Page 64 of The Inmate
But then I saw my stuffed turtle.
It was lying on its back, overturned onto its shell. A slit had been cut down the center of its belly. And there was a red liquid leaking out.
Like blood.
When I saw that, I screamed.
Everyone came running. Within a few seconds, the entire office had gathered around my cubicle to observe the gruesome crime scene. My heart was slamming in my chest and tears were gathering in my eyes. The only thing that kept me holding it together was your voice in my ear.Don’t give them the satisfaction of letting them see you cry.
Don’t…
Nobody was as horrified as I was. A few people were snickering and one person called out, “Look! There’s fake blood on the turtle! That’s so cool!”
I started shouting at them then. I screamed at everyone that these were my turtles and this was NOT cool. I didn’t stop screaming until I heard Natalie’s voice telling me to calm down.
“It’s just some toy turtles,” she said. “You had too many of them anyway. It was an eyesore.”
She was never at work this early, but somehow today she got in before I did. The whole time I worked here, I was trying to be friends with Natalie. But I don’t want to be her friend anymore. I want to scratch her eyes out. Except my fingernails are too scrawny. She would have a much easier time scratching outmyeyes with her long red nails.
I heard Seth’s voice through the crowd, and people parted to let him come through. I was glad he was coming. I had already told him multiple times about what Natalie was doing to me, and he never listened. He kept telling me to work it out on my own. But now he would see with his own eyes what she was capable of, and he would be forced to take action.
“Jesus,” Seth said when he saw my desk. “Dawn, you’ve got to get this cleaned up.”
I couldn’t believe it. Seth thought thatIdid this to my own turtles? I told him in no uncertain terms that my desk had been vandalized, except he still didn’t seem that upset about the whole thing. He acted like it was a silly prank—no big deal. Finally, I said I wanted to talk to him in private, in his office. He wasn’t happy about it, but he agreed.
The crowd parted again to give us room to walk away. I was glad to get away from my cubicle. I didn’t know how I would ever be able to go back there again.
As I passed Natalie’s cubicle on the way down the hall, I noticed she had put her trash bin right by the entrance. I glanced down and I saw an empty bottle of ketchup inside—the same one Kim complained was missing yesterday. She threw out the evidence in plain sight, right where I was sure to see it.
She wanted me to know it was her.
I was barely keeping it together by the time I got to Seth’s office. But I had to maintain my composure so he would take me seriously. He would write me off if I was a sobbing mess. As it was, he seemed more put out that I wanted to talk to him, even though the real issue was that one of his employees was targeting me.
“Natalie did this,” I told him, even before he sat down in his leather chair.
He just shook his head. He didn’t believe it, even as I laid out the evidence. The way Natalie had been lying about times of meetings, how she threw out my cupcakes, and then the bottle of ketchup in the trash bin. Seth was unimpressed.
“Maybe she was eating something with ketchup,” he said.
I was so frustrated. I wasn’t going to let him do this to me—not again. I explained again about how she’s been targeting me. That she hates me. That shewantedme to see that ketchup so I would know she was the one who did it. Except he just kept saying that it couldn’t be her and that I was being paranoid. He kept insisting it was probably the janitors.
“Why won’t you believe me?” I demanded to know. “Is it because you’re sleeping with her? Is that why you always give her preference?”
Seth did not like me saying that. His mouth fell open and a bright red color crept into his cheeks. I had been trying to keep my mouth shut about the whole thing, but it was too frustrating. I had to say something.
Seth started babbling on and on, trying to cover the fact that I was absolutely right. He pointed at the photo on his desk, of himself with the plain-faced middle-aged woman, explaining how he’s married and so of course he wouldn’t sleep with Natalie. And then he reminded me she’s dating Caleb. By the time he finished, his whole face was scarlet, and he looked at me like he was expecting me to take it back.
But I didn’t take it back. I mean, it’s true.
So then he said, “I’m your boss. You shouldn’t speak to me this way. It’s really inappropriate.”
I was sure the next words out of his mouth would be, “You’re fired.” I was waiting for it. I’ve been fired from every job I’ve ever had. I was fired once on my first day of work. It was in college and I got a job at a shoe store. I was trying to help a customer and I got so overwhelmed with all the shoe choices and their demands, I ended up locking myself in the storeroom and crying.
But Seth didn’t fire me. He just turned away from me, toward his computer screen, and he didn’t look at me as he told me to go back to my desk and clean up the mess. He said I should work things out with Natalie, and he didn’t want to hear about it anymore. “I’ve got a business to run,” he said.
I could have stayed and demanded justice, but that would’ve been pointless. Seth wasn’t going to do anything. Whether or not he’s still sleeping with Natalie, he obviously likes her a lot. Much more than me. After all, nobody likes me.
I know, I know—you like me. But it’s not enough. Not while you’re not here. If you were here, maybe I could deal with this. But you’re not.
