What I Want Today

The light to moderate traffic and sunshine seemed to lessen her notoriously stressful commute. In an attempt to encourage and even demand workers return to the office, Cori’s team had been assigned a difficult but necessary task. Their directive included placing WFH workers on notice about upcoming workplace changes. The changes would significantly impact the workers current schedule flexibility and require 90 percent onsite, in-person interaction with management.

According to her Director, a possible hiring freeze was looming and any promotions or raises would also be adversely affected. The performance based salary increase had previously been disbursed as lump sum deposits. Now they would be disbursed in increments over a 12 month work cycle. Time off requests would have to be submitted a month in advance as now certain black-out dates would remain in effect until further notice from senior management.

Her directive was to disclose the new changes but in a gentle manner via email, video conference, and even text alerts to efficiently notify all employees. This workplace disclosure was strictly a virtual one. The thoughts of completing such a daunting task raced away in Cori’s head like a looped video as she reached her work destination.

She pulled into the nearest parking space available just a few feet away from the large office entrance. Besides her car, she noticed only three other vehicles on the premises. Cori quickly recognized one of them as her director’s sports car and the other bulky SUV belonged to another senior level executive. She couldn’t determine the other vehicle’s owner but didn’t give it much thought. It was a nicer mid-size sedan with very nice wheels and tinted windows. The vehicle appeared to belong in the parking lot she thought to herself so there was no reason to report it.

The large parking lot was nearly empty as Cori gathered a laptop bag and other personal belongings from her car. She recently agreed to report In-Person at least three times a week along with her Director and a few other senior level colleagues. Cori had always worked on a hybrid schedule prior to the arrival of an ominous pandemic, but preferred the solitude of working from home.

As she entered her own confined office and plopped down in the ergonomic chair, Cori couldn’t help but sigh heavily. Before even announcing the somber workplace changes a number of resignations had already been received today. While she reviewed numerous emails the swift tapping of her keyboard quickened. The typing cadence oddly enough sounded quite efficient and rhythmic .

Cori continued composing separation notices all morning until she decided to take a short coffee break. It was already close to 11am and she couldn’t believe how hungry she had become. The bright red coffee mug she loved had a small crack on top of it.

She touched it slightly and rolled her eyes in disgust too.

              “That’s darn weird, how did that happen?” she mumbled to herself.

The break room across the hall stayed stocked with snacks and fresh hot coffee. She walked in and poured the hot beverage up to the mug’s brim. The vending machine displayed bite sized muffins that she decided to purchase. “Two bags should work,” she mumbled.

 Cori hadn’t noticed but she was the only one there. Both the director and other manager must have gone to lunch. She was completely alone.

 While she stood there enjoying a muffin and sipping coffee the flickering lights in the breakroom suddenly went out.

“Oh God really!” she belted sarcastically.

“I’m finishing this coffee in the dark, I don’t care.”

She gulped the warm coffee and muffins before returning to her office.

Upon reentering the work space she noticed a cassette player on her desk. She laughed because Cori knew she was the only one there. It also made her laugh as the mini cassette player was certainly an obsolete item.

Laughing and smiling she said,

“Okay I know it’s a prank let’s get it over with!”

However, she soon realized it was not.

There was a generic looking envelope attached to it with her name on it. Inside the envelope a note read:

“I will hurt you if you don’t comply. This is what I want Today. Look outside your window now.”

In that moment an overwhelming feeling of fear and doubt surfaced in Cori.

She peered through the blinds in her office and saw someone sitting on the hood of her car. The front tires had been flattened and the individual waved at her. The mask they wore concealed their identity but Cori sensed it was a tall, thin male. He held up a makeshift sign made of cardboard and a message in large handwritten letters was scribbled on it. The sign simply read:

“HIT PLAY Cori-CYANIDE Works Fast But Guns SHOOT Faster”

The effects of being drugged or poisoned began to manifest. Cori felt her body temperature rise and now she was dizzy too. She managed to sit down at the desk and comply with his instructions. She hit play on the voice recorder. A composed but authoritative voice began to speak in a low excited tone.

“Yes I went old school with this Cori. I always thought you were such a bitch but you are just doing your job right? The same dumb manager who fired me is the same one you turn a blind eye to when he breaks the rules. He has fraternized with at least four women and one man on our team but still has his damn job. This is what I want today! This must happen today! I want my job back with the promotion I was promised-I was passed over by you pompous people again… Not coming back to that damn office either. I’ll work from home so the WFH policy isn’t negotiable Cori! You will also remove that negative write up and review I received last month. The same manager who sleeps around gave me a rating of two out of five. That’s because the little prick knew I reported him-but guess what-not a damn thing happened to that prick! How are you feeling Cori-I know you just love coffee. Send me my rehire letter now-you definitely know my email address. Or better yet send me a text confirmation too. If you get cute and try to alert the police and I hear one law enforcement siren-the device under your chair will detonate. No exceptions. This is what I want today Cori.”

The demanding message ended and the recorder stopped. Her eyes were filled with tears as she located his electronic file. Before she clicked on it she took a moment to check under her chair. There was some kind of device taped there as he described. Even though she couldn’t see straight and felt extremely dizzy, a digital timer seemed to be silently counting down. It displayed 30 minutes now. Cori tried to yell but couldn’t. Her mouth was as dry as a desert. The voice was Tom’s.

She located Tom Baxter’s file and briefly reviewed his termination document along with the scathing write up he received about his work performance. Tom was a senior cyber analyst for the firm. He was extremely intelligent and very vocal at times but never threatening. She couldn’t believe he was actually doing this to her. Cori quickly composed the rehire offer letter and included a brief explanation regarding his pending promotion. She reviewed it over and over, used her spell check, and even made sure to cc her boss. Cori emailed it to Tom and sent him a text as he demanded.

She broke down further and began to vomit uncontrollably in the waste basket beside her desk. Cori felt herself falling into a deep sleep. She could no longer fight it and fell out of her chair unto the office floor.

Cori remained passed out for over an hour. When she finally came to, her colleagues were standing over her asking what happened. They helped her off the floor, gave her some water and asked if they could take her to the hospital.

“No No-I am fine now-I just fainted I guess. I have low iron sometimes,” she lied.

“Thanks for helping me up . I think I will make it an early day though, if that’s okay?” she asked. She used her hands to straighten her clothing and smooth her untamed hair.

Her boss nodded and agreed it was just fine for her to go home. He even insisted she take the next day off too. The colleagues left her alone and told Cori to let them know if she needed anything before leaving the office. 

Cori sat silently in shock. She quickly looked under her chair and the digital device was gone. The cassette player also seemed to be suddenly missing too. She slowly walked to the window and peered through the blinds. There was no sign of anyone and even the tires on her car appeared to be in good condition .

She began gathering her belongings to go home but sat down at the computer once more.

There was an unopened email from an unknown source. She was hesitant to click on it as phishing had been a huge problem within their organization. The thought of malware crossed Cori’s mind so she dismissed the thought of clicking on this mystery email. Instead she locked her computer screen, placed the electronic device in the laptop bag, and began walking out of the office.

When Cori reached her car she noticed something taped to her windshield.

It was a cheap looking thank you note stuffed inside an envelope without any signature.

There were also two empty sleeping pill packets attached to the back of the note.

With large tears falling from her eyes and nervously trembling, Cori cursed and yelled in complete disgust.