Monster

The thought of failing was fresh in his mind. ‘Unacceptable,’ as his father would spat, ‘Failure is never an option. Failing makes you no one.’ Brian’s tie was loose as he rushed to his interview. The interview that would, unbeknownst to him, change his life forever. The 21 year old, fresh from college (he graduated early) was looking to move up and become a somebody.

~~~

Kaeira waited and sighed. Her three thirty appointment was going to show up any minute, and Hellu wasn’t shutting up.

”Your secretary is pissing me off. She should die. You keep that gun in your desk. I think you need to just rain bullets down on this shitty establishment.” Hellu was name she gave the voice in her head. That voice told her to kill people. It told her to kill everyone, but usually the people she was closest to. Leaning back in her office chair, she counted to ten, telling Hellu to shut its mouth or she was going to take pills to shut it.

A gentle knocking pulled her from her efforts to count. “Miss Hearst, your three thirty is here.” Joonie, her secretary and best friend, poked her head in the door. As Kaeira sighed at her she scowled. Joonie was the only person who knew about Hellu.

Since Joonie was Hellu’s newest target, Kaeira needed to get her out quickly, or she might lose control. Hellu may be just a voice, but it was a very convincing voice. Hellu had been with Kaeira for as long as she could remember, and at the age of 25, she should have a pretty good memory.

“Thank you Joonie send him in.” Joonie nodded and left, in her place was a young guy, handsome. He had a large forehead and a nice smile. His blonde hair was gelled back on his head. He wore a blue button down and an ugly tie. “Brian was it? Please, have a seat.” Kaeira shook his hand and smiled lightly. Her small, bony hand was enveloped in his large ones. “You have a very interesting resume Mr. Brain. I love your name, by the way, Brian Brain.”

Brian chuckled, “You’re the first to say you liked it, most people thought my parents were weird, making me weird. I didn’t have many friends.” His father’s words of him being a nobody rushed back to him. he visibly cringed, but Kaeira ignored it. Everyone had their own monsters inside.

“Anyways, you are incredibly qualified, I just have a few questions. What is your greatest fear and why?” Kaeira had her hands poised over her keyboard, ready to take his answer down, verbatim. Brian gulped before opening his mouth to speak.

“I wouldn’t really say I’m scared of anything. I struggle with the thought of being a nobody though. That isn’t to say I have to have a position of authority to be happy, but I don’t want to be forgotten. My father always said ‘failing makes you no one,’ and that’s what I grew up believing.” His voice, surprisingly, didn’t waver as he answered, even as he heard the clicking of her nails on the keys taking down what he said.

“I can understand that. Next question, how do you feel about mental illness.” Really though, that wasn’t a question. Secretly, Kaeira thought Brian was cute and sweet. Maybe he could be her somebody.

“Well, it depends. There is the mental retardation, which my heart goes out to the people that live with that, but then there are the people with depression and ‘voices’,” his air quotes around voices made her heart drop. “I used to have a friend who heard voices. The voices told him, according to him, that the world was basically going to burn. He had a bomb shelter and believed life was going to end. Later, I found out his house actually burned down. It was weird irony. I do, though, believe schizophrenics and I feel the worst for them. I just wish i could help.”

”Man, what a kook. Can you believe his bull Kaeira. Oh, yep, you can. Well don’t. Kill him!” Hellu was back and his pull was strong. Kaeira was weakened, basically, by her conversation with Brian. She was defenseless against Hellu as it made her reach for the shiny black pistol she kept in her top drawer.

“I’m relieved that you say that Mr. Brain, because I regret to inform you that I hear voices, well one voice really, and he wants me to kill you.” The shock on Brian’s face would have been readable to a blind person.

“Ms. Hearst, please think about this.” Kaeira’s hand, completely out of her control, pointed the loaded pistol at Brian’s face.

“I have no time to think. Mr. Brain. I wonder how yours will look splattered all over my wall. You see this? This is a silencer. Your death will be virtually unheard by the world. And in the papers, a nobody is murder.” That set Brian off and he leapt across the desk, pulling the gun out of Kaeira’s frail grasp and tossing it aside. A swift slap across the face brought Kaeira back. “Mr. Brain, thank you. I didn’t mean to do any of that. I had no control. You have the job, and not because I almost killed you.”

“Thank you, Ms. Hearst. I’ll see you starting tomorrow.” On his way out, Brian muttered, ”Monster,” under his breath.