Obsession

Word count: 901

Obsession


Carla is sitting at her office desk working on the mound of tax returns when she hears this humming sound. She stops what she is doing, and looks around to see where the sound is coming from. This is silly since there are thirty cubicles attached which block the view of seeing anyone anyway unless she gets up and walks down the hallway. The strange humming continues and she decides to find out where this is coming from.

Getting up from her desk, Carla walks across the small room to the door and walks out into the hallway. She closes the door and looks around listening, and then she hears it again. Someone walks out of their cubicle and Carla walks up to him and says, “Hey, Brad. Do you hear that noise? It sounds like humming, maybe.”

Brad pauses and listens for this humming. He looks at Carla and says, “I do not hear anything. Are you sure you heard something?”

Feeling confused, Carla says, “Maybe, you are right. Thanks Brad. Enjoy the rest of your day.”

Carla watches Brad walk away and wonders if she really heard the sound. After he walked around the corner she heard it again. This time she listened at cubicle doors. She found one where she was sure the sound was coming from. Lifting her arm up and as she was about to knock on the door, a voice behind her says, “Carla! How are you on this beautiful day?”

“Betty, I am going crazy. I have been hearing this annoying humming noise all day and I think it is coming from this cubicle right here in front of me.”

“That is the new guy, Larry.”

Carla hesitates before she responds and says, “What, do you know about this new guy?”

“Not much. He does not talk to anyone and spends all his time alone at his cubicle.”

“Does not sound like a team player kind of guy.”

Betty looks at her watch and looks up at Carla with a big smile on her face and says, “It is home time. Looks like you need a night out. Some of the girls are getting together tonight. You should come. The Dry Martini for 8pm.”

“Sure. It has been a long day. I will cya guys then,” Carla waves bye to Betty.

Carla walks back to her cubicle and sits down and hears a cell phone ring singing, “Ding, dong, the witch is dead. Which old witch? The wicked witch.”

“Strange ring tone,” Carla says to herself.

Proceeding to finish the file Carla was working on, she hears some noise. The humming again. This time it sounds like the ring tone song. Taking a deep breath and counting from one to ten to attempt to calm her nerves. Someone bursts through her door without knocking and Carla looks up to see who has come to visit. She sees a man who does not look familiar to her.

He walks toward her desk, looks her in the eye, and says, “Carla, I am glad you are still here. Everyone else has left for the day and we are alone. I have been waiting for this moment for a while. Do you recognize me?”

Feeling some fear, Carla’s body start to shake a bit. She cannot recall anything at all about this man. She answers the man, saying, “No. I am sorry, I do not remember you?”

“I knew you would say that. I am going to remind you my name is Larry. We have met before about one month ago at the coffee shop across the street from here. The coffee shop was so busy that there were not many seats left to sit on. I saw you and asked you if I could sit with you at your table. You said yes I could. We had a good conversation while we drank our coffees. I asked for your number and you gave me a number for a pizza place. It was not nice of you to lie to me. Why did you lie?”

Carla stood up from her seat and attempted to walk towards the door. Larry walked in front of Carla and said, “You do not have to answer my question. You will listen to what I have to say. I fell in love with you the first moment I saw you. You told me you work here and I saw the ad in the paper your boss was looking for someone. I applied and got the job. I started work here five days ago. You still did not notice me here. I am in the cubicle right next to yours.”

Carla realizes this is not a good situation and says to Larry, “I am sorry I hurt your feelings. I am sorry I do not remember meeting you at the coffee shop. Larry, what do you want?”

Larry looks at Carla with wild eyes and says, “You are lying! Stop lying to me.” He stalks towards Carla and says, “We are going to have some fun. Just you and me. I have waited a long time for this moment.”

Carla tried to run past Larry. She didn’t make it. Larry caught her by arms and threw her down on her chair. He looked at her with a cat that caught the canary look on his face and said, “Let the games begin.”