The Fall

“This party sucks…” I groaned.

I stared at the people around me. They were tired and ready to go home, but they couldn’t. Why is that? You might ask. No, it’s not because of a storm, nor is it because of traffic. The simple reason was that the party was mandatory.

How did we get here? Well, long story short: The branch manager, our boss, finally got married. He informed us of his leave as he will be going to Paris for the honeymoon. He dumped all of his workload onto me, his secretary. Not only that, he said he was feeling ‘generous’.

He ordered me to organize a Christmas party for the employees while he was gone, and I couldn’t be happier. Finally, we would have a chance to kick back and relax! But… this is the boss we’re talking about, of course, there’s a catch.

The budget, O’ Lord, the budget. It was barely enough to buy snacks, let alone decorations. I had to pull money out of my wallet just to get the necessities. He also gave us a venue, the office building’s unused seventh floor. It was spacious, thank god for that, but it had its fair share of problems.

Maintenance was only ever done on the lower floors for appearance's sake. The upper floors were neglected to save costs. That meant we had to clean the entire floor by ourselves. I was beginning to hate how spacious the floor was.

And then, after wasting an entire month just to prepare for the party, spending nearly all of my wallet’s contents on supplies, and also sacrificing my sleep time, the party finally commenced on Christmas night.

After witnessing the fruits of my labor, I could only say…

“This party sucks…”

No one could ever enjoy themselves here. The snacks consisted of potato chips, cookies, and fruits. The drinks were canned colas and cheap beer. That was all, seriously.

Entertainment-wise, someone brought over their Gamestation 4 we could play games with, but we had no TV… so the console was just sitting there in the corner, forever alone.

Since the party was mandatory, the ones who didn’t arrive would get a pay cut. A lot of the employees had to cancel their Christmas plans for this.

Everyone looked dead as they chugged the cheap beer, the only worthwhile entertainment being gossip. I was beginning to wonder why I even tried to make the party work out.

“...I wanna quit.”

I chugged the canned beer I held in my hand. After making sure it was empty, I threw it at a trash can carelessly. It went in, surprisingly.

“Hah… What do I do now?”

“Boss!”

“Hm?”

I turned my head to the source of the sudden shout.

“Ah, Luke.”

Out of everyone in the party, he was probably the only employee with a glimmer left in his eyes. He ran at me full of energy as he held two unopened cans of beer.

“Wow! Thanks for inviting me to the party, Boss!” Luke saluted with the canned beer still held firmly in his palm. “The party’s great!”

Well, someone’s optimistic.

“Don’t call me Boss, you’d get in trouble.”

“What? He’s not here, is he?”

“Well, no… but…”

His boot-lickers might.

“Well, after having you teach me for so long, it felt natural, y’know? Besides, you’re more of a boss than he ever wa–”

“Shuush!” I forcibly cupped Luke’s mouth. “Stop that, or we’ll get in trouble, both of us!”

After a long awkward silence, Luke nodded his head. “Mmmhmm~”

I released Luke’s mouth, allowing him to speak again.

“By the way, Luke,” I said. “That beer is not for me, is it?” I eyed the unopened beer in his other hand.

“Hm? Ah, no! It’s for my girlfriend!”

“O-oh! Of course it is…” I said disappointingly.

Luke’s girlfriend… It was her, the reason why Luke was so energetic despite the dead atmosphere of the party. He had invited her to the party and she surprisingly agreed. I had never met her before, so the party would be my first chance of meeting her.

“Ah! Speaking of the angel!” Luke’s face lit up as a woman approached us.

“...Yeah, that’s not corny at all.”

Walking through the dead crowd was a woman. In a modest blue dress, she wore an emotionless face. But, I had a feeling it was just how her face usually was.

“Luke, did you get the beer?” She said.

“Yep! Right here!” Luke handed over the can.

“Thanks,” she said to Luke. She then turned her head towards me. “And… you’re Luke’s senior, right? The one he keeps calling ‘Boss’?”

“Y-yes, I am his senior. Nice to meet you!”

I extended my hand and shook hands with her.

“The name’s Kloe, Luke talked a lot about you ‘Boss’,” she said in a cold tone.

Sheesh, he gossips about me to her? I hope it’s nothing bad…

“Don’t worry, I assure you, Luke admires you a lot.”

“R-really?”

D-did my tongue slip? Or was she just casually reading minds?

“Ah, Luke. Want to head to the balcony? The air’s stuffy here,” Kloe fanned her face with her hand.

“Oh, sure!” Luke answered. “I’ll see you later, Boss!”

“I told you to stop calling me that, didn’t I?”

With a mischievous glint in his eye, he chirped, "Ehe~."

This kid is going to get me killed…

With those two gone, I was once again left alone with the rest of the employees. They were all bored to death, and I was no different. The only ones I’ve seen genuinely smiling were Luke and his girlfriend. Those two were so in love, I doubt anything would bring down their mood.

