by Sienna Grant
“What if I said I’d like my notice period?”
“I don’t think that’s wise, do you?”
“Fine. Then if I could just have a couple of hours to clear my desk out and clean up any files on my computer.”
“Of course. You have until lunchtime.”
Margie stands from her chair as I approach. “Ah, Ms. Quinn have you seen Mr Hicks yet? He didn’t seem to happy.” She muses in a low voice. She teases me with her smug fucking grin.
Gritting my teeth, I try to smile and ignore her, but I can’t.
“You’re loving this, aren’t you? Just remember, I’m on to you. I know exactly who you are, where you came from, and I know why you’re here,” I whisper. “And when this is over, I’m going to the police and I’m going to lodge an official complaint. I’ll have you out of here quicker than you can say con artist. Do you understand me? You may have my family fooled, but not me. You may have won the battle, Margana, but you won’t win the war.”
My hands shake, so I ball them into fists and rest them on the desk leaning in closer to her. She narrows her eyes at me and her jaw tenses. Using her real name must have really gotten to her. “Oh, and that’s not a threat; it’s a promise.”
With my death stare pointing her way, I walk past her and go into my office to collect my belongings.
Through the glass of the office, I watch as Terry walks past and steps into Margie’s office. A frown pulls at my forehead when I see them talking quietly and every now and then they both turn to look at me. I go around the desk and use my key to open my drawers, taking trinkets and stuff that I’ve collected over the time I’ve been here.
I look over the top of the computer to make sure they’re still busy and email the whole client list, as well as all account information, to my personal email account. I need to find a way of telling Robert Walker it was Margie that sabotaged the account, but I have no idea right now. If I’m going, I’m going out with a bang. And by the time I’m done with Terry Hicks, that bastard will be bankrupt.
Leaving the office for a minute, I go into the storage closet to look for a box to put all my things in. I hear a click that tells me the door has been closed. I turn to open it again and I’m slammed into the shelving. Air leaves my lungs with an oomph and a hand is wraps around my throat. I struggle to swallow as her nails bite into my skin.
“Listen here, bitch. You might think you’re all high and mighty, but I won’t let you take anything from me again. Don’t try me, because I will fucking end you.”
“I’d say you already have everything wouldn’t you?” I force out in a scratchy voice, pushing past the pain in my throat from where she’s gripping me. “Take your hands off me,” I grind out.
“Do you think I’m joking? You know nothing about me.”
I push her away from me and manage to get the door handle in my hand. “I know you’re a fucking psycho.”
I grab the box I came in for and go back to my office. Once everything I pack everything up, I sit down in my chair one last time and look around my office. Spinning around to the wall, I rub my neck, trying to sooth the pain from her tight little fingers.
I need to get out of here. Before I leave, though, I need to see it one last time, my relaxing place. I’ll never be able to go up there again.
Grabbing my cell, I type out a message and send it to both Everett and Ruby: That bitch is psycho!
My cell still in hand, I walk out of the office. Once I’ve made it up all the flights of stairs, I push on the heavy door and wedge it open.
Stepping further out onto the roof, I breathe the air into my lungs. I am so glad to be out of here.
The door bangs again like last time, only this time, it’s shut.
Fear has my stomach dropping to the ground.
When I slowly turn around, my gaze falls on a smiling Margie.
Sixty-Seven
Reagan
I look past Margie and see the door is shut tight.
Great, I’m fucking stuck up here.
“Oh damn, the door shut.” She shrugs. “What are we going to do now?”
She takes slow and steady steps toward me
“Why are you doing this, Margie? You’ve already gotten me fired from the job I love. What more do you want?”
“I want my pound of flesh!”
“What?” Even though I try to keep my voice steady, the way she speaks to me has me worried, and I frown.
“You ruined my life. You took all my fucking dreams away from me.”
“How? How the hell did I do that?”
“I dropped out of college, Reagan. I had to because of you. I loved Luis so much. And you took him away from me.”
“Seriously? This is about a guy?” My voice goes from neutral to high pitched. “Are you fucking kidding me? You seriously need to get a grip. It was college.”
“I don’t care.” She slowly moves toward me.
“Don’t come any closer.”
“You’re going to pay for what you did to me.”
I take steady steps away from her but it’s hard to do in my heels. My phone rings in my hand, startling us both.
“Who the fuck is that?”
Looking at my screen, I see Everett’s name, and turn my cell around to show her.
“Don’t answer it.”
“Maybe I should. If I don’t answer, he’ll worry about me.”
“Good old Everett…” she muses. “I said don’t fucking answer it,” Margie shouts. “You know this was all a game. Everything was going so well, but then that fucking friend of yours had to stick her fucking nose in it and start digging into my history. If anything happens to you, it’ll be her fault. She should have left shit alone.”
Looking around me, I see the edge is getting closer, and I’m getting even more nervous. I take a deep breath and give her my nicest smile. “Margie, come on, we can work this out. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize. But it wasn’t just me—it was him too.”
