There are several colleagues I work with. Some are quite relatable, some are indifferently mediocre and some are the very spawns of hell – or so we like to think. And the best ones are gone, or on their way out.
The department is divided into a number of units. I am one of the drones in a unit. A unit led by the manager at the apex of his efforts. This is the culmination of years of hard work and denial to his family. They have struggled in a tiny apartment for years. It must have been hell. But now – good God now! – he will replace the Head of Department for the duration of her long leave. The sweetness of the sensation.
Through hard work, pretentious emails at night, some good old-fashioned backstabbing and an ungodly amount of ass-kissing, he has crawled out of the bottom of the pit and currently reveling in the spotlight. Oh, he is unable to conceal the grin off his pearly whites. Finally at the big stage. From the slums to Olympus.
But the day will come, upon her return, when he will have to leave the big boys at the big table and crawl back to his hole, whence he came. Rue the day, that he will be banished from the warmth of the central fire. Away from the pompous “Sun-king” of the company, back to the darkness, toiling away with the other no-names.
He will sharpen his dagger on his feeling of betrayal. Patiently wait for the returned manager to make one mistake too many. And strike, as he has struck many times before.
Only this time, he will betray not only her trust, but her love for him too..
Ladislav Kadlec 