A Day of Ruin

“Harlow? Harlow, did you hear me?”

I gasped, the voice breaking me out of my thoughts as I turned my chair around with a fright.

Bryson looked at me, alarm on his face at my reaction.

“Jesus, Harlow. You’re shaking. I tried talking to you a few times but you looked like you were out of it. Are you okay?”

My heart stammered as I forced a smile. “Yeah I’m fine. What’s up?”

He didn’t look convinced but continued anyways. “Mr. Reynolds wants to see us all in the main conference room.”

I looked around, noting the empty pig pen. I hadn’t even heard everyone leave which scared the shit out of me.

“Thanks, Bryson,” I muttered, locking my computer and standing up. I avoided looking him directly in the eyes as I could feel his gaze burning into the side of my face. Out of the corner of my peripheral I noticed him straightening up his glasses as he followed me towards the conference room.

The room was your typical run-of-the-mill conference room – a large oval table, big bay windows and a huge projector screen on the wall. Mr Reynolds watched us enter, his stare showing his disappointment as I quickly took a seat at the table. He was middle-aged with straw colored hair and an average build but his composure and personality demanded attention and excellence.

Everyone looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to begin.

“Thank you team for coming on such short notice. I won’t drag this out as we are unprecedently busy and we all have things to do.”

He cleared his throat as he straightened his tie. I noticed him eye Bryson briefly before turning back to the centre of the table.

“In light of recent financial events, we are pleased that we are in a position to announce the associate promotions. The two associates will become team leaders. The firm has decided to restructure the associates, making two distinct teams with management of one area of finance. One team will handle reconciliations and contracts while the other will deal with data and financial development. The promoted associates will each be in charge of a team.”

The room filled with whispers and comments, the news a shock to us all. We knew that the promotions were coming up but the restructure was news to me. Mr Reynolds waved his hand impatiently at us, motioning for us to settle.

“The firm and business partners feel this move is best as we will be able to streamline our processes, making our client experience much more enjoyable. It will also remove pressure from staff at having to juggle a variety of different tasks. We will shortly share the team lists with you. But without further delay, I’m pleased to announce our new senior associate team leaders – Bryson Bailey and Skylar Chatswood.”

Applause broke out along with cheers and congratulations. My eyes immediately shifted to Bryson, a sense of happiness and pride welling up inside me for him.

He deserved this – he truly did. He had worked so hard the last few years, aiming for the promotion.

A lump formed in my throat as I found him staring back at me, his brown eyes shining with a mixture of emotion. And through all of it, I noticed one that stood out to me.

Pity.

We had made plans to be promoted together, and up until the City Dinner, I was up there with him for consideration. I clapped, giving him a small smile before breaking our gaze and looking at Skylar.

Skylar had started around the same time as Bryson and I. She was one of the ′popular kids’ – beautiful, smart with a good mind for numbers. Her long black hair bounced as she hugged her friends in excitement. I envied her, and it sickened me. While she was definitely good at her job, she wasn’t great. But her dad was one of our business partners. Sadly she had gotten the role initially with his support and recommendation and I had a sneaking suspicion she was good at her job because she either 1) had to be, or 2) she had inside help. Either way, I could understand why she was chosen.

I watched with bated breath as she stood and walked over to Bryson, leaping into him for a hug. He hugged her back timidly, unsure at her sudden contact but the thing about Bryson was he was far too polite to ever deny anyone.

“Congrats, Bry!” she breathed out, grinning as she looked around the room. She had her dad’s confidence as a leader – another attribute that I am sure worked well in her favor.

Mr Reynolds rapped his knuckles on the wooden table. “Okay everyone. You can continue your congratulations later. I’m going to put up the team lists now so we can start the necessary arrangements to shift everyone.”

He pulled out a remote control, the projector screen coming to life as he connected his laptop to the system. When he opened up the word document, I squinted my eyes to look at the two lists. Bryson and Skylar’s names were at the top and I smiled at Bryson’s appointment as reconciliation and contracts manager. It was only natural really – he loved and nailed balancing as much as I did.

My eyes quickly scanned his team list, frowning as I struggled to find my name. I checked again before turning my attention to the data and financial development team. My eyebrows shot up as I found my name in Skylar’s team.

What in the world?

I was familiar with data and financials, but it wasn’t my forte. It didn’t make sense that I would be put in that team given my previous track record in reconciliations.

Before I could raise my hand to question it, Mr Reynolds requested we break into our groups and start discussions with our team leaders.

Bryson’s team was taken out into the adjacent conference room with Mr Reynolds, while Skylar took her place in his spot. She looked over us, her blue eyes hovering over me slightly longer than the others.

“I’m so excited to lead y’all into the next steps of our careers. We’ll go over some tasks and assigned duties shortly with Mr Reynolds but in the meantime, if I can help, give me a shout.”

The team buzzed with anticipation, talking in excited voices as I sat quietly in my place.

This was not what I was expecting.