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Nana
Nathalie "Nana" Reyes
United States, ny, Baldwin

Words: 1208
Access: Public
Comments: 8

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Unhinged

'Who does he think he is?' I thought to myself, 'he is telling me to get out?! Does he even know who I am?! Of course he doesn't. If he did, he wouldn't be telling me to get out.'

I was very upset. That morning, I had woken up early, as any other day, and set out for work. 4 a.m., I was in the shower; after that, I had neatly shone my shoes, had ironed my shirt twice- just to make sure there were no wrinkles- and brushed my teeth with brush #7, my lucky number.
I took pride in what I did, and who wouldn't? I was CEO of New York's most important company.
And here was this jerk telling me to get out. I was beyond annoyed!
Who hired this guy anyway? Certainly, not me!
'Well, I'll see to it that he is immediately fired,' I thought to myself as I made my way down to my office.
'Sir, do you need any help?' a guy- Mike, I think- asked me.

'No, no, I'm fine,' I waved him off. I had way too many things to do. I had a meeting in half hour, had to pay the workers, and call the President to talk about the recent business we had made.

I opened the door to my office and gasped. I stared in horror at the mess of papers lying all over the desk and the floor, a spilled cup of coffee, tissue paper everywhere, and'. was that a yo-yo next to the computer?!
Okay, now I was furious. Who on earth went in to my office and did this?
Obviously someone I trusted who had a copy of the key, and someone who knew I'd freak out, because I ALWAYS kept the door locked and my things neat.

Cindy!
The secretary.

I knew what this was all about.

'Gosh! I told her we couldn't keep seeing each other anymore! I thought she understood that Kate and I had made up and were getting married in a couple of weeks!' I thought to myself, 'she probably did that because she knows the mess drives me crazy.' A woman could be such a nuisance sometimes. You flirt with her and take her out for a couple of days and she thinks you're asking her to marry you.

I furiously shook my head and walked enraged down the hall to where her office was. It took me a couple of minutes to find her. Finally, there she was. The little red-haired loser. 'What was I thinking when I got into her?' I thought disgusted.

She looked at me like she didn't know me as I stood there in front of her, arms crossed over my chest and one foot unconsciously tapping on the floor.

'Cindy,' I started, trying my best to sound calm. But she knew I was a neat freak. Why in the world had she done that to my office!

'Cynthia, sir,' she corrected me, still staring at me with that quizzical look.

Ha! Did she really think I was going to buy that innocent I-cant-believe-you'd-blame-me-for-that look?

'Cindy, Cynthia, whatever!' I exploded, 'why on earth did you do that!? You know how I feel about untidiness!' By now, many of the workers had started getting curious and were getting closer to the scene.

'Sir, I don't know what you're talking about,' Cindy/Cynthia said 'confused'.

I laughed sarcastically, 'Look, do you really think I'm that stupid? This is all about Kate and I, isn't it? Well, that doesn't give you the right to go into my office and make a mess!'

I felt myself losing control. I knew it wasn't supposed to be such a big deal, but I couldn't control my anger. Maybe it'd been too many bad things happening so early in the day. Or maybe I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Again. But I swear, I'd never lost control of myself the way I was doing now. I almost felt like smacking her, and actually found myself getting closer and closer to her; fists clenched.

'Ummm, look, I don't even know you,' she said as she started backing away.

'Shut up! Don't say you don't know me! Who the hell gave you a job, huh? Me! And this is what I get?!' I screamed.

'You're crazy, you know that?! You're a psycho! Get away from me!' she yelled back.

How dare she call me a psycho?! Embarrassing me in font of my own employees and colleagues! How were they supposed to respect me if she, a secretary, talked to me like that?!

I didn't even notice myself raising my arm, and before I even knew it, I had brought down my fist, hard.

Next thing I knew, she was crying on the floor and I was being seized by a bunch of guys I'd never seen. I squirmed and tried to free myself, but to no avail.

'Call the police!' I heard one of them say, 'this guy is nuts!'

'What?! Police?! I'm not a criminal! The press is gonna love this. It's gonna ruin my reputation!' I desperately thought to myself.
Sure enough, the police was there in seconds.

'Sir, you're under arrest. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say or do can and will be used against you,' one of the cops- the big, tall one- ordered, handcuffing my hands.
I heard the other two asking questions to the employees.

''.yeah, we don't even know him. He's been coming in every day for the past four days, acting like he's the boss or something,' the jerk that had told me to get out earlier in the morning was saying to the cops.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing! Was he serious?!

A few minutes later, they led me out of the building.

'Where are you taking me?' I demanded.

The big, tall cop patted me in the back and grinned, 'You're getting locked up, buddy. Getting your brain checked!'
The other two burst out laughing.

'What! What are you talking about?! Let me go, I didn't do anything!' I yelled as they pushed me in to the car.

******************

So, I've been here for a couple of weeks. They're saying that I might have to stay here, for a few months or so. But they're all crazy, telling me about these sicknesses I have. Schizophrenia? Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder? What on earth is that? I don't have any of that! They say that I can't tell the difference from fantasies and reality. All I know is that they don't know what they're talking about- they're the crazy ones.
The phone rings.

I remember I never got to talk to the President about our business deal.
But he probably forgot about that.

Maybe it's Kate. I should tell her the wedding's going to have to be postponed for a couple of months. I'm sure she won't mind.

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Comments  
prolificsantu Comment by: prolificsantu - 2007-06-21 05:36
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certainly it was a great read. i could not stop reading out of curiosity. well planned and well thought.
but a tiny mistake of spelling, you have written font instead of front...
aprilia Comment by: aprilia - 2007-06-01 23:22
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That was such a good story. That twist really surprised me. I thought that the guy was just your normal, hard working, important business man or something. A really great story. I'm going to beg you to write more!
Bean Comment by: Bean - 2007-05-30 13:48
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This is really effective. The twist has a genuine kick to it because it is genuinely disorientating. I thought I was getting to know this character but then you pulled the rug out from beneath my feet. Sorry about the cliche but that's how I felt. This is a great read. Please post more short stories.
Ethgar Comment by: Ethgar - 2007-03-13 13:48
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Lol.. I like that you tell this story through the dilusional eyes of a schizophrenic. I think that the "red haired looser" was kind of comical since I don't think I know a single guy that would think like that but then again... I don't know any chizophrenics. Nice write!
ChasingZai Comment by: ChasingZai - 2007-03-10 11:15
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Nice story with a twist at the end, as others have mentioned. I like the idea of a double shift in perspective; first that of a female (you) affecting a male posture of dominance and rage, and the second where the reader needs to reevaluate things in the light of new found evidence about his disease.
Things that you are definitely going to pick up along the way, but I'm going to point anyways (because objective criticism is always helpful!)
Reading this article blind (i.e. without knowing the gender of its author) I could still sense a feminine hand in how the guy is portrayed. A guy's anger typically tends to be the fuming, seething kind without a lot of internal venting. A cold rage that usually does not lend itself to expression in exclamatory sentences.
Power tends to soak into the fibre pretty easily, so people are not often proud of their position, but of what they perceive to have achieved in the face of obstacles, or in contrast to what people in a similar position have done.
Psychology is a great way to understand how to flesh out characters, and you, as a writer or poet, would learn by concentrating on the more mundane aspects of human existence, not just the extremes that manifest themselves as diseases.
All in all, a very good job; please do keep writing!
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