She just keeps walking toward me, uncaring that I’m running out of real estate here. “You’re sorry now. But you hated me back then. You and those fucking sorority girls, you all thought you were better. You’re not now, are you?”
“We didn’t hate you. You had that shit stuck in your head. You hated us. I joined that sorority for Ruby.”
“Are you scared, Reagan?” Margie mocks me.
“Yes,” I answer in a shaky voice. “I am. Please, Margie. How will you explain it to my brother if something happens to me? My mom? It’ll break her heart. Please, let’s just go back down to the office so we can talk this through.” My phone rings again and again, but I can’t take a chance on answering it.
“Too late for that.”
“No, it’s not. It’s never too late.”
With two fingers on the side buttons of my cell, I repeatedly press them until it goes to SOS. A loud sound comes from the device and she stops in her tracks. The wind blows around us. As I edge backwards, my heel gets stuck and I feel myself falling backwards. My phone slips from my hand and hits the ground. I flail my arms, trying to find something to grab onto, but there’s only air.
I scream, because there’s nothing else to do, and I know that this is it.
My body hits the ground, knocking the wind from my body. I turn my head to see her standing over my phone. With a smirk, she lifts her foot and slams her heel onto my screen. The glass shatters into little jagged pieces.
Margie runs towards me.
This is it. The game is over.
Sixty-Nine
Everett
When I finally make it to Reagan’s building, I throw my keys at one of the valets and ask him to park my car before running to the elevator. As soon as it arrives on the floor of Reagan’s office, I run in and ask anyone if they’ve seen her. When a couple of people say no, I go into her office and see if I can find anything. All of her belongings are in a box on the desk. Her cell isn’t here, so I assum
e it’s with her.
One of the sales girls pops her head into the office. “Are you looking for the boss?”
“Yeah. Have you seen her?”
“She went that way.”
“What about her assistant?”
“She followed not long after. They could be in a meeting.”
I nod, but if they went that way, I know exactly where Reagan is—she’s on the roof.
Before the sales girl goes back to her desk, I stop her. “Were they arguing?”
“They didn’t leave together. Reagan went first.”
“Shit. I think they’re on the roof.” I leave the sales office and the employee follows behind me as we walk across the hall. “Did they both go this way?”
“Yes.” She nods, beginning to panic.
“Okay, I need you to call 9-1-1. Tell them that Reagan is in trouble and you’re worried that someone’s trying to hurt her. And tell them to hurry.”
“Will do.” She heads back into the office and I run to the fire exit.
When I reach the door to the roof, the bar that opens it up is jammed. I push my weight down on it but it doesn’t budge. Taking a step back, I lift up my leg and with all my energy, I kick it. I keep kicking it with as much force as I have until eventually, the bar rattles. I stop and again push down on the steel bar.
Finally, with one last push, it opens.
What I see before me has me spiralling.
“Reagan…”
Seventy
Reagan
“I’m going to fucking kill you, bitch.” Margie screams as she flies at me.
I try to roll out of the way but her body colliding with mine has my head hitting the concrete. I become starry eyed for a minute. I lay still, my body feeling heavy. I’m not sure if I’m even awake, but I begin to come to and feel my body being dragged. When we stop, I watch through hazy vision as Margie straddles me. Her hands go to my throat again. Only this time she’s squeezing as tight as she can, cutting off my air supply. I try my best to stay conscious.
The evil that’s lying in her depths scares me. She laughs because she knows she has the upper hand. As my focus becomes clearer, I ball one hand into a fist at my side. Lifting my other hand slowly, I grab her hair and yank her head back and let my other one go, punching her in the face, her nose exploding with blood from the impact. She screams and eventually loosens her hold on my throat.
Gasping for every bit of breath I can, I manage to push her off of me. I roll away from her and scramble up to my knees. With my one hand still protecting my throat, I inhale as deep as I can. I can hear movement at my side, but I can’t get up quick enough. A kick to my ribs has me dropping to the floor again. Pain tears through my side and back when I take a breath.
Kicking me over to my back, she steps over me and straddles me again, one knee on either side of my body. Her fist connects with my cheek. Summoning up all my strength, I clasp my hands together and whack her in the chest. She falls backwards and I roll back to my knees and get to my feet this time. I straddle her this time with my tight grip on her head I bang her head off the ground her eyes rolling back in her head.
I begin to get up, but I’m knocked to the ground again. She gains the upper hand on me and we keep fighting on the ground. My ribs are screaming at me, but I try to ignore it. Margie is on her knees, straddling me again when she reaches to her side. My gaze follows and widen when I realise what she’s reaching for. She picks up a large steel bar and holds it firmly in her hands.
“Don’t do it, Margie.”
“My name isn’t Margie! It’s Margana. But then you already knew that. I fucking hate you!” She raises the bar above her head, and I close my eyes, ready for the blow. “You ruined my life. You fucking bitch!”
Before she can do anything, I hear the door open and someone scream, “Reagan!”
Everett. My body sags with relief. He’s here.
I try to inhale but it hurts so much that I can barely breathe. I have a feeling I have a broken rib or two when the pain tears through me again. “Everett, help!”
