4.

  Riding the elevator with an HR manager is bad enough on a good day. However, It can turn to hell incarnate when you've just confessed to assaulting a direct reporting employee with a picture of your cheating wife who left you for a washing machine. Sweat dripped down due to the stress pulsing through Kevin. He needed to just be quiet, don't say anything….don't fart….don't you dare fart… "Oh God…why did I have that second breakfast taco with chorizo this morning." Kevin squirmed a bit as the elevator seemed to stall. "It shouldn't be this long of a ride." I shouldn't have, it was only two floors, and earlier Ryan seemed to magically appear with what felt like to the manager under fire a mere few seconds. Why now was the ride longer than a Tool song? Kevin clenched his cheeks, containing the welling pressure forcing itself upon his back door.

  Ding!

  The door opens and Kevin lingered as both Bill and Ryan exited quickly while Kevin donated his gaseous breakfast to the air quality of the elevator. Relief came over him as a bead of sweat fell from the base of his chin. He removed himself from the elevator and followed the other two. God help whoever pressed the little yellow button for that elevator next. God help them.

  Kevin's joy quickly turned to a sour face as the opportunity before him became once again the primary focus; aided back to the foreground of his conscious by obvious lack of any limp in the stride of the injured party. Bill had been so adamant of his pain earlier, clutching his leg, grimacing for an extended period of time, making sure that every person on the floor had ample chance to take note of the wounded man lying there cast asunder by the violent hand of a vengeful god. Kevin did not feel like a god. If he did, he might conjure a smiting for the grand actor walking in front of him toward Ryan Willard, HR manager's office.

  "Have a seat here Mr. Carr, and you here Mr. Park." Ryan found himself being the gracious host. This for him was the best day, the HR manager could hardly contain the glee in his face as he got both parties settled into his chairs, not letting them sit on the couch together due to the nature of violence exchanged between the two employees. "Oh, darn!" He popped up just as he was about to sit down. "I need to go grab the harassment dolls!" He nearly skipped from the office, wandering away, leaving the two involved in the dreaded picture toss to stew in his office.

  "Kev-dog. Bro Bro," Bill slapped the seething manager on his shoulder, trying to clear the air and tension hanging over the doomed looking Kevin. The slap rocked the much smaller and timid framed Kevin, reminding both subconsciously of the difference in size between them and giving Kevin small flashbacks to the visual difference between him and Henry. "I am so thankful for this!"

  "What? What could you possibly be thankful for? And why were you acting like you got hit in the leg?" Kevin's mouth hung open while Bill leaned back in his chair with an air of triumph in his eyes.

  "Bro bro, how else was I gonna bait in some prime snizzle, I mean this was perfect!"

  "Snizzle?" Kevin started to ask…then tried to stop himself remembering he was talking to a man comfortable with placing his hands on the bathroom floor.

  "Yeah bro, snizzle…you know women." Bill laughed and slapped Kevin on the shoulder again. "Dude you literally got me a date with Rhonda. You know Rhonda." Kevin nodded with a deep frown, understanding the entire point of Bill's performance upstairs. "Dude! I am so gonna nail that! Like its game over, I'm literally now Michael Jordan Game 6 LOCKED IN BRO!"

  "Yeah well this is a—"

  "Dude! Kev-dog. Like I just need you to know that when I am ripping it up tonight…" He pulled Kevin towards him and with his hand with two fingers raised and focusing on his eyes, drawing Kevin's gaze to him, "…I'm gonna be thinking of you."

  "GROSS!"

  "So you find Bill seeking understanding with you gross?" Kevin looked up and saw Ryan shaking his head with a staunch disapproval on his face. This was not Kevin's day…or really his week, or was it a month? …It doesn't matter, Kevin was not doing well these days, and he knew it.

  Ryan sauntered in with that smug look of judgement on his face. At least that is how Kevin perceived the facial features of the man, in reality, the HR manager was doing his best to conceal any giddy expressions now that he had the doll and needed to seem the serious and focuses man of the company. But how could he contain his excitement? This was the best day of his career. This, dealing with a moment of office violence was the most exciting thing in his life….I guess we now know why Ryan was thinking about that gun earlier. He held in one hand the doll and then with the other he held his pen and readied himself to take notes. "Best day ever." What a pathetic life. Someone get this man a prosaic…Oh he already has had 4 of those today….okay….so here we are.

  "Now Mr. Carr,"

  "You can call me Bill, Rye-Rye,"

  "Okay….Bill." Ryan smiled wide as though he felt the genuine bond of connection with the victim in this context. "Ahem! Bill, where on the doll do you hurt?" Bill leaned back in his chair and then pointed at the cheek of the doll. "The cheek? You hurt in the cheek?" Ryan looked confused.

  "Yeah, my jaw just feels a little sore, I think I may have a bruise forming."

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  "Why would you have a bruise forming on your cheek?" Ryan scribbled some notes and then raised his writing hand with the pen still in his grip. "Bill, maybe you misunderstood me, I am asking about in relation to the incident with Mr. Park."

  "What incident?"

  "The assault."

  Bill looked confused for a moment and then looked over to Kevin. He then instantly seemed to have a lightbulb go off in his skull bringing back to his active thought the very incident they were in Ryan's office over. "Oh yeah….OOWWWW! My leg." He then pointed at the shins of the doll. "Sorry Rye Bread, I just got a little confused by how you were wording things."

  "No you didn't." Kevin having been Bill's supervisor for a considerable period of time better knew the employee's true intentions. He knew that Bill as trying to milk this and cover his tracks to maintain his date with Rhonda. Kevin nodded his head as he thought about Rhonda himself…she was a descent looking gal….maybe he should give it a go since…But he couldn't get lost in this train of thought. Besides she probably already knew Henry anyway. "A washing machine…."

