Newfangled Company... Thing
“Um, where do I start? I just want to be okay. That’s pretty much it.” Willow said, having relaxed into the couch, staring up at the ceiling wistfully. The room smelled a little funny. And a little too warm. The couch was sticky and slippery at the same time. She felt sticky and her chest hurt. Not the best of rooms she has been in but anyway... “Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if you just up and stopped... I’m sorry, I’m just not used to big changes happening—”
“What the hell are you doing?” She was cut off from her reverie by her boss, Danielle. She tore her eyes from the ceiling, and gazed at her. Danielle was glaring at her, with her hands on her hips. From the corner of her eye, she could see the decaying remnants of what used to be a human being, or maybe a humanoid, she can’t recall.
“Hi!” she greeted her boss with a cutesy voice, waggling her fingers. “I was having a moment.”
“With a dead body? This early in the morning? Are you off your meds?” Danielle asked. Willow groaned and pulled herself up off the couch to a sitting position, dust and soot from the sofa showing on her blood-spattered, torn suit.
“No?” she replied, finally standing up and dusting herself off. With a snap of her finger, light pulsed from her hand and spread through her body and clothes, removing all traces of damage, dust, and gore. She straightened her hair, and grabbed her pistol from the bloodied couch. The same light pulsated from her hand and removed the blood from her pistol as well.
Behind Danielle, the cleanup team had begun their work. Thankfully, the fight from the previous night did not cause too much damage to hamper their work. Except for the hole in the ceiling, the next few more ceilings, and the roof of the building, and a few more walls that were ruined. Blood was everywhere, along with ruined furniture and debris.
“Anyway, what the hell happened here?” Danielle looked around at the carnage, and crinkled her nose in disgust. “No need to tell me all the details, save it for the report, I just wanna know why I’m getting calls at three in the morning about one of my agents getting into a fight, and what looks like a murder.”
“In one word? Crime.”
“More words, Abernathy.” Danielle paused as Willow winced, rubbing her chest.
“He tried to kill me, and it snowballed from there.”
Danielle took a moment to survey the damage, sighing as she finished, running her fingers through her sandy-blonde locks. “No shit. And what I just saw earlier?”
Willow clasped her hands together and smacked her lips. “Changes... I woke up here, actually.” She gestured to the couch, then at her chest.
“He got you, huh?”
“To be fair, he died first,” Willow snickered, but stopped when she saw Danielle’s hard expression soften. The taller woman seemed to change from a strict boss to someone else. Spooky.
“You okay?”
“I’m okay, I’m cool.”
Danielle finally addressed the elephant in the room. “You’re nervous about the new therapist, huh?”
Willow raised a finger, as if to correct her, but seemed to decide otherwise. “Yeah, and it doesn’t really help that the person responsible for me having a change in therapists is right here, in this room. Breathing.”
One of the cleaners, overhearing their conversation, flinched.
Willow continued, “And the best part is he’s working in the same division as I am under the same circumstances of working off his prison sentence. It’s a huge bummer, Director Harris. I don’t even know him but I hate him.”
“Hey, listen, you’re also a fucking prisoner here, and I don’t give a shit what you think about me.” the man in question, whose name she never bothered to remember even if she was the one who captured him, snapped. One of the others held him back.
“Don’t add another life sentence, he’s not worth it, agent.” Danielle warned.
“Ugh, I’m so bummed out. I miss Tara. If he hadn’t murdered the king she wouldn’t have had to return to be the elf queen.”
“Don’t worry, I’m sure the new therapist can help you.” Danielle added.
“Stop bumming me out, for the love of god!”