Nick’s Last Day By Benjamin Larned

This is a great story from the very last issue of eHorror before it made its incredible transition to Under the Bed.
Enjoy!

Nick’s Last Day
By Benjamin Larned

Nick could barely sit still. He couldn’t believe it had finally come. Just a month ago, he had given his notice. Now, after almost ten years, he was at last saying goodbye.
Jesus, had it really been ten years? Sometimes if felt like much less time had gone by; most of the time, particularly on the bad days, it had felt like an eternity. He remembered starting at twenty-three, fresh out of college and eager for any work that paid more than minimum wage. Of course, his stay was supposed to be temporary, a year at most. He had ambitions, goals to fulfill; but in a work place like that, there was no room for ambitions unless it was being promoted to Director of some department or another. Before he could comprehend it, his year had multiplied over and over into ten. He had become embedded in the layers of the company, lost in the dark sunless caverns of its inner workings. Before he could stop himself he was so deep in it he didn’t have time to start making his plans, which he was going to use his paychecks to begin.
Now, that would all change. Nick was still single (completely by choice, he told himself), and by living frugally for all those years he’d managed to save himself an impressive amount of money. He had done his calculations, made the necessary arrangements; and, once he had absolutely everything in place, he gave his notice. He’d never felt more in control of his life.
The last month had been the hardest. When you know you’re about to be done with something, it becomes even more unbearable because you know you won’t have to deal with it much longer. This truth haunted him, stretched each day to its fullest length, as the coming of his last day loomed before him. The anticipation had caused him almost physical pain. But now, with a mere hour remaining in his time there, he felt nothing but bursting excitement. The torture of working in a tiny gray cubicle for six days a week would end soon, so damnably soon.
A curly-haired head reared from behind his cubicle wall, shocking him from his reverie. Nick inwardly groaned as he recognized the head as that of his boss, Gabriel Black. The head was followed by a robust body, puffed with air to make it look more well-defined.
“He-ey, Nicky,” he said in his all-too-familiar voice. “Today’s the day. Sad to be leaving us, I bet.”
Nick flashed his biggest shit-eating grin. “Yep,” he said. “Last day.” For the second time he felt an enormous swell of pride rise in his chest. At last, he would be out from under Black’s cruel reign.
Black almost grimaced at the response, though, which Nick found very strange. They had shared a fairly intense dislike for each other since their first meeting. Nick had never understood the real reason behind it; perhaps it was nothing but a rivalry between the oppressor and the oppressed; but he did know that Black was the main factor fueling his hatred of the job and company. He had spent so many extra hours in the office and at home due to Black’s snide requests. He’d lost count of all the stupid mistakes he had fixed for the man (he had kept a tally at first, actually). Black was without a doubt the biggest roadblock Nick had overcome in the last few months, in order to get his plans working. With Nick gone, Black would have to find a new work horse whose life he could piss on, but that wouldn’t take more than a flick of his pinky – why the grimace?
“Too bad,” Black said, not without sarcasm. “We’ll miss ya ‘round here, bein’ a part of the team.” Nick could almost smell the bullshit. “What’re ya plannin’ on doin’ after this?”
Nick’s grin expanded exponentially. “I’ll be travelling, mostly,” he said. “Seeing Europe, parts of Asia. Finding time to write a book, too. Been knocking an idea around in my head for a few years now – about time I got it started now that I have some time off.”
“Wow,” Black said. Nick imagined he heard regret, but didn’t linger on it. “Some pretty awesome stuff there. Good luck with that.”
“Thanks a lot, Gabe.”
Black took the finality in Nick’s voice as he was supposed to: a not-so-polite goodbye. He gave Nick a hefty pat on the back and left. A moment later, though, his head popped back into the cubicle and he said: “Hey, you remember Tommy, don’t you? Sat a few desks down from you?”
“Yeah, why?” Tom had escaped three months ago; his flight had in part inspired Nick to do the same.
“Heard from ‘im recently? Know what he’s up to?”
Nick thought for a moment. “No. I haven’t heard from him since he left.” This was no surprise, of course; he hadn’t particularly liked Tom, and they had spoken to each other only when they needed to.
“Huh. Me neither,” he said. His voice was almost foreboding; or did Nick imagine that? Before he had a chance to really wonder, Black was gone.
The final two hours of his life in this hellhole were spent tapping his knee with the impatience of a child, staring at the clock, trying to check email or read memos but losing concentration each time he started reading one. I’m getting out of here, he kept telling himself; finally, finally, I’m leaving this place. Never again would he have to struggle with the heavy front door, or scan his defective I.D. a hundred times before said door opened, or smell the mildew in the kitchenette, or face his asshole of a boss. All of this had been absorbed in the monstrous monotony of his life, a monotony that he would take great pleasure in abandoning when he walked through those ridiculous glass doors one more time. If only the minute-hand would move just a little bit faster, he could leave…
He planned to write a book about this job once he finished his first one, a dark satire, and he would change no details but the names. Already he had a notebook full of biting ways to describe Black, things subtle but obvious enough to ensure his boss would understand them if he ever read the text. He didn’t have an ending yet – surely it would come to him once he left and started his life over again.
The last minutes were excruciating. He could do nothing but watch the clock hands imperceptibly move with each second, slowing down just for him; the little red second hand ticked away his last moments and with each movement his heart exploded in excitement.
And then, the hour hand hit five o’clock. He was free.
He stood, calmly, and closed his fossil of a laptop. He put his pens in his box of personal items, put the box under his arm, then shouldered his backpack. He took a deep breath and looked at his desk one last time. After checking to make sure he hadn’t left anything behind, he walked down the aisle of cubicles to the door. No one looked up to watch him leave, and he was glad of that.
As he was opening the door, Black emerged from his office. “Hey, Nick, come in here for a second. Got some last minute things to talk about.”
Nick’s blood boiled over but he remained externally calm. He turned with a cold smile and followed Black into the darkness of his office. Black shut the door behind them, then went to his desk and spent a while staring at his papers, as if trying to form his words just right. Once he figured it out he looked up at Nick, who was surprised to see regret in his eyes.
With a loaded sigh he said, “I wish it didn’t have to be like this, Nick, I really do. I would have liked to see you go on your trip and write a book. But it’s company policy, and we can’t make any exceptions.” Nick cocked his head and furrowed his brow. “You see, we just can’t let you leave.”
Nick would have questioned it, but he didn’t have time to even open his mouth before Black had drawn the already-cocked gun with a silencer screwed on and emptied the clip into his head. The shots jumped into his skull and everything went dead.
Black looked at the ruined head and the crumpled body lying on his office floor and sighed again. He never liked this policy; it was always so messy. The company went to such great lengths to protect itself. Regrettable, but he supposed it was necessary in the end.
He replaced the gun in its box, stepped gingerly over the mess, left a note on the door for the janitor (special cleanup tonight) and walked out of the office. No one cared to watch him leave.