  "Mr. Park, please….don't interrupt. This is not the time to be a chauvinist."

  "You do realize that Bill is a man right? How can I be chauvinist in this confrontation?"

  "Mr. Park, how dare you assume Bill's gender! This is an inclusive office space."

  "Okay Ry-sing Tide, I am a dude, man. So Kevin is right." Ryan paused and with a smiling face affirmed the words of Bill. The man could do no wrong in this moment, being the victim of the hateful actions caused by his boss. In truth Bill had tried to say he was a woman at one point in his early days of working for FFI, not because of any gender dysphoria, but because he found out the women's restroom played soothing music and had a couch. Bill ultimately dropped his pretense, after discovering that the women of the office talked even more in the restroom than they did at their desks. Thus the dream of peace died with Celia's carping.

  "Mr. Park, now that we have established that Bill here was the target for your hostility, we must ascertain why you singled out Bill to assault. Why did you harm your employee?"

  "Yeah Kev-dog, why did you do it?" Kevin glared hard at Bill. He wanted so much to slap or strangle the man sitting next to him, as he could tell that everything was still a joke or game to Bill Carr. The world was a fresh bagel, just daring to be smeared with cream cheese for Bill. Nothing was taboo or lacking in fun and discovery, while Kevin was mired and languishing in the pits of despair, unable to rise above the events of his recent life, walled in and sealed off from providence. Kevin leaned forward, lost…hoping to vent his troubles in a judgement free environment. His heads combed through his hair, and he puffed air in his chest, trying to gain the courage to speak the trouble out loud for the first time. Maybe this was what he needed?

  "My wife, left me."

  "For Bill?" Ryan tilted his head in ponderance.

  "Wait…that was your wife?"

  "Who?"

  "Rhonda."

  "No Bill, this has nothing to do with you. My wife is the woman in the picture I threw at you."

  "Then why did you hit me with the picture if I wasn't the one your wife was cheating on you with?"

  "Mr. Carr…please let me direct the questions." Ryan spoke with greater kindness in his voice when addressing Bill. "SO MR. PARK WHY DID YOU ATTACK Bill?"

  "It was an accident." Ryan shook his head in disgust. Bill took out his phone and began playing Sudoku. "It was." Ryan was still shaking his head as Kevin sat there, visibly disturbed by the colliding reality smashing in relentless waves upon his psyche. All he could think about was the churning, the churning, and the churning…..the endless churning in his mind of a washing machine…"DAMMIT!" Kevin stood upon and began pacing about the room.

  "Mr. Park SIT DOWN PLEASE! You're making me nervous." Ryan extended a hand, both in fear and in fellowship. Kevin kept pacing. He needed to combat the waves of stress battering his mask of sanity.

  "Ryan…..Mr. Willard, Look I don't want to go over the issues at home right now. I made a mistake here, I wanted to get rid of the image of my wife in my office, and I wanted to hurt her. But all I had was a picture, so I threw it. I threw it with everything I had…"

  "That was the best you had?" Bill interjected while rubbing his cheek, a bruise was forming on his side of his face at the site struck. Kevin stood pacing for a moment to glare deeply at Bill for his rude breaking of his thundering train of thought.

  "Anyway, I know I did wrong. My outburst was wrong. I should not have thrown the picture and I certainly should not have let my emotions get the better of me and allowed them to put Bill….Mr. Carr in a place of risk. I hurt Bill, because I was being negligent. I admit to it." Kevin cringed as he said the words, knowing this was not the correct tactic to take when speaking with a representative from Human Resources. However the desire to free himself from the bonds of another trouble on his mind pressed him to such direct and foolish actions, working against natural instincts of self-preservation. "Mr. Willard, I am going through it right now. This wasn't the normal me, but I did it. Can we please just move along and figure out what needs to be done to get past this if we can." Kevin crossed his fingers. He realized just as he said the words that he was in a way of speaking asking for the blade on the national razor to fall upon his throat, if the blade being job security and his throat being his career at FFI. There his neck sat, planked in on the chopping block, extended and bare, ready for the drop, the snip, the release of the lever that would allow gravity to complete the action set in motion by the foolish actions of the man, Kevin Park. Ryan smiled. Nodded even. Kevin winced and grimaced as he placed his hands on his hips and leaned forward, his legs began shaking as he feared the next series of words proffered from the mouth of the man holding his future at FFI. The worst part was knowing the man holding such a future was not himself.

  Ryan turned a page in his policy manual set under his notes. His eyes scanned the pages, looking and reading with a purpose, carefully evaluating what to say next while muttering what he read under his lips. "Ah! Here it is!" Ryan pointed a finger straight at a section of the policy manual. "Steps of Restitution for supervisors in the office when they have committed acts of violence upon an employee under their leadership." Ryan paused as he looked to the next sentence. Kevin leaned forward hanging deeply upon the pause in the Human Resources manager's voice. Bill was barely listening, desiring to occupy his mind further trying to best 2:30 seconds on an expert difficulty Sudoku puzzle. "Good Lord!" Ryan paused again.

  Kevin leaned forward and asked adroitly, "WHAT?" Bill looked up from his phone, both realizing that he was not on pace for his target time on that puzzle and sensing that the conversation was growing interesting. He could feel the plot thickening….like Chris Hemsworth before the final Avengers movie….bad example…..

  "Kevin…..A-HEM! Mr. Park, according to this document, our policy manual here at Fuchsia Frontiers International, the way for you to make restitution for your act of violence, protect the company, and keep your job….the text of this document says you must…..'Slay Queen'."