I was debating between three small micro-stories I’ve been working on and I finally decided on “When the Clouds Roll In” for this month. It seems appropriate with all the stormy weather we’ve been having. I’m currently debating whether I want to add more to the story or leave it as is, and if anyone would like to hear more of it drop a comment and let me know!
Without further ado I give you:
When the Clouds Roll In
“And here’s your office!” Andrea swung open the door to the last office in the hall like she was presenting a grand prize on a game show instead of the last available cubicle in a 20 year old office building.
“You’re free to move the desk, chair, and small filing cart to best suit your needs, but the filing cabinet is a permanent fixture. We will not be held responsible if you try to move it and injure yourself.” Andrea stepped aside so Lucas could enter the room. “I know it’s not the nicest but all the items are sturdy and clean.”
Andrea’s words were a pretty honest description of the room. Neither particularly large nor small, it was a well kept, 6 by 8 foot box with a freestanding desk perpendicular to a window that was large for the space, a simple rolling desk chair, and a bulky filing cabinet that looked like it had been in place since the office was built. The newest item was a small rolling cart with empty wire racks for holding files, but everything else still looked serviceable, if dated. Though the carpet did look particularly worn, the carpet in the center of the room a completely different color compared to the carpet at the edges. Lucas looked dubiously at the much darker tracks in the center of the room, marking a path from the door to the desk, and from the desk to the filing cabinet.
Lucas moved to drop his bag on his new desk as Andrea kept talking. “If you need anything replaced you can email Patricia – Marco’s assistant – and she’ll get you a good replacement by the end of the week.”
Andrea turned to him, clapping her hands as her smile took on the manic edge of someone who is holding on to their cheerful personality by sheer force of will. “Now, the room does have some quirks so I’m going to run through them real quick.”
Lucas hadn’t been expecting anything amazing when he took this job. It was a starting position at a business that had decent raiting but wasn’t necessarily the first in their field. He’d even had modest expectations about amenities when he’d come two weeks earlier for his interview and seen the squat, aging office building stuck in the awkward space between the well-maintained, historic buildings of downtown and the new, modern model houses and open flow offices of the city’s recent expansions. He knew he couldn’t expect anything fantastic as the newest higher, and as such the lowest man in the pecking order. Still, hearing his new office had “quirks” – the positive way of saying his new work area had issues that were bad enough to be noticeable but not so bad they had to be fixed – Lucas braced himself.
Andrea launched into a rapid and concise spiel as she pointed out each issue. “the thermostat next to the door doesn’t work, it was disconnected when the HVAC was changed a few years ago and never removed. The working thermostat is in the corner, right over the filing cabinet. It tends to run a few degrees hotter than usual, so keep that in mind. Also, when winter hits it will take some time for the heaters to really kick in, so keep your coat handy.”
“Here’s a step ladder,” she patted an actual ladder, hidden in the small gap between the wall and the file cabinet he hadn’t noticed before. “Every once in a while the light bulb in the right light fixture will start flickering. We’ve had electricians in and none of them can figure out why. Just give the bulb a quarter turn left or right and that should fix the issue – just make sure you turn it the other direction when it flickers again, don’t want to unscrew the light bulb entirely, they’re specialty bulbs and a pain to get more.”
Andrea turned to head back to the rest of the office, already checking her phone. “I’ve got a meeting until eleven, but you have the setup documents and should be busy getting on the company system until I can get back to you and start the proper training. I’ll see you in an hour.”
She’d barely taken two steps outside of the office before she paused and turned, sticking her head back into the room “almost forgot, on overcast days there’s a whistling sound like the wailing of spirits denied the chance to cross the river stix by the window. The office is definitely not haunted, but if you hear groaning like the undead that’s likely where it’s coming from. You’re set up email should already be in your inbox, try to get your laptop set up on the wifi and connected to the printer at minimum before I get back!”
She was gone down the hall before Lucas could properly process the last bit of news she had shared about the room, staring dumbly after her. When he finally processed what had been said all he could do was call out a frustrated “What?!?”.
