Lucid Waking

Snake Lies

            The figure stepped out of the blue night frosted haze as a ghost. The light from the street lamps backlit it as it walked down the street, a solid dark mass walking at a brisk pace. It started to snow as the clock struck eleven.
            “You’re late,” she said with annoyance as he walked in. She didn’t look up from her paperwork.
            “Excuse me,” he said sarcastically taking his coat off and tossing it onto an armchair. He rustled the snow out of his black hair casually faced the desk; leaning back on his heals as he stood.
            She smiled stiffly. “The company is done dealing with your antics. They are willing to fire you on fair grounds. What do you have to say in your defense?”
            He stared warily at the vase of flowers on her desk. The bright fusia roses were not something he had ever seen during the summer, let alone in the middle of December. “You aren’t going to find anyone as quiet as me,” he said boldly and turning to sit down on the couch, “I’ve been the cleanest in my work. Meticulous if you dare.”
            There was a soft clicking noise of clockwork turning. He suppressed his nerves and watched the roses rustle. He glanced at the clock and watched the second hand as he waited.
            “They don’t think that’s good enough.”
            “Ah,” he said pointing his finger at the ceiling emphatically, “but they don’t disagree.”
            “You’re straying from the point!” She sat up and looked at him with her snake-like gold eyes. Her slit pupils pulled tighter together and her forked tongue slipped out of her lips in the split second of anger. She casually tucked a piece of perfectly straight auburn hair behind her ear and stood up to the opposite side of the desk. “The company wants more from you. You have three days to prove your worth or you’ll be fired…like the rest.”
            He shuddered involuntarily, but he tried to keep his nonchalant composure. He leaned back farther into the cushions until his head was midway down the back. His neck quietly cracked, but he kept his position in deliberate contrast to her stiff straight one.
           “They do agree with you,” she said pulling a file folder from her desk and holding it out to him. “They’ve decided to give you another case to finish. It should start you on your way.”
           He got up and took it from her, avoiding her eyes. “I suppose I owe my thanks to Ariel for this.”
           He heard a slither behind his back at her frustration. “It was all their idea,” she walked up to him and whispered in his ear over his shoulder, “I’ll specifically say to you I had no part in this.”
           There was a sharp buzzing and she slithered again in pain. He could see her tongue whip out in his peripheral vision before she went back to the desk. “We hope you’ll succeed,” she said stiffly and went back to her paperwork.
           He glanced at her and waited for a few moments of silence. After neither one of them had moved in quite some time, he grabbed his coat and went up the stairs to the dormitory. He laughed silently to himself as he realized that his assignment was only out of jealousy and succeed or not, he was in no danger of losing his job.

“Not much between despair and ecstasy”

Snake Lies