…Love, huh?

“If I have someone like that… Wonder how it’ll be like…”

Useless fantasy aside, I needed something to do to pass the time until midnight, only then would we be permitted to leave, for some reason. The boss really doesn’t want any one of us leaving early.

“...Chugging beer it is.”

Not like there was any other entertainment.

—

“Puehh~”

In the end, I couldn’t stop myself with the beer. Thankfully, we bought quite a lot, so no need to worry about drinking it all up on my own.

“Shit… I need to clean up…”

I slowly stood up, stumbling over my own feet as I did so.

“I’m that drunk? Cleaning will be a chore…”

Most of the others had left, the rest were asleep on the floor. The only one I could rely on to help clean the place was Luke, unfortunately.

“Is he still on the balcony?”

I headed there, one hand on my forehead and another on the wall to prevent myself from falling.

“You’re such a flirt.”

I heard Kloe's voice from across the hallway leading towards the balcony. As I approached, I could see Luke and Kloe leaning on the iron fence through the window, chatting away under the moonlight with wide smiles on both of their faces.

“...Maybe I shouldn’t bother them after all.”

As I was about to head back down the hallway, I grew kind of curious and decided to stay and watch.

“It’s kind of weird,” Luke said. “The moment we met, it just felt like… fate, or something!”

“Sheesh, you need to work on your flirting more.” Kloe took a sip of her canned beer. “But, I have to admit, I kinda feel the same…” She said, a blush forming.

“I know right?!”

“Hmph,” I scoffed, letting out a smirk. “Damn lovebirds.”

I felt like I was breaching their privacy, but I couldn’t help it. The two of them were so cute I can’t help but hope the best for them.

The scene before me was romantic as hell. Kloe's glossy black hair shimmered under the moonlight as she and Luke leaned against the iron fence, gazing up at the moon together.

The only thing ruining the scenery was the iron fence they were leaning on. It was rusty and looked slightly bent at the feet as well.

“I should seriously get that thing checked out, that thing looks like it might break at any moment.”

And, as if fate was mocking me, the fence began to bend even more.

“...Wait, no, it IS about to break!!”

With no hesitation, I jumped up and rushed to warn them.

“Luke!! Kloe!! Get away from that fence!!”

““Huh??”” Both of them turned towards me.

The sudden change in their position as they leaned was the fence’s last straw. In an instant, both Luke and Kloe fell backward along with the fence.

“Shit–” Kloe cursed.

“K-Kloe–!!” Luke shouted.

I busted through the balcony door and jumped. To my own surprise, I managed to catch both of their arms, barely saving them from the fall.

“B-Boss?!”

I clenched my muscles, exerting every single energy I had into my arms and legs.

“Aaaaaaaaaaggghhh!!!!!!!!”

With great effort, I managed to pull the both of them enough for them to climb back onto the balcony on their own. The two were gasping for air, hands tightly held onto their chest.

“Haah~ Haaah~ W-we almost died!!–” Luke said, out of breath.

“D-damn, that was… scary…”

As for me… well… let’s just say, I began regret drinking that much beer.

I couldn’t move my body, it was stiff as a board. The wind, it began pushing me forward.

“B-boss?!” Luke shouted.

Sorry guys, I can’t… really do anything here… My body is falling on it’s own…

I closed my eyes as my consciousness started to fade away.

“BOOOOOSSSS!!!!!”

I could hear Luke’s scream growing smaller and smaller.

Ah, I really did fell… This is it, isn’t it?

…

……

………

—

I opened my eyes to a perplexing sight—A wooden ceiling and a marble white ceiling—both overlapping in my vision.

““Wha–?””

I slowly got up and my vision began to grow clear, yet still, I remained perplexed. I could somehow see two scenes before me at the same time. A modest wooden house and a luxurious Victorian-styled room.

I could feel two contrasting sensations on the bed I was lying on. One was a rather stiff bed, while the other was soft and inviting.

What’s going on here? The last thing I remembered was… falling?

As I was collecting my thoughts, one of my visions showed a man and a woman wearing what looked like medieval rags quickly rushing to my side. The woman hugged me tightly, not giving me room to breathe.

“Feyt!! Thank goodness you’re alright!” The woman cuddled me as she rubbed my forehead.

W-what??

At almost the exact same time, my other vision showed me another pair of man and woman, once again rushing to my side.

“Carine! I’m so glad you’re okay!” The woman exclaimed, her voice filled with relief. She gently rubbed my forehead, where I could feel a bandage. Her touch stung slightly. “Does it still hurt? Don’t worry, dear. I’ll make sure that idiot who hit you pays for it!” she added, her voice laced with fury and the sound of grinding teeth.

““–Huh??”” Both of my bodies said at the same time.