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Work to be done
By Jim Thomason
From Itty Bitty Horror
Copyright and © 10/04/2005, published on 10/04/2005

The secretary rubbed her eyes after dragging them away from her monitor. She'd been staring at her boss's report on the fiscal health of the company for the last two hours as she double-checked the numbers. She needed a break.

She looked at her watch. It was 7:30. She needed to go home.

Weerily, she looked back up at the screen, paused, and then shut down the computer. The numbers looked good enough. She only had three more pages to go, there weren't any errors so far, and everyone would be better served if she just came in a little bit earlier the next morning to finish those off. She probably wouldn't catch any errors now even if they were obvious.

She yawned and grabbed her purse, stretching as she stood up to leave and snake her way down the maze of cubicles to the exit. She didn't get far before almost bumping into a wall.

That's odd. There wasn't always a cube here. She looked around with a confused grimace. I must be tired and made a wrong turn. She yawned again and backed her way out.

Then she bumped into another wall. Then another. She just couldn't seem to find her way out. Eventually, she meandered her way back to her own cubicle, to discover the computer still on and the file still open.

Now I know I turned that off. She stood on her tiptoes and looked around the office. She didn't see anyone around. Shrugging, she shut the machine off again, this time waiting for it to power down completely and headed for the exit.

More quickly than the last time, she unintentionally rounded her way back through the cubes to her desk. There was only one way to go - no forks or choices. Just follow the zigzag and she'd get to the exit. But not tonight, tonight it lead her back to her desk. Her computer was still on. She could see the exit sign at the far end of the office above the row of cubes.

Leaving the machine alone, she marched on straight to the exit, never taking her eyes off it. When the row of cubes turned, she turned, but always focused on the sign. It loomed larger at first, but then eventually shrank as she realized she was backing away from it. She turned around. The file was open on her computer.

"WHOEVER WAS MESSING WITH THE CUBICLES IS GOING TO BE IN TROUBLE UNLESS THEY'RE PUT BACK!" She stood on her tiptoes as she shouted to the prankster she assumed was in the office, and then she stormed off to the exit.

When the row of cubes tried to turn, she had nothing of it. Instead she stormed into the first cube in her path to go up and over and out. As she attempted to climb the wall, it broke free, smashing her head into the corner of the desk.

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