Cutting Loose

by Dash, Jayson

  Thankfully she didn’t have to put up with her today and she had the day to reflect on other things. Like what she was going to do the next time she saw Brett and what she had in mind. It wasn’t anything major, just something to let her know how much she appreciated him or how much she enjoyed spending time with him.

  She went back to work and was just about done until Sean stepped into her office some moments later he didn’t look too happy, more like he was pissed.

  He said, “Sabrina, can I have a word with you for a moment?”

  “Sure.” Sabrina stood up and walked around her desk.

  “Listen, I’ve been thinking about this for some time now and I haven’t had the slightest idea of what to do with Camille but she has gotten out of line. I can’t take it anymore and I think it’s a good idea that I got rid of her for once and for all.”

  Sabrina’s heart fluttered for a second. Was she imagining Sean’s words? Had he actually said he was firing Camille?

  “You mean permanently, as in no longer working for the magazine?”

  “Yes,” Sean said mater-of-factly. “The past few issues have been mediocre and sells are plummeting fast. It’s as if she’s deliberately trying to destroy this magazine for her own gain.”

  Sabrina knew it was only a matter of time before Camille started to show her ass, but she didn’t know it would be this soon. Which also meant Sabrina was finally in line to get what she deserved all this time.

  “Have you talked to Camille at all to tell her about this?”

  “Not yet. I’m calling her this afternoon. Monday I’m calling for a press conference to make everything public.”

  “And you’re sure this is the right thing to do?” She couldn’t believe she asked that question, as if she was feeling sorry for Camille.

  “Yes, I’m sure, Sabrina.” He smiled and added, “Believe it or not, I’ve been praying for this day to come forever.”

  Sabrina sighed, “You and me both.”

  After she was finished with work she was on her way home until she got a call from Larissa crying in the phone babbling about something and told Sabrina to meet her at a park near her house to talk.

  It was cloudy and drizzling by the time she reached the park. She spotted Larissa underneath a sheltered picnic area sitting at one of the tables dressed in a plain blouse and maternity jeans.

  Sabrina walked up to her and sat next to her.

  She turned to Larissa. She tried to smile and said, “Happy Mother’s Day!”

  Larissa frowned. “Please, Rina. I’m so not into that bullshit right now. And technically I’m not even a mother yet.”

  “Yes, you are. You have two growing babies in your belly. I bet you’re getting anxious about the delivery, huh?”

  “Not really.” She diverted her eyes to the nearby swing set. “Actually, that’s why I asked you to come out here.”

  Sabrina was a little lost. She knew Larissa could be difficult some times, but this was getting a bit old.

  As if Larissa could read Sabrina’s thoughts, she turned to face her and said, “I know this doesn’t make sense but, um, I don’t know how else to come out and tell you this.”

  “I’m sure it can’t be that bad. I know you’ve done some crazy shit in your days. So, what is it?”

  Larissa sighed. “I’ve made a really big mistake and today opened my eyes to a realization, which is that I’m young, I still have some living to do. I shouldn’t have fucked that married guy without any protection, but shit, he was fine as hell and I was not about to say no. I was going to break it off with him but today he told me he’s leaving his wife to be with me. And I know what you’re thinking but we have a lot in common and everything else is good. But there’s one problem; I’m pregnant and neither one of us wants these kids.”

  Sabrina damn near jumped off the table and stood in front of Larissa.

  “Just what are you saying, Larissa?”

  She waited a beat. Then she said, “Look, Sabrina, at first I was excited to be having twins but now, I don’t want to be stuck with a liability and responsibility like this. I can’t take care of two kids. I mean, I can but I just don’t think now is the right time.”

  “Larissa, please don’t tell me—”

  Larissa cut her off and said, “Yes, I’m having a fucking abortion. I already made the appointment and everything.”

  She sat back down next to Larissa and said, “Larissa, trust me, you do not want to do this. I’ve been there and it’s not a good idea.”

  Larissa eyes began to tear up. She asked, “What do you mean?”

  “Look, when I was younger, I had an abortion because I was a dumb teenager and my mother forced me into a corner. I didn’t think I had any choice but to do it. But you—you have choices. Don’t end up like me.”

  “Wait. Why are you just now telling me this?”

  “Because for one, I never thought I’d tell anyone and up until a couple weeks ago I hadn’t. And two, I never thought I’d be hearing you talk about abortion.”

  Larissa paused for a moment. “Hmm. And what do you mean end up like you?”

  She had to fight back the tears as she said, “I’m infertile. Barren.”

  Larissa opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.

  Silence passed between them.

  Sabrina broke the silence and said, “Larissa, you have options.”

  “Like?”

  “Don’t act like you don’t know about adoption.”

  Larissa facial expression changed, and for a second, it looked as though she was considering Sabrina’s words.

  She said, “I appreciate you talking to me but I have to make this decision for me. Don’t look at me like that. Do you think this is easy for me?”

  “No, I don’t. But it doesn’t matter what I think because it seems to me like you already got your mind made up.”

