The Office
Wednesday 9:05 PM
It was a typical workday. I needed to finish the final draft of the plans and email to my client by midnight. And as usual I was running late. Sarah, my wife stopped calling, I think she’s going to leave me. This job consumed my whole life, twelve hours every day, including the weekend. But I had no choice, the company was always restructuring, and the turnover was high and understaffed. I got a nice pay rise two months ago but only if I take on the role of four people. I actually liked working. Tonight was no exception. The office was quiet, and I was in my zone clicking away on the keyboard and the mouse. I was pretty sure that Sarah was having an affair.
Time seemed to disappear when I was in the office working, coming up with new designs and executing them and the whole nine yards. I was early for the deadline for once. At ten, I finished the final draft and emailed it to the client. Ten o’clock, for once I was going home early. I tidied up my desk and went down to the car park in the basement. Not one car left in the building.
I drove out of the building and made my way uptown towards my apartment. The streets were wet, it rained I guessed, I wouldn’t know the glass in my building were sound proofed. I lived ten minutes from my office. At first, I didn’t notice but I saw that there weren’t anyone on the street. This was a city that never slept like most other cities. Usually, I had to navigate people and cars coming at me from all directions. It was a regular Wednesday night, there should be obnoxious people and vehicles darting everywhere. I was a little tired to get into it. I haven’t seen Sarah in two weeks.
Few minutes from my apartment, I decided to pull over and get out to see what was going on. I looked into a twenty-four-hour café and went inside. It was as if people just vanished into thin air. Now I was starting to get a little worried. I went back outside and checked my phone for any news. There were no news of mass disappearance of people in the city. My heart start to beat a little faster.
“Hello!” I yelled out loud.
As expected, no one answered. I must have spent another hour wondering the empty street looking for anyone who might have an answer. I went back to my office and went to the roof and looked in all directions of the city. No one.
I tried calling. I didn’t really have any friends but I called my coworker to see if she knew anything. No answer. I was standing on the edge of the building, looking straight down two hundred metres to the concrete pavement. In a panic, I took a misstep and tripped forward.
This was the end, I began falling.
I jolted up. I was back at my desk in my office. It was nine o’clock. Thank God, it was just a dream, I thought. I ran over to the window and looked outside. The horror continued. Not one person were on the streets.