Transformation by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Format: epub
Published: 2010-02-13T06:52:43+00:00

Chapter Five

The next day, at work, Maggie had trouble focusing. Not surprising, she supposed. The past few days kept replaying in her mind. Even now, a part of her still wondered if any of it was real.

And yet, she couldn’t deny that she had changed. The usual office sounds and smells were all strangely amplified. She was aware of rustling paper, clicking keys, the tick of the big, white clock on the wall. She was overwhelmed by the dry, artificial smells of plastic and new paper, the dusty, musty smell of the carpet, the biting smell of fresh paint where a scratch on the wall had been painted over. The odors seemed to crawl deep into her nose and tingle unpleasantly in her sinuses. Her eyes watered, and she sneezed.

“Bless you,” said a voice next to her. Raspberry-scented shampoo and the cloying, flowery scent of too much perfume swirled together inside her newly sensitized nose as her manager, Ms. Blick, leaned closer. “You aren’t getting sick, are you?”

Maggie forced a slight smile. “No, no, I’m fine.”

“Good.” Ms. Blick smiled. “Did you enjoy your little vacation, by the way?”

“Hmm? Oh, yes. It was fine.” Not counting the part where she’d been attacked by a were-cougar and infected with lycanthropy, of course. But then, if that hadn’t happened, she wouldn’t have met Justin.

“Well, that’s good,” said Ms. Blick, and smiled brightly before moving on to the next employee. Every day, she made her rounds at the office, checking on employees, making small talk or just glancing at their screens to make sure they were being productive. She called it “proactive managing.” It had always made Maggie edgy. At those times, Ms. Blick reminded her of an enormous hawk, or maybe a vulture, circling the room slowly, surveying everything with her sharp eyes. Maggie knew that was an uncharitable thought to be having, though, and she tried not to think unkind things about people. Her mother had always told her....

Maggie shook her head, as if to shake the thought free. Why was she always censoring her own thoughts, as if other people could see and disapprove? Other people had too much say in her life as it was. She didn’t need to let their scolding voices into her mind. She wondered why she’d never thought of it that way before.

The hours crept by, and she kept glancing at the clock. Maggie’s job involved a lot of proofreading, looking over technical manuals for spelling and grammar errors. It was dull work under any circumstances, but today, somehow, it seemed almost unbearable. Her muscles twitched. She felt like ... well, like a caged cougar.

I’m too smart to be wasting my time at a job like this, she thought. The thought had occurred to her in the past, but it had always felt arrogant, almost blasphemous, somehow. Now, it simply felt true. She wanted to leap to her feet and shout it to the room. Instead, she held her tongue and forced herself to focus on the glowing monitor in front of her.

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