Chapter 3

Matthew wakes up to the sound of a call coming in from his computer. It’s bright inside his apartment, which means he slept in. He tries to check the time on his phone, but it’s dead. That’s why the alarm didn’t ring.

“Uuugh,” he screams. He quickly changes his pajama top into a dress shirt, but he doesn’t make it to the computer in time. He checks the missed call - it’s from Janet.

He runs to the bathroom to wash his face and comb his hair, and tries calling her back, but Janet doesn’t pick up. She sends him a message instead.

“Hey Matthew! Thanks for sending over the slides. I dropped in some comments and suggestions. Please make sure you review these for tomorrow!”

Matthew immediately opens the file. He is in disbelief. There are comments everywhere. He reads them one by one before answering and feels overwhelmed. Janet wants him to change everything. What she is asking now is completely different from her original request. There’s not enough time for all these changes. He messages Janet.

“Janet, there’s no way I can finish all these changes for tomorrow!”
“You’ll have to make it work, Matthew. This is a really important meeting.”

Matthew checks the time for the first time since he woke up. It’s already 10 a.m.

He rushes to the kitchen to make some coffee; instant this time, there’s not enough time for dripping. And he rushes back to the computer and starts working on the changes.

Hours come and go, and Matthew is still making changes, solving comment by comment.

“It would be so much easier if she told me what she wanted from the start,” he thinks.

He is completely frustrated. Reorganizing all his thoughts is a big challenge. He takes turns with all the fidgets on his desk to try to get some relief. But he ends up picking at his face, an old habit he can’t break out of when stressed.

Basil is feeling bored and starts destroying a letter that someone slid under their door.

Matthew only bothers to put it away because the noise is bothering him.

Today he doesn’t even play music while working, he just needs to get this done.

He starts feeling an immense headache, and realizes he hasn’t eaten or had anything to drink today. The coffee sits cold on his desk. It’s time to take a break.

It’s now 2 p.m,, which means he doesn’t have a lot of time left. But there’s still so much work to do.

He rushes to the bathroom, chugs some water, and grabs a bag of chips from the cupboard.

It will have to do. His brain could probably benefit from a break, but there’s not enough time.

He goes back to his desk and restarts work on the slides.

He is confused by some of Janet’s comments, but he feels anxious about asking clarifying questions. What if she thinks he is incompetent?

So he has to take a guess sometimes, and can’t help but wonder if he is doing everything wrong.

At 5 p.m., Janet messages him. “Are the slides done?”

“Almost! I’ll send them over to you once I finish them.”

But Matthew is not as close to being done as he thinks he is.

Once again, Basil grabs his attention to ask for dinner when it’s 6pm.

He puts food in his bowl as quickly as possible, and gets back to work.

After eating, Basil jumps on his lap and gently nudges his arms.

“I miss you too, buddy!”, Matthew whispers while giving him some pets.

When Matthew finally finishes making the edits, it’s already 9 p.m.

All he got on his system today was a glass of water and a bag of chips.

But he is too tired to make dinner or take a shower.

He lies down in bed and screams on his pillow. He is exhausted, but too wired to sleep. He wants to cry, but can’t. It’s been years since Matthew shed a tear.

He opens his wardrobe and grabs his weighted blanket.

Under the heavy weight of the blanket, he slowly starts to calm down and finally manages to sleep.

A few hours later, he wakes up startled. “I need to charge my phone!”

He is scared to miss the alarm once again.

He plugs the phone next to the bed, double-checks if the alarm is on, and then falls back to sleep once again.