  Larissa got off the table. “I guess so.”

  “Hmm. And does Cassandra know about this?”

  “Yeah. She knows, not that it would make any difference if she didn’t.”

  “Why are you being so cruel? I know you feel like it’s your body and whatnot but you don’t have to sound so mean. I’m just trying to help.”

  “I know.” She paused. “It’s already hard as it is. I’m the one who has to live with it.”

  “Well, I guess this is it.”

  Sabrina looked at Larissa’s large belly, thinking of the two lives that could have been. She walked over to her and asked, “Can I feel your stomach?”

  Larissa looked away and said, “Girl, you are crazy. But whatever.”

  She placed her hand on Larissa’s stomach and felt something moving around. She was pretty sure she ran to her car to keep from breaking down or strapping Larissa down and holding her hostage until she came to her senses. But Larissa was going to do what she wanted, and there was no changing her mind.

  Chapter Twenty-Five:

  Back to Square One

  Tapping her forehead and wondering what the hell to do next, Sabrina contemplated her next move to keep her sanity. She couldn’t stand the sight of all the small children she saw as she passed by the park and saw them playing on their swings with their parents. It made her wonder why she couldn’t have been blessed with the ability to have kids, while people like Larissa was so able, yet and willing to give up so easy. It messed with her head so bad she gave herself a damn headache and had to rush home for a nice nap. Hell, it was a nice day to relax, especially with the rain thumping against the window; it was the best time to crawl into bed and get some shuteye.

  So that’s exactly what she did. But unfortunately, sleep didn’t come easy and she was tossing and turning, thinking about Larissa and imagining how scared she must be, even if she wasn’t showing it. It was Just in her nature.

  Ever since Sabrina knew Larissa, she was never easy to get along with, especially in the beginning when they first became friends. It was Larissa sharp tongue that they met, when Sabrina was back
in college and they were roommates during junior year. Sabrina couldn’t stand the way Larissa was always playing her music loud on the stereo while Sabrina was trying to study or whatever. They got into a handful of fights, but nothing ever escalated into anything serious and after a while, they got used to each other and a friendship blossomed out of the impossible.

  It was because of Larissa that she was having nightmares of Larissa in the waiting room of some dark, creepy clinic that didn’t even look pleasant, where Larissa would end up bleeding to death. It was just horrible and a part of her whished that she could have fought harder to make her change her damn mind and do the right thing. If anything, it had something to do with the fact that back when she made the choice to have an abortion she didn’t have a choice or say in the matter, whereas Larissa was just throwing everything away.

  She dozed off into another dream, this time where Larissa didn’t bleed to death like in her other dreams, but she somehow changed her mind and at the last minute went into early labor and died on the table from complications. It was so weird seeing her best friend die right before her dreams over and over again. Then it got even weirder when she saw a glimpse of her younger self when she went to have the abortion and how scared out of her mind she was when she saw all the instruments laid out on the table, the creepy look plastered over the doctors face; it was all just too much.

  Despite the fact that she slept most of the day, Sabrina managed to squeeze in a little time with her mother to celebrate Mother’s Day and enjoy some quality time away from the office and Camille and her drama and the whole ordeal with Larissa. She pushed everything from her mind and just focused on the dumb, but fun activities her mother had planned after she left the spa and called Sabrina over to her house for some relaxing and lounging.

  The day zoomed by and before Sabrina knew it she was back in her bed waiting for the next day to come and go just as quick. For one reason or another she hated the way Tuesday morning started off and left an eerie feeling in her stomach. She was glad to be seeing Camille finally get the boot after all the years of putting up with all her crap.

  So it shouldn’t have surprised her that she would have a thousand messages on her answering machine congratulating her on her new position as Editor-in-Chief. But that was so not the case when she actually checked them and heard an alarming message from Sean.

  She immediately called him back and was startled by the urgency in his voice.

  He said, “Sabrina, thank God you got my message! Listen, you have to get to the office pronto! Camille has lost her mind. Also, the magazine is in serious trouble.”

  “Wait, slow down. What’s happened?”

  “Look, I think it’s best if you just come down here and see for yourself what I’m talking about.”

  “Okay, I’m on my way.”

  “Please, hurry.”

  Instantly, Sabrina went onto overdrive and threw on her best pantsuit after taking a quick shower and making sure she didn’t forget anything before jumping in her car. Whatever Camille did, she was sure it was something crazy. Sure in the past Camille had done some really stupid things, but this time had to take the cake. Never had she heard Sean sound so panicky.

  She tried to calm her nerves and think that things wouldn’t be so bad. She figured that Camille might have spent all her time on some stupid feature that she thought was perfect without consulting Sabrina about and then found out that she was fired and couldn’t handle it. Or maybe she finally showed how psycho she was by holding the place up for ransom or some craziness. Camille might have played a fool sometimes, but she was smart and manipulative when she wanted to be and Sabrina could bet any kind of money that this was no different. Something was definitely up.

