THE MOMENT
"And...," Jane stood at her desk and gave a tall stretch as she yawned. She finished stretching right as the clock turned 8:00. She reached down and pressed a key on the keyboard. "...I'm on duty," She immediately spun around and headed to the kitchen.
The kitchen was mostly an empty breakroom when she first started. The only decoration was a young red pine tree growing in a corner out of the ground. As time went on, she realized she was the only employee. Little by little, she grew more comfortable in the office. She was paid to be on the premises and as the years passed, she spent more and more time there. A big turning point came when she needed to move. It occurred to her that there was nothing keeping her from living in the office where she spent most of her day anyway. Now, she'd been living there for the past six months without issue; and, without paying rent to anyone.
Not that she needed to save money. Her mystery job paid much better than it should have; but, that's what kept her coming back to do nothing day after day.
She finished making her coffee in the kitchen, then she wandered past the tree and back to sit at her computer. Some days she went back to sleep after clocking in; but, she felt awake enough to surf the web in the hopes of finding something interesting. She settled her hand on the mouse when a sudden noise startled her. She jumped in her seat as her head whirled around and focused on the red phone that rang again.
"Huh...," it rang twice more while she stared it in slight confusion. Somewhere in the back of her mind she remembered she was an employee and she rolled her chair to the side and grabbed the phone.
"Hello?" she answered. It had been years since she started working. She hadn't once considered the name of the company.
"My name is Melody Sharp," the woman's voice was stern and direct. "I need you to press the button. Right now," she said.
"What button?" The question came out reflexively; but, Jane remembered the button as soon as the words left her lips. She glanced over to a pile of clothes on the far desk against the wall. Once she was hired, Jane worked on keeping the button hidden and out of mind. Once she moved in, it was even easier to forget about it.
"The red button I hired you to watch over," Melody replied. "It is something of an emergency; press it now," she said.
"Sorry," Jane shook her head. "You have the wrong number," she said before hanging up on the caller. Her heart was pounding as she rebelled. But, somehow, it felt right. She had been working there for so long, and it was so boring, that she almost couldn't remember the day she was hired, nor who hired her. It could have been Melody Sharp; but, she didn't want to take that chance. Even though she had trouble remembering the details, she had no problems remembering the rules. They were drilled into her, and she felt like she was still supposed to follow them.
Keep the tree watered. Never press the red button and never talk to anyone about the job. Whoever hired her didn't specify, 'don't talk to anyone but me about the job', they simply said 'no one'. If she was going to lose her job over their ineptitude, she didn't want to be working there anyway. Jane was always proud of her ability to follow directions.
"I suppose that's my fault," Jane jumped in her seat when she heard the same voice behind her. She whirled around on her chair and found a short, pale woman with dark hair. She was dressed in a black business suit and moving Jane's laundry off the red button. Once it was revealed, she pulled the clear cover up and pushed the button. Then, she sighed and turned to face Jane.
"You were following directions, I'll give you that...," Melody said. "You do need to learn to exercise your own discretion better, though," she said. "That was almost a disaster."
"How?" Jane asked. "What does that button do?" She could have asked how Melody got there so fast, or why she was even needed if Melody could get there that fast. But now she was more curious about the button than anything else.
"Thank you, Jane...," a new voice entered the room from the kitchen. Jane didn't have any surprise left in her but she turned to see who it was. A tall, lean, pale woman with dark hair in a crisp white suit smiled at Jane, then she gave Melody a confused look. "..or Melody, I suppose," she added.
"It's my fault, I told her not to press it ever. I forgot to specify emergencies," Melody said.
"Excellent job, Jane," Ms. Sharp, the woman in white, smiled at her. "Sharp Development values obedience above all else. Now that your job here is done, I'd like to offer you any other position you like with my company."
"Done? I didn't do anything...?" Jane asked. She'd grown to love her well-paying non-job and hoped she could keep it.
"Well, due to a technicality, it was done for you," Ms. Sharp replied. "Either way, you're no longer needed at this location. Please, join us to see all the options you have available." She gestured at the air between them, and a black portal opened. Ms. Sharp walked straight into the portal and disappeared. Melody began to follow her, and she gave Jane an extra round of encouragement.
"You did good," she said. "You're not fired, consider it a promotion," she added. She paused and gestured at the portal with a tilt of her head.
"Coming?" she asked. Jane didn't need any more encouragement. If nothing else, tagging along was the only way she was going to learn what that button did.
"Yes! But, I gotta get something?" she asked while taking a single step towards the kitchen.
"Go ahead," Melody nodded. Jane grinned and dashed into the kitchen to get her favorite coffee mug. If she really had no reason to return, then she didn't want to leave it behind. She'd been so focused on it, and in such a rush, that she went in and out of the kitchen in less than 20 seconds. She was overflowing with curiosity about what the red button could have possibly done. She was too distracted by her thoughts to notice the missing tree both times she passed the empty space.