The way be looks at me. Those eyes the cross mine know something. That disgusting chilling smile of an old man is something we all know. My mind keeps fixating on the little camera in Noel’s old desk. I got struck with packing it up after she had a psychotic break and quit on the spot. A camera makes sense for him. Disgusting but true. I can’t let go of the clawing feeling in me that I personally need to investigate. The nitwits working here can barely put their name correctly on their lunch in the fridge, this is above their pay grade.

How do you watch someone watching you? I feel it always. The fear in me rises with my heart rate as I struggle to sit still at my desk. My body adjusts as if I can shake it off. This mission may need to be after hours. That’s the only time I feel I’ll be able to breath and think. This man is relying on my fear to hold me back, my desire to not rock the boat. He doesn’t know I’ve been in therapy healing that shit. Rude awakening better slap him in the face.

The calm I expected from the empty office that night didn’t exist. It’s like he left his essence to seep into the walls. I look around the empty cubicles. The smiling families in little pictures on so many desks made my heart hurt. We are not humans with families to him. I snap back from my tangent and line the wall as I walk. My crazy teenage years helped me pick the lock to his office. It’s so bland and lifeless. It’s like he wants us to be like him. No, another version of him, but lower, less than. I find a peculiar cabinet thats locked. The only locked thing in the room. That tells me what I need to know. Even the lowest on the totem pole here can tell you. What’s in here equals what he thinks could fire him. A smug look sweeped across my face knowing even he could be taken down.

Nothing. There’s nothing. Did he know I was coming? No. I list all the reasons why that couldn’t be the answer. Maybe, just maybe, my brain starts to play with the idea that it wasn’t him. The cameras could be another pervy man in the office. More sleuthing? I hear sounds down the hall. I get spooked like a cat and look for my exit, there isn’t one. I crouch down behind the desk hoping I can conceal my presence. It’s Elaine. She’s my boss’s boss. The one who would fire my suspected perv. I peek out to watch her survey the office. The confidence in her walk thros me off from her weird behavior. She begins to touch things on the desks. Unusual but I’ve done it. This though, it has intention. I move closer to see and my shock may reveal me. She’s setting up a tiny camera. It’s disguised as a little company trinket. I see her link it to her phone. I don’t know tech but it’s clear even to me. She looks over quickly. We make direct eye contact through the glass wall separating us. She smiles a more twisted smile than even my boss could produce. She brings her finger to her lips with a shh. And then, ever so confidently, she walks out of the office without a care in the world. The sound of her heels ring in my ears for long after she left. My body ached but still I couldn’t be brought to move.

Despite all this my ass will be in my chair for the next 2 years. Never saying a word. Some people don’t need to threaten you to keep you quiet. I could feel my biological reaction to a real predator. I was the one slapped with reality. I’m prey. I didn’t challenge that thought once during the rest of my stay at said office, I could feel the answer in me, there’s no reason to challenge a fact.