Ghost - in the arms of Death

Chapter 8

Sometimes I feel like I have several hearts beating inside my chest. There’s the Liah who lost her twin. She’s devastated and numb to anything. She misses him desperately and she’s not able to see the silver lining in it. It feels like the pain and misery are never going to end.

There’s the Liah whose heart beats for the martial arts. The only thing that makes her feel alive. For the fracture of a moment when her pulse is beating hard and her muscles are starting to ache under the pressure.

And then there’s the woman staring back at me right now. I watch my reflection in the subway windows. The city flies by, while the reflection stays rooted in place. I’m looking at the Liah who works at AMB, trying to match its standards the best she can. I prefer my baggy clothes to this, but they told me that there is an unofficial dress code I should abide by.

The woman looking at me is wearing a black blouse and coffee-colored chino pants. I combined it with black sneakers though. I refuse to wear heels. I hate them and they hurt like hell.

With the rest of the busy worker bees, I drift towards the AMB building. With a beep, my keycard gets accepted and I’m headed to my little cubical to get to work. The minute my butt hits the chair my desk phone rings. “AMB Research, how may I help you?” I should say my name, but I always skip that part. Nobody remembers it the first time you say it anyway.

“Miss Capristo?” a friendly female voice says, “this is Linda House speaking. I’m with the Project management and you have been requested to look over some of Mr. Brices' personal ventures.”

I furrow my brows and turn my head to look at the phone. Requested to look over Mr. Brices' personal ventures? Is this some kind of joke?

“Hello? Miss Capristo? Are you there?” the voice says and I press the phone back to my ear.

“Yes, I’m here. I’m not sure-,” I hesitate, “-are you sure you wanted to talk to me?”

“I am certain,” she says, but I can tell by the tone in her voice that she has no clue why. Neither do I. I have never been in charge of anything. Not that I couldn’t handle it, but on paper, I'm not qualified. Worker-bee-Liah is genuinely confused right now.

“Will you be able to meet me at HR?”

“HR?” I say, now this sounds more like it. I’m in trouble again for being too unfriendly or whatever these girls say about me.

“Yes, it’s easier. I will show you to your new office after.”

“New office?” I repeat dumbfounded. She must think my brain doesn’t work properly, but I can’t bring myself to believe any of this.

“Yes, are you free to meet me now?”

“Sure,” I say, still wondering if this is a joke. The thing is, I know these people working here don’t have any sense of humor. I guess this must be real then. Or a very cruel way to fire me. Whatever it is, I decide to just roll with it.

I slowly get up, wondering if I should pack up my stuff now or later. I decide that later will do. I don’t have much anyway. While other cubicles are decorated with pictures and little posters, mine is empty.

The trip to HR is a short one. I’ve been up here a couple of times and I always left with an eye roll. So I am a loner. I do my work and I do it well. I don’t need to be a team player while I’m transcribing documents. It’s rather simple and lonely work.

Linda House is a prime example of what an AMB employee should look like. She could be on a runway for all I know. Tall, perfect skin, perfect body. Her dress looks expensive and classy. So does her hair. I swear it‘s so shiny it should be illegal.

„You must be Miss Capristo,“ she says offering me her perfectly manicured hand.

„Yes, nice to meet you,“ I say deciding to be as polite as possible. „I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but I am genuinely confused by this request. Why me?“

She smiles politely, „in all honesty, I don’t know. But the request came from upstairs and I don’t question their decisions. You must have done something to get on someone’s radar.“

„I have no idea what that could have been,“ I admit shaking my head slightly, „but I’ll take it,“ I add with a little shrug.

„It is a great opportunity,“ Linda House agrees. She seems nice. I probably could bring myself to like her, but I doubt I’ll see her again any time soon.

„Shall we?“ she asks and gestures for the elevators.

„You will have to update your wardrobe,“ she starts as I follow her. Update my wardrobe? I can’t afford a dress like hers. Not in a million years.

„Don’t worry you‘ll get a budget for several changes of clothes. If you don’t feel comfortable choosing those outfits yourself, just give me a call and I will arrange for someone to pick them out for you.“

In what world does your employer pay for your wardrobe? This deal suddenly feels awfully shady to me. Besides, what’s wrong with the clothes I have?

„You’ll have to be here an hour early to prepare for the day. You will be assigned a personal driver-,”

“Why?” I interrupt her, “I can be here early, that’s not a big deal. I don’t need a driver.”

“You don’t have a car, do you?”

“No, because I live in a city where it’s faster to walk than to bother with traffic. I live down in Brooklyn. Trust me, I’m faster without a car.”

“Brooklyn?” She says hesitantly, “well, that’s up to you of course. The car will be at your disposal if you wish.”

This is the strangest promotion -or whatever it is- that I have ever seen. I feel like I’m being upgraded to some kind of emperor.

This is not a regular assistant gig. I can feel it deep down in my bones and I am not sure whether this is a good thing or not.

“We have a few apartments on the upper east side, I guess something could be arranged if-,”

“Okay, seriously, what is this?” I interrupt her, “is this some kind of trap?”

“I am sorry?” Linda sounds taken aback. But even she must know this deal is nonsense.

“None of this makes any sense and no, I’d rather stay in Brooklyn, thank you.”

“Well-,” she raises her brows at my snappy tone before she points at a door at the end of a hall, “-you should take the day to check out the details and the advantages that come with this new position, Miss Capristo. You’ll find the documents on your desk.”

My desk? That sounds so weird. Everything sounds a little bit cray-cray. Maybe the big boss has lost it? Maybe someone wants to score off the boss by hiring a nobody? To what end? So I would ruin everything? Bring down the company?

I chuckle at the thought as I enter my new workspace. This makes no sense at all, but the office is nice. It has a great view over the city and it’s isolated. No small talking, no gossiping. It’s perfect. But perfect usually doesn’t last, does it?

I spend half an hour looking outside my tall windows, which is probably not what they -whoever they are- had in mind when giving me this office.

With a shake of my head, I turn away from the stunning view and sit down behind my desk. It’s made of glass, which is an update to my previous plastic one. Even the computer that sits on top of the desk looks better than the one I used before.

When I wiggle the curser the Logo of AMB flashes over the screen and a soft swooshing noise announces my first email.

From: A.B.

To: Liah Capristo

How do you like your new office?

I try to make out who this is from, but all I can find out is, that it came from someone inside the network. Maybe it’s from the person who got me this job and he or she expects me to know who they are. But I am absolutely clueless.

From: Liah Capristo

To: A.B.

It’s great. Thank you. I assume I have you to thank for it?

I am fishing for answers without sounding too clueless.

From: A.B.

To: Liah Capristo

You are welcome, Miss Capristo. I am looking forward to working closely with you.

Okay?! Closely, huh? Doesn’t sound shady at all…

I still don’t know what’s going on, but I am sure I will meet this person sooner or later and I will pretend that I totally know what’s going on. Leo always said to act confident even when you have no idea what the hell you’re doing. I guess that’s exactly what I am going to do.

I slightly shake my head and pull the folder on my desk closer. It contains a list of what is expected of me, what the company will provide so I can meet those expectations and of course a list of my new duties, which definitely go beyond just transcribing documents. This job gives me more responsibility and frankly a better paycheck.

I guess my lazy assistant days are over. Provided I accept this madness and I find out who this A.B. person is.