chapter three

“So can I go then?”, asked Marjorie, again. “All of this has upset me and I do have a date later on tonight.”

When it came to leaving work due to romantic engagements, Marjorie had spoken to the most unsympathetic ear in the office. Remo, who had been charged with the removal of the bodies, looked over at her, “Well, we talked with the police and we need to stay here until they show up and do their questioning stuff. I’m sure it’ll only take a couple of minutes and then. I don’t know, yeah, I guess we’ll all be going home.”

There was a sudden shudder from the building as thunder crashed. The lights flickered, dimmed then snuffed out. In an uncontrollable action Remo wrapped his arm around Marjorie letting out a soft “welp”; the fart also was his.

“Get the fuck away from me sicko.” Said Marjorie, pushing Remo to the ground. “You’re smooth moves may work on the rest of the office but they sure as shit aren’t going to work on me. I’m going to go talk with Harmon. I shouldn’t be forced to stay in this shit. I’m a fucking unpaid intern.”

“Remo!” Mule yelled from the other end of the office, “Figure out the power situation. Maybe it was a surge or something. Maybe one of those thingys just needs to be flipped. Or just do something.”

Bel or Satchel screeched, “There are fucking dead bodies here and we’re in the dark.”

Satchel or Bel replied, “Here, I have some Jeff Buckley, just cool your shit out.”

The emergency lights kicked on shooting an eerie red glow into Harmon’s office illuminating the facial features of the corpses. With a sigh, Remo closed the door and took the corner that lead towards the utility room. The hysterics from the rest of the office ebbed away and a certain peace came to him.

Remo picked a phone up off the wall but there was no dial tone. He flipped open his cell phone but it showed no service. He used the light from the cell and walked into the utility room and fumbled towards the circuit breaker.

Having never invested the money to bring the building up to code the circuit breaker had slipped into disrepair and proved difficult to open. He struggled with it for a second before dislodging the door and toppling onto his back.

While lying on the floor, a satisfied feeling came over him: his truck was running, his house had been completely finished, all of his friends were coming over and, best of all, he was going to get laid.

He struggled to stand not wanting to lose the sweetness of the dream but aware that the rest of the office was depending on him to fix the power. He blinked once and then drifted back down, down onto his back.

A cracking sound informed Remo his wrist had snapped. He saw a major power cord rip out of the wall and thrust into his stomach with a blinding spark of life. His last breath was expunged in a short, stifled scream. And then, there was nothing.