Displaced Fairy Tale

Displaced Fairy Tale

            The rain ran down the pane of the floor-to-ceiling window in Walter’s office.  It was days like these that he would stand near the glass and look down and imagine that he was one of the raindrops: falling, falling.  He had been the vice president of D&H Investment Strategies for nearly ten years, and his prospects for climbing any higher seemed non-existent.  About two years ago, The Board of Directors found itself unhappy with direction the company was going and in response, replaced the existing CEO with one Stanley King, a great-nephew of one of the oldest members of The Board.  Mr. King had a keen eye for business and had worked wonders for the company, but despite these ‘improvements,’ all the senior members of the staff felt cheated by this act of nepotism.  For weeks, it seemed that things would continue as business as usual, but slowly, Mr. King, backed by the board, began eliminating the members of upper-management and replacing them with out-side hires.  He started at the top, moving down, slowly, slowly.  Before long, each member knew when his time was up, it was only a matter of time, and Walter’s number had been up for weeks.

            It was on this rainy morning, the city was as grey as ever, and from his window he watched, through the rain-streaked glass, the grey building, the grey cars, and the grey people moving down below.  His mind jumped back to his desk, the top left drawer.  He knew it was locked and his hand moved instinctively down to his right pocket to feel for his key-ring, on which he knew the little desk key was securely attached.  He hadn’t touched the pile of work on his desk all morning.  From his empty house, to the company lease, through the revolving door, and up the elevator his thoughts had been in that desk drawer.

            The static from the inter-com cut the air, “Walter, Mr. King would like to see you in his office.”  He didn’t say anything.  He kept looking out the window.

            From outside of Walter’s office, the receptionist and the few people who happened to be walking by were stopped by the bang and the flash and heard his body fall upon the floor with a pronounced thud after the thunder of the blast.  They rushed to the office, and called 911; but try as they might, he was lost before they even reached the door.  The paramedics arrived after a couple minutes; Walter was pronounced dead and carried down the elevator and into the grey world.