Page 335 of Evil Hearts

Dark Ritual

S.R. Griffith

Vena

Iripped the flyeroff the board. It was a job opening for an assistant at a business in the next town over. I quickly googled the business, and it looked like a marketing firm. The duties were all things I could do, so I shoved the flyer into my bag before walking to my car. Once I sat in my car, I pumped up the heat and pulled out the paper. I quickly called the number and waited for the familiar ring to start.

“Hello?” a male voice answered.

“Hi there! My name is Vena Carter, and I saw your flyer and would like to interview for the assistant position?” I blabbered.

“Fabulous. Could you come tomorrow at noon?” he replied.

“Uh, yeah, most definitely.”

“Fantastic. I cannot wait to see you then, Vena Carter.”

“Bye!” I said as I pulled the phone away from my ear and drove to my apartment. Once I got there, I threw my bag down and looked for my roommate.

“Hey, I got a job interview at Malkren Associates in Mount Venus!”

My roommate, Cynthia, stepped out of her room with a large grin on her face. “That’s such good news. What position?”

“Assistant. All things I can do.”

“Let me google Malkren Associates. Gotta make sure they are on the up and up,” she mumbled as she looked at her phone. “Also gonna order a celebration pizza!”

“We can’t celebrate before I get the job!” I exclaimed.

“We can celebrate living for another day then. In this day and age, we need to be grateful for everything,” Cynthia said as she blew her bright green bangs out of her eyes.

“Okay then. I want some cheese sticks.”

“Got it. But you’re answering the door.”

I groaned and flopped onto the couch. A few minutes later, Cynthia sat on her beanbag by the bookshelf. “It will be here in twenty minutes. Now, Malkren Associates. Good campaigns. Good rating with the BBB. Looks good except for a few social media posts that are saying they are demonic. Like illuminati shit,” Cynthia mumbled. “Tin foil hat shit.”

I laughed. “People say that about everything nowadays. I swear we’re about to have another satanic panic.”

“I think it’s already started. How many times have they said any pop star is a fill-in-the-blank-here?”

“Sucks. But it will be fine, right?” I asked.

“Yeah. Everything seems on the up and up.”

The doorbell rang, and I jumped up. The chilly evening air hit me in the face and I shivered. I grabbed the pizza from the driver and took it into the living room. The smell of molten cheese filled the air as I swanned back to Cynthia. “Food’s here!” I exclaimed as I twirled back into the room.

“I’m going to get some sparkling water! We have to toast for good luck!”

“We should say a spell for that!”

“I’ll do that naked and under the full moon tonight!” she hollered as the fridge opened in the kitchen.

I cackled. “Not a full moon tonight!”

She came back overloaded with cans of flavored sparkling water, mostly grape, since that was her favorite. I grabbed my cherry water. “Oh snap. I can’t believe it. Dang. You may not get that job now,” Cynthia said.

I grabbed my cans and sat back down. “Oh well. Guess I will have to stun them with my beauty and whatever instead.”

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