Page 9 of Agony

“I wanted to tell you that yesterday was your last day here.”

“What?”

I almost dropped the phone in shock. I knew I shouldn’t have left early; I just knew it.

“Did I do something wrong?” I asked close to tears.

“No! I was just thinking about it after you left, and you seem really unhappy at Devil’s Den. I thought I would just let you off the hook, is all.”

“But ... I ...”

Arsen came over to stand by me. I looked up at him with tears in my eyes and he took the phone.

“Hey, Max. It’s Arsen. What’s going on?” he asked.

I slid down to the kitchen floor and buried my face in my hands.

Whatever you do, don’t cry.

I blocked out their conversation. I figured it was pointless to listen since I couldn’t hear Max’s side. I heard Arsen hang up the phone with a sigh. He sat down on the floor next to me but didn’t speak right away.

“It’s not all bad news, Neve. He said he got you a job at Golden Hills Media. You know, the big movie production place? He said that was the first thing he did when he decided to let you go,” Arsen said softly.

I sniffled and looked at him with a tear-stained face. How Max managed to do everything so quickly was beyond me. It only made sense that he had probably thought of letting me go for a while now.

“That was nice of him,” I replied softly.

“See? It’s not a total loss,” he replied kindly.

“Yeah,” I said, getting to my feet. I walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind myself. I just wanted to be alone. I knew that Max had at least found me a good job that I would probably love, but I just didn’t feel like faking happiness.

I leaned on the sink and closed my eyes. I heard a soft knock on the door and turned the faucets on. Maybe the sound of rushing water would deter him.

“Neve?” Arsen asked softly.

Maybe not.

“I’m fine,” I said through the door.

“Okay,” he answered. “Um, I’m going to head out. Max told me he wanted me to come in today to fill in for someone who called off, so I have to go home and shower and stuff. But maybe we can get together later?”

“Sure.”

“Alright. Bye, Neve.”

“See ya,” I replied.

Arsen didn’t leave right away. It took him a moment or two before he even backed away from the door.

I sat down on the toilet seat and waited patiently, until I finally heard the front door open then close.

I waited another minute before I opened the door and stepped out. I went straight to my couch and flopped down on my back.

I was fired from the first job I ever had. I felt like a failure. There had to be some underlying reason that Max wasn’t telling me.

I put my pillow over my face and let out a muffled scream. Why was my life so weird? I left my side of the United States to come out to Odessa Valley, California to my dream job, which turned out to be a joke.

I didn’t even have any friends out here. I couldn’t count Arsen as a friend; I had just met him yesterday, even if he did spend the night.

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