The Management cheered.
The Staff cheered.
Eric blinked, clutching the file in his hand, close to his chest, wondering what on earth was going on here. Smiles, some genuine and most of them fake blinded his sight.
He cleared his throat.
“Er…, hello!!”
“This way, Sir” an older man dressed in an immaculately pressed suit waved his hand, indicating the glass fortress of an office in front of them.
Nervously Eric took a deep breath to calm his rapidly beating heart and inconspicuously wiped his sweaty hands on the suit that he wore, a suit that he had borrowed.
Okay, they were just a bunch of very warm people. Maybe they welcomed all the potential employees this way. ‘Or maybe they are just luring you somewhere to kill you and do god knows what’ a voice whispered slyly in his head.
Pessimistic voice! The joy he had experienced when he got the call that he was shortlisted for an interview to work in this prestigious company slowly dissipated.
The mahogany door to the glass fortress swung open.
Eric’s jaw and the file held in his hand dropped to the floor.
Impossible!
The man in front of him gave a knowing smile. A smile, a face, just like his. A carbon copy. A photocopy. A…
“Good morning, Eric. Take a seat. We have a lot to discuss.”
An interesting piece, Rachael. You have built up Eric’s dread and pessimism regarding the interview well – rapidly beating heart, sweaty hands. Dropping the file when the door opened illustrates the height of his nervousness. The ending is especially effective. I think it could be read in different ways. I have chosen not see it as Eric’s realisation that the people he’d been dreading to meet were just mere ‘men in suits’ – the same as himself. So, nothing to fear after all. However, I’m aware that it could be something else completely.(Perhaps it is himself, at a later date – and in a position of authority – looking back on his first scary interview there.) No doubt there are other interpretations, too.
Well written.
Thats whats so nice about short stories right! The ending leaves you imagining quite a number of different things. I like the way you perceived it, of course I thought of something else, but yoyr idea is more creative 🙂 thank you for reading Mill 🙂
Yes, I’ve had lots of different interpretations of my Labyrinth story – and all fit just as well as my idea. It would be a funny world if we all thought the same way! 🙂
A very deep response ~ Carbon copies and stereotypes exist sometimes to the detriment of the company ~Brilliant! 🙂
AHH!! I LOVED it 😀 that was so great, and left me yearning for more!
Thank you hun 🙂
Interesting. I like how you built the scene up. Lots of tension and nerves. I’d love to see that glass fortress.
– Ermisenda