Digging Graves

Eyesore. She's an eyesore. Nothing more than that.

Although it's fun to humiliate her, now that fun has dissolved since she started talking back. He wonders where did she grow a spine to answer so defiantly, almost as if some other person takes over her. She wasn't like this before, but let's see how long she can last.

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He was roving his chair, deep in his thoughts, tapping fingers of his left hand on the desk. His mind is in another dimension already, too many thoughts are circling around him. Just the other day, he scolded her thinking she had made a mistake but when corrected, she gave him an earful. Now, he has to make calculated steps to what he can put her through next. He doesn't wish to see her gone; he can't find another (metaphorical) punching bag. But if she leaves, he can get one of his relatives to join here, in this office. He kept on thinking about what to do and he couldn't make any sudden moves. No, he has to be careful and not do something excessive.

His IP phone starts to ring; he came back from his trail of thoughts.As he looked at the caller ID, his brows wrinkled. His boss, the Branch Manager has called. Why did he call? - he thought. He picked up the call and from the other end his boss was giving him instruction about the official tour he is soon going to have. Oh he was waiting for an opportunity like that. Although he's the branch manager, they work in different departments and his colleague from the manager's department had told him enough to put "the eyesore" through enough suffering. Initially no matter how loud he had scolded or how rude he was, she never said a word back. A few days ago the manager called him to his cabin and gave him an earful; apparently he got complaints from multiple sources about how he's treating her. Since then he has been waiting for opportunities to tear her down. How dare he complain to the manager about him!

He was flabbergasted when the manager told him off; he's been on the lookout. He doesn't like the manager, he doesn't mingle well with the rest of the people in the office; the rest of the people in the office are quite uniform and by the look of them one can't tell apart who's the senior or who's junior. Only the Branch Manager and few other senior officials stand out. Why do they have to be that way, he couldn't understand.

While thinking all of this, he gets up from his chair and is now strolling from one end to the other. He will get the opportunity to embarrass her in front of everyone, and his chance will be coming soon; he can feel it in his gut. He is scheming; if not a resignation then he will settle with a show cause which means she won't get promoted or increment at the year end. He needs to talk to his accomplice to get things moving. Not an elaborate plan, perhaps a few small scale ones.

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You know when you lay out a trap for someone else, chances are you'll fall on it. But he doesn't know that. What he cares about is causing her more pain and her stay in the office unbearable. The more she is stressed out the more she makes mistakes; that's what he wants. It's unclear why she's so unlikable to him only; the rest of her colleagues think highly of her. That is where things are muddier; yes, one can't be liked by everyone. And there will be that one person who just hates the fact that you exist. She still can't figure out why her own boss is against her. And there are so many factors he is overlooking. He doesn't realize that he's digging up his own grave and he'll fall face first.

The story isn't going to go on. Maybe he'll win and she'll suffer more. Perhaps she'll manage to get the upper hand and win against the odds. It's not an Aesop story where there's a moral one liner in the end.