Skepticlusion

The Day After

What a bad fucking day. Remember all that about me being dealt with? Well, it went something like this:

I had just fired up the computer this morning when my editor popped his head into my office. Didn't even have time to sip from my caramel latte.

"You got a minute?"

"Sure," I said. What else do you say to your boss? Gee, no, I'm about to drink my coffee. Could you come back in, I dunno, half an hour? That'd be swell.

While I was thinking that, he turned and walked off toward his office. I sort of waited a beat, to see if maybe he was going to get some notes or something, then got up and walked to his office. He sat behind his desk, half obscured by stacks of magazines and books and riff raff.

"Close the door and have a seat."

I did as asked, then took a seat in one of his scuffed up old wooden banker's chairs.

"Have an interesting weekend?"

"Sure..."

"Someone from that bookstore called, said you broke in to the place Saturday night."

I must've been pale at that point. Had to have been pale. But I didn't say anything.

"Is it true?"

I tried to think of an excuse, but nothing plausible came to mind. Usually, that's not a problem. Don’t know why it was this morning. I just nodded at him.

"You really broke in to the bookstore?"

"Yes, but..."

"Go home."

"But..."

"Go home."

"Does this mean I'm...?"

"I haven't decided yet."

"Don't you want to hear my side of it?"

"Would any reason be good enough to justify breaking the law? What if they'd just called the police? Did they call the police?"

"Not that I know of."

"Go home. Now. I'll call you when you can come back."

So here I sit, in front of the computer with nothing to distract me from Saturday night. I should be worried that he's going to fire me, but for some reason I'm not. I'd like to say I'm all he's got, that he can't get anyone that can do what I can as well as I can, but that wouldn't be true.

Yesterday, I spent the whole day researching magic on the web. It's all bollocks. It's all a bunch of crap written by freaks who wish they had superpowers and working voodoo dolls. None of it was helpful.

Maybe I'm using the wrong keywords. Anyone out there? Anyone reading this? Can anyone help me with this? You freaks with the cheesy websites about Tarot cards need not apply.

I can give a much better description of it in person, and I have a couple of pictures I accidentally snapped with my camera phone that night, in case you don't believe me.

I'll try to post them if I can get them cleaned up enough to make sense. Right now, they're just blobs of low-rez candlelight and darkness.

Which reminds me... I hope I'm getting paid during this forced absence. I don't have any other source of income. If he's docking my pay... I'm screwed. Least the Jeep is paid for. I can park it somewhere and sleep in the back if I have to.

Speaking of the Jeep. I didn't imagine what happened. The Jeep was right where I left it. Took me an hour and a half to get back to it on my mountain bike. There's no way I dozed off and sleepwalked home. It can't have happened the way I remember it, but all signs point to yes.

I'd be afraid for myself if I wasn't worried for her. I gotta figure out a way to get in and get her out. I guess I have more time for that now, anyway.

posted by Skept @ 11:39 PM