Chapter 3: The Envelope.

Night had fallen and everyone in the office had left.

Except Ren, who was still stuck in front of his computer.

Nothing came to mind. His fingers hurt like never before, and his thoughts kept going back, again and again, to the envelope that stayed inside his briefcase.

He walked up and down the hallway, like a caged animal.

He knew he had seen that seal before, but he couldn’t remember where.

The nerves were eating him alive.

He went down to the fifth floor, where the building had facilities so employees could clear their heads if they were under too much stress.

A dining area, private bathrooms with showers, even games and recreational activities. He left his notebook on a table, in case inspiration came back to him.

"It’s better if I take a shower and relax…" he muttered, looking at the clock.

It was only 7:00 PM, but the day felt endless.

Inside the shower, he let the water run over his body. However, his mind didn’t want to relax.
He couldn’t stop thinking about the code, about the Friday deadline. But most of all, about who had messed with his computer.

"Those damn jealous idiots…"

"I never make mistakes. I’m sure one of them deleted my part."

"And that envelope…"

He remembered his talk with the boy who delivered the mail.

"No, Mr. Takahashi. I would clearly remember if someone brought something for you."

"Anyway, I’ll check the manifest to see if I find anything. Maybe the other girl brought it."

He had no reason to distrust the delivery boy. They were just kids who took their job very seriously.

"I’m not sure where it came from. Someone must be playing a prank on me."

"They’d love to see me mess up. I won’t give them that pleasure…"

The hot water no longer felt relaxing. His mind was starting to lose patience as he remembered those mocking laughs.

He looked at the wall, as if talking to himself.

"You can’t trust anyone."

"Teamwork… yeah, right."

He almost punched the wall, but stopped himself at the last second. Not because he thought about the pain, but because he knew that if he gave in to hatred, they would win.

He took a deep breath before stepping out and getting dressed again.

His notebook was still there, the screen off, but his ideas were the same… off, clouded, unable to think clearly.

He opened a can of energy drink. He knew that someday it would backfire on him, but along with the vitamins, it was the only thing keeping him standing after such long days.

Then he started playing darts, something he used to do when he was a kid, his father used to take him to bars. Somehow, that helped him focus.

He took one of the darts and stared at his target.

He let out a long sigh.

"I just need to compile the data…" he said, throwing a dart that hit the bullseye.

"Like every day… enter the data the client asks for…" he threw another dart, but this time it went away from the center.

"It’s just a bad day… I need to calm down and…"

Time seemed to slow down. Then, a conversation he had heard some time ago between two of his coworkers came back to his mind.

"Did you hear about Marcus?"

"Your friend who works on the back-end developers’ floor?"

"Yeah, that’s him. Marcus Montblanck. It seems he got an envelope recently."

"So what? We all get mail."

"Yeah, but this envelope was from one of the company’s shareholders…"

"He got fired that same week."

The dart kept going and stuck into the wall. A cold sweat ran down his back.

"That envelope… they can’t fire me, right? I’m a hard worker…"

…

"Right…?"

…

He grabbed another dart and squeezed it tight.

"They fired him for not knowing how to work in a team…"

"SILENCE! YOU’RE THE ONES WHO DON’T KNOW HOW TO WORK!"

He threw the dart in the opposite direction without realizing what he was doing.
The dart hit his notebook and the screen burst into pieces.

"No… no, no!"

He ran to his notebook, but the screen was completely ruined. When he touched it, a piece of glass cut his finger.

"Damn it! What a crappy day…" he grumbled, holding his finger.

He closed the screen in frustration.

"I better pick up the darts and go back to the office."

He walked toward the dartboard with the laptop under his arm, but his surprise was so great that he dropped it without thinking.

The dartboard was empty.

He turned around quickly, looking for someone. Someone who was playing a prank on him by removing the darts.

Even the wall no longer had the mark from his missed throw.

"Heh, heh… good joke," he said, clapping. "You really got me…"

He looked at the dart box. All of them were there, as if they had never been taken out. His claps kept echoing in the empty room.

"Bastards…"

He bent down to pick up his laptop and opened it, convinced that his mind had played a trick on him but the screen was still broken.

He thought that, probably, exhaustion was working against him and that neither energy drinks nor vitamins would help him this time.

He was alone, tired and, above all, overwhelmed from overthinking so much.

He went back up to his office and put his laptop back into his briefcase, while that envelope watched him from the bottom, like a shark lurking in the depths of a dark trench.

He feared that if he opened it, it would only contain bad news. But sooner or later, he would have to face it but it wouldn’t be today.

He looked at the clock one last time before stepping out into the cold snow, which kept falling without rest.

Maybe.

Just maybe.

The comforting warmth of his bed would give him back the peace he wanted so badly.

And, for the first time in two years, he left early. If leaving at 8:00 PM could even be called early.