Page 29 of Lesson on Depravity

She mentioned she was an English Literature major, and her words tend to warp towards old English.

Her favorite motto for life is: “Thou shalt not be a snake unless acted upon an external force; then it’s survival of the fittest.”

She is the embodiment of “giving negative fucks” in today’s societal terms.

Cindy was also a former pole dancer at a gentlemen’s club. She is a wild card with an interesting background, and maybe that’s why we hit it off. We didn’t grow up in middle-class families or have the greatest education, but we made it work and put ourselves on the legitimate career path.

“Oh, it’s Karen from Human Resources. What’s she doing up here? This is the Operations Department.”

When I want to answer, the fire alarm shrieks in my ears. The flashing warning and the loud blaring makes me wince as we share a look. Cindy puts down her lunch, and I leave my coffee, but I make sure the other two in the breakroom get out before I do.

Everyone is being evacuated by security guards, and no one is allowed to take the elevators. The stairs are compact, and that area is starting to smell; the tricky shoves and pushes let limbs from multiple people touch me.

I cringe, hanging onto Cindy’s arm for dear life, so we don’t get lost. The most important thing is to not fall and get trampled over, but everyone is moving extra slow as if the fire alarm is just a drill.

Just then, the building walls come with a voice, and everyone loses their mind within the next second.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is not a drill. I repeat; this is not a drill. Please move accordingly and exit the building.”

I wish people would just wait for their turns, but no one wants to die if there’s a fire somewhere in the building. Cindy and I managed to get out of the building in record time, and we peer up at the skyscraper to see if there’s anything wrong.

All the windows are intact, but around us are the fire department, police cars, and people in white jumpsuits.

Is there a chemical outbreak?

If it’s dangerous and life-threatening, they would have locked down the place and not let anyone leave in fear of spreading the outbreak.

They need to avoid a pandemic and a world of panic, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

A rough yank on my shoulder makes me stumble as I’m forced to turn around to face the rude stranger that had touched me. My face sets on a glower, but a smile replaces it when I see it’s Daddy.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, glee running through my veins.

What a lucky day I have to witness workspace gossip and seeing Daddy before work ends. I lean on my toes, kissing his lips as he fists his hand in my hair. The neat ponytail has strands coming loose from his ministration, but I couldn’t care less.

“Heard about this,” he says, his voice betrays the cold façade on his face.

He’s angry, restraining himself from lashing out, and Daddy is impatient when he tucks me into his arm to steer me away from the growing crowd.

I turn to Cindy with my voice at the edge of my throat when she raises her hands to shake her head.

“Personal problems aren’t my cup of tea.” She waves me away.

“That was Cindy,” I introduce her to him, but he’s not interested in her.

He pulls me to a secluded area, eyes darting to our surroundings. Everyone’s eyes are on the first responders, and they are trying to understand what is happening.

“Are you hurt, princess?” His big hand cups my jaw, searching for injuries on me before his hands pat down my side.

I squirm at the ticklish feeling and wrap my small hands around his wrist. “I’m fine, Daddy. What’s wrong? You can’t just coincidentally be here, and this just happened, so you can’t have just heard about it and came all the way from home.”

“You are mouthy, baby.” He cocks an eyebrow, and I shoot him a sheepish smile.

Being on my own for the first time has pushed me out of the self-preservation shell, and I have to voice my thoughts, or people will see me as a doormat.

“Just pointing out facts,” I comment with a grin. “So, what’s wrong?”

His dark eyes stare deeply into mine; the contemplation on his face grows with the shouts from the government bureaucrats to get people to back away from the perimeter that has set.

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