch for the both of us, and while we wait, I start researching people who would be good fits for the positions. William is answering some emails and doing some of his own work. 

When the food eventually arrives, we set aside our work and enjoy our meals. We make small talk and it eventually leads to talking about his family. He tells me that Alexia has been talking about becoming an intern, and asked what I think about that. I try to hide my blush as I think about her, and tell him that I think it would be a brilliant idea for her. I suggest having her intern at the new facility when it opens because it would provide more opportunity for her to grow. He nods his head as I’m talking, and casually mentions how he wishes Nick would be more ambitious. I bite my lip to keep myself from saying anything. A few moments of awkward silence passes and I tell him I’m worried about Nick. He looks at me confused and I clarify that I’m worried of what he thinks he’s going to do. I’m worried for William’s safety and mine, and I’m worried for the company. William brushes off my worries, telling me that Nick is very vocal but can’t actually do anything to us. He tells me that there will always be security guards on the premises. He also tells me that, regretfully, Nick isn’t the smartest, so even if he did want to do something, he won’t be able to. 

I text Wayne and ask him to come pick me up in half an hour. We finish our lunch and William asks me if there’s anything else I need. I tell him no, and thank him for helping me, as well as trusting me with this huge opportunity. He smiles and thanks me for taking on this huge project gracefully. He leads me to his office door and we say our goodbyes. He shakes my hand excitedly, and one of the assistants comes over with my purse and belongings. I thank her and start walking towards the elevator. 

I get onto the elevator and as the elevator is heading down, my phone vibrates. I look at my phone and it’s a text from Nick: ‘hey, Alina, I’m sorry for the way I behaved today and at the party. Let me make it up to you over dinner?’