  Once she was at the office she and rode the elevator, she knew something was different as soon as she stepped off and noticed that Sean was talking to Raquel and a nerdy-looking accountant whom was rarely ever seen.

  Sabrina briskly walked over to Sean and asked, “What’s up?” She didn’t really see a reason for either Raquel or the accountant to be in the office since Sean had the office closed, being that it was the day after a holiday and he wanted to give the employees a break.

  Sean said, “Sabrina, it’s really bad. I told Camille that she is fired from being editor in chief last night and when I came in here this morning, I couldn’t believe my eyes.”

  “I’m guessing she didn’t handle it so well.”

  “Not so much,” said Sean

  The nerdy accountant spoke up and said, “I was working on some figures to be turned in and all of a sudden the lights went out, like a power outage but then they came back on a moment later but then I discovered a problem.”

  “What kind of problem? “Sabrina asked.

  He said, “Well, my computer crashed…as well as all the other systems.”

  Sabrina looked form the accountant and back to Sean. “Is this true?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you think Camille is responsible for this?”

  “Yep.”

  Raquel stepped in and said, “The security guy said he got her on tape doing something suspicious and she was with an accomplice.”

  “Show me the video.”

  A moment later they were looking at the tape security had given them of Camille and what looked like her old friend Tasha, putting something into the computer in her office. Afterwards Camille laughed and stalked off with her accomplice as if nothing happened.

  Sabrina immediately she went to her office and tried her computer only to see the words “Operation Camillionaire” across the screen.

  “All the hard the hard drives are dead and they can’t be recovered,” said Sean.

  “You couldn’t retrieve anything?”

  “Graphics, layout, editorials, photoshoots—everything was destroyed. We lost the entire magazine.”

  “Shit!” Sabrina said hotly. “The magazine ships in less than twelve hours—how the hell are we going to make the deadline?”

  “I don’t know, Sabrina. Just hold on. Start calling and try to get as many people here as you can.”

  “No need,” Raquel chimed in. “I called everyone I could think of. Thought you could use some help. ”

  “How did you—” Sabrina started to day but Raquel cut her off.

  “Hey, just because I’m an assistant doesn’t mean I don’t know how to delegate. You can thank me later.”

  “Thank you so much,” Sabrina and Sean both said at once.

  The three of them went over to the conference room that was filled with staff members sitting around the circular table waiting for further instructions with blank, but alert expressions on their faces.

  “Do you think you can handle this?” Sean whispered to Sabrina. “I know this is a lot to handle, especially on your first day as editor in chief.”

  Sabrina half-smiled. “Yeah, I got this.” She turned to the staff and said, “Listen up people, as you may or may not know, I am the new editor-in-chief of this magazine and it is my job to make sure we recover from this catastrophe that we are in. I admire all of you for being here and I promise you hard work won’t go un-noticed. So, without further delay, we have to get to work if we want to get this magazine on the stands as scheduled. So, let’s get to work.”

  It wasn’t easy, but Sabrina definitely was making things happen and she was quickly getting things done. It was a good thing she had saved some files on a flash drive and was able to recuperate some lost editorial spreads that was essential to the next issue. She still couldn’t believe it was all happening. And still her remind was in overdrive as she was only three hours in and it looked like things still were messy.

  Then the unthinkable happened when she called for the style and beauty section of the magazine.

  “Present and accounted for,” said a cold, familiar voice from behind Sabrina. “My, oh, my. Why such long faces?”

  She turned around and found Camille flanked by her pal Tasha smiling devilishly with her
hands crossed over her chest.

  “You’ve got some nerve showing up. Come to clean out your office, Camille?” snapped Sabrina.

  “No, I’ve come to clean out yours.”

  Sabrina laughed softly, despite wanting to wring her neck.

  Camille turned and said, “I am so sick and tired of this stupid magazine and well, I’m seeking the other side where they say the grass is greener, and if you’re smart, so can you.” She snapped her fingers and said, “Tasha, now!”

  Her sidekick Tasha pulled a sheet over an easel to reveal a poster of what looked like a premiere of a magazine called Camillionare with a picture of Camille.

  Tasha said, “Camillionare, the luxury magazine for trendsetters and those with an eye for style.” She smiled at Camille.

  “You have got to be shittin’ me.” Sabrina laughed. “I mean come on. You can’t be serious.”

  Camille glared, her icy stare could be felt from across the room “I am dead serious.”

  “Seriously, this is a joke, right?” asked Sean. “Come on, Camille. You don’t even have money, let alone the resources to start your own magazine.”

  She ignored him and said, “We are currently setting up offices and there are still positions available, if interested. So, who would like to leave this crumbling dynasty while you still have a chance?”

  No one moved.

  Camille said, “I forgot to mention that Camillionare employees will receive a fifteen percent raise with dental and medical coverage.”

  People started to file over to her Camille’s side.

  “Oh, and cosmetic surgery.”

  Then all hell broke loose.

  “Camille, you can’t do this. You should be ashamed of yourself,” said Sabrina.