Margie turns her head to look behind her. I use that to my advantage and hit her in the stomach. The piece of steel clangs as it drops from her hands and hits the ground. I look down and to see it’s just in reach. Distracted by pain, Margie holds her stomach, leaving herself vulnerable.
I reach out until I can touch it with my fingertips. Managing to get a hold on it, I grab it and wrap my fingers around it… Turning back to me, she notices too late, and I swing the bar, connecting with her head.
She drops to the ground at the side of me like a sack of potatoes, her legs resting on mine. With my forearm wrapped around my middle I shove her legs from me and try to move away from her.
Everett runs over to me and drops to his knees by my side.
“Oh my god, Ev. I didn’t think you’d ever find me.” I look into his eyes and a sense of home fills me. His normal fun-loving emerald gaze turns into a deep shade of fern and I soon get lost in them.
“Fuck, Rae. Are you okay?” Capturing my head in his hands, he does a quick scan of my face. “God, I thought that was it. I thought I’d lost you. I love you so much!”
It’s all too much, I bury my head in his shoulder and neck. Him being here and rescuing me brings me to tears. My ribs are killing me, and my cheek is burning where she hit me.
“Stay where you are!” a voice yells from the doorway. The police are now on the roof with us, guns trained our way.
I begin to raise my hands in the air. I’m too scared to move too quickly.
“Miss, you need to stay right there,” the officer calls out. I look behind me and see Margie crawling to the edge of the roof. Everett keeps me tucked against his chest.
She doesn’t stop. I watch as she pushes herself up to her feet. There’s blood dripping down the side of her head from a gaping wound from where I hit her.
“Margie, don’t. You don’t have to do this.” She doesn’t listen though. She steps up onto the ledge. “I won’t press charges. Just step down from the ledge, please.”
“Why should I trust you? It’s your fault I’m here now.” She looks at me and Everett, then at the police.
“Margie, I swear I didn’t know. We were in college. Luis told me you were over, otherwise I never would have started dating him.”
“Fuck you. You don’t mean anything you say. And anyway, it’s too late.” She laughs, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “Ruining your life was easier than I thought it would be. It was even easier to blame you for losing that account.”
The police take small steps closer and she stops.
“Don’t come any closer or I swear I’ll fucking jump.”
“Miss, you need to step down, now.”
“My life is over.”
“Give me your hand. I can help you.” Crouching back down to the ground, I hold out my hand to her, trying not to spook her.
She looks at me carefully, probably trying to figure out if I’m being honest. Carefully, bending down she reaches out, our fingers almost touching.
“No one can help me.”
I reach out to her, her gaze never leaving mine. The tips of our fingers hook, and just as I think she’s safe, she grins and leans away from me. With her fingers slipping from mine, she disappears from sight. I jolt forward but Everett holds me back, wrapping his arms around my body and pulls me in to him. My shocked gaze stays fixed on the empty space before me and all the breath I had in my body leaves me in a horrified scream.
She’s gone.
Not quite believing what has just happened, I bury my face into Everett’s chest. The spicy smell of his aftershave tells me it’s him.
It surrounds me completely. And suddenly I feel safe.
Epilogue
Reagan
As I look back over the last two years, it’s crazy to think that I’ve gotten this far. But Everett has been by my side through everything; the psychiatrist
visits, the sleepless nights, the night terrors. I’m not sure I could have made it through all the shit without him. I’d lie awake for hours, fearing what I would see when I closed my eyes, the vivid images of that day on the roof with Margie. Sometimes I would even dream that she succeeded in pushing me off the roof, and I’d wake up wringing in sweat, crying out.
Margie Campbell definitely left a lasting impression on my life, but with help I’ve come to understand that she was sick. Apparently, that mindless act of stealing her boyfriend back in college sparked a series of events in her life that had a cumulative effect on her mental health and well-being. One bad event spiralled into another and there was only one answer in her mind—revenge. All she could see was what had caused it, and that was me. Obviously seeing my name and hearing about me doing so well had caused her to see red. She hated me, and that became an obsession for her.
I gave the police the address I had on file for her at work, and when they went to her apartment, they found a locked room with a corkboard on the wall. On it was my picture, my name, newspaper clippings. The picture that was taken of Everett and I at that fucking charity ball, was plastered all over front covers of the business magazines. She’d literally followed my whole life. They showed me pictures of my brother and Ruby. She knew every weakness I had and used it against me. Well apart from Ruby, I guess she knew that she wouldn’t be able to break that forcefield. They even found photos of me and Everett running together in Central Park, and of Everett coming to my apartment and leaving. She knew everything. She was watching every move I made, and for god knows how long. Nobody really knows. I never did find out where the roses came from, but I assumed it was her trying to frighten me.
I’m not saying I’d like to get inside her head, because I’m sure there was a lot more in her life than just me stealing her boyfriend. But my psychiatrist found a way of putting it into simple terms for me to start to understand, and I think I finally do. I just wish I could have helped her.