The Interview

Jason Sidgel swiftly stumbled through the office doors, and brushed the cold winter snow off his puffy black jacket. He slowly walked towards the front desk. "Name," a young girl sitting in a chair at the desk quickly inquired. The nametag read, "Maxine". "Jason. Jason Sidgel." Jason calmly answered. "I'm here for the position of assistant writer." Maxine quickly looked up, smiled and said, "Haven't had someone fill that position since Dave passed. Have a seat by the window." Jason nodded, and quickly strode over to the nicely aligned chairs, sitting in the middle one. He noticed a pile of magazines on a nearby table, and walked over to browse the selection. He chose Sports Illustrated, and walked back to his seat. As the snowflakes slowly descended to the ground outside the window, Jason felt a slight vibration in his coat pocket. He pulled out his phone, and saw that his sister, Amelia was calling him. "Hey, what's up Amy?", he stated. A high pitched, anxious sounding female voice quickly stated, "Hey Jase, I gotta tell you something. It's urgent." Jason looked confused, and slowly answered back. "What happened?" Amy quickly began to state, "It's Micheal. He-" Jason set his phone down as he heard an older male shout, "Uhhh, Mr. Sidgel? It's time for your interview." Jason quickly stated, "Amy, call me back. I have to get this job. Love you, bye." Amy quickly stated, "Wait, JA-" before Jason had the time to hang up. He quickly took his coat off, brushed the snow off his cargo pants, and hung his coat on the rack. He then quickly walked towards the older man, whose nametag read, "George P.", who then led him to a small room with a desk, a ceiling fan, two chairs, and a few filing cabinets. A younger man, whose nametag read "Jake", was sitting at the desk, spinning in a chair. He quickly came to a halt when he noticed Jason's 6'9 muscular frame in the corner of the room. "Here, take a seat big guy," The younger man stated as he motioned his hands to the chair. It was an older office chair, with a few rips and tears in the fabric. Jason sat down, taking a glance at the various items on the desk. A bobblehead of some green-armored futuristic soldier, a 1974 Plymouth Barracuda, and a small plaque that read, “Jake Flack, Head Writer.” The room was dimly lit with a painting of the Rocky Mountains on the wall. The young man looked up and stated, “Do you have any prior experience in writing?” Jason then stated, “Well, I have written for The Post Standard in Syracuse, but I also have wrote a few stories, such as Counterfeit Reality, a story about a young man trapped in a time loop.” The young man smiles, then asked, “So, what brings you to our little town of Ilhen?” Jason smiled, and states, “Well, my sister, Amelia Lopez works out here, and my parents recently passed away.” The young man instantly lit up. “You know Amy? That’s my brother’s wife!” Jason smiled and looked around, noticing the labels on the filing cabinets. Some where labeled A-Z, while others had weird names, like Things for the Team Trip, and Obituary Notices (HIDE FROM DANIELLE). “So, how’s life been, Jason? Wanna watch TV or something, cause I got like, 1 hr until the next interview.” Jake asked. Jason looks around the dim lit dusty room, and smiles. “Sure. You wanna watch Dr. Phil or something? Maybe I could work on a short story I’m writing.” They turn on the television, and hear advertisements whilst skipping through the channels. “Young mi-also know as SARS-Honey Nut Chee-Bazinga!-Hi, I’m Dr. Phil.” Jason smiles, sets the remote down, and looks at Jake. “Are you even allowed to use this TV for non work purposes?” Jake smiles, and looks back. “Let’s not talk about that.” Jason laughs, and begins to write his story. Daniel Jackson, a young explorer, is trapped in the bottom of an old Aztec temple with his attractive assistant, Loreen Ball. Loreen begins to panic, saying how she’s too pretty to die, and that she had plans on starting a family. Daniel then realizes that he can just replace the Aztec goblet with the heavy glass goblet from the dinner earlier. He quickly puts it on the pressure plate, and the hatch opens. “Alright, the story is finally done!” He set the pencil and paper away, and stood up. After a long day at the interview, Jason’s hands cramped from writing and he decided he was going to head out. “Well, I’ll be going. Have a good night Jake.” Jason stated, a smile emblazoned on his face. “Adios, Jason. Drive safe, tell little Mikey I said Hi, and welcome to the Ilhen News Bureau family!” Jason smiled, and laughed a little. “Ok, I will! Have a good night Jacob.” He began to calmly walk towards the door and right when he closed the door shut, he jumped, hit his head on the ceiling, and smiled. “YES! ow. ow. ow.” He was rubbing his head as he slowly wobbled, navigating through the abundant dark hallways. He stopped and looked around the office cubicles area, and kept walking towards the main room. “Oooh, what a day.” He smiled and finally found his way back to the waiting room. He glanced out the windows. The snow had seemed to stop, but he knew that it would soon resume its track. He glanced at the open waiting room, filled only with a few people, a bunch of chairs, and the magazines. He went back up to the front desk, and signed out, grabbed his coat, and left the building. He was putting on his coat on the way to his car, when he felt another vibration. He checks his phone, and suddenly goes into a panic. Patting his chest, he finds his keys, rushes violently toward his car, opens the door, steps in, slamming the door shut, and speeding off. Meanwhile, a small raven pecks at seeds in the winter snow.