Natures Camera

A Story by Lola J

Issac is faced with a looming dread of losing his job and is willing to do anything it takes to keep his job. Anything it takes. Anything that he can do to possibly survive but it may come at a cost.

Natures Camera

by Lola J

I trip over my feet as I run down the street, I'm about to be late. I continuously bump into people on my way and each time they scream after me with curses and threats. I breathe a sigh of relief when I make it to the entrance of the building. My ID slips out of my sweating hand and I grumble as I grab it from the ground. I look over and see Grace who is aggressively typing away on her keyboard.

I stutter, “Good- morning- Grace!”

Grace glances at me, “Issac. This is the 3rd time this week you've been late.”

“I know but it's not my fault everyone walks slowly nowadays!” I say while trying to fix my tie.

“Well, good news for you! The boss said that he wants to meet with you, I’m sure he's going to promote you and praise you for perfect attendance!”

“You do not have to mock me, Grace, I'll be lucky if I even make it two steps into his office and live to tell the tale,” I grunt.

She chuckles, “Of course, Issac I'll make sure to leave freshly cut flowers on your desk in your honor.”

I ignore her as I make my way into the elevator shifting my papers around so I can press the button. The doors begin to shut and I let out a sigh and lean against the cold gray elevator.

“Welcome to Virtual/Vision Technology enterprise, your journey begins here!” the intercom in the elevator screams as I glare up at it.

I will never forget the first time I stepped innocently into the elevator only to be met with a sudden loud sound from the intercom that almost put me in my grave.

“Here at VVT, we pride ourselves in creating an impressive experience for all our technology lovers with our highly refined products!” It expresses itself with loud commercial music.

Words from the intercom mix like a blender that flows in and out of my ears irritatingly. I look up and see the overhead light in the elevator and its soft little buzzing.

“You better not go out,” I say irritably.

The ding of the elevator brings me back to reality. I scramble to put myself together as I run my fingers through my hair to tame it down and try to hand-press the wrinkles in my shirt. Good enough, I think. I take a deep breath as I try to summon what little courage I still have left as the doors start to open. I step out of the elevator and look around. Something seems. Different. But I can't put my finger on it. I mean it's not like this place is one to be a friendly welcoming place. Those walls were ready to collapse any minute and some days I hoped they would take me out of my misery. The air is always tight and humid I have to beg for someone to open the windows. The ceilings I swear sink in every second. I stop in front of the frosted door with the words VVT President on it in bold silver letters. I take a deep breath and knock on the door. No response.

I hear murmurs coming from the other side so I lean in closer to see if I can hear what they are saying.

“We will discuss it later Anthony, I have no patience for you right now why don't you just-”

I feel the door start going forward I gasp and try to close it but I fly forward crashing hard into the floor.

I look up to see Boss at his desk with Anthony staring at me.

I scramble to get up as my face floods red. “I-” I try to speak but I don't even know what to say.

Anthony scoffs and folds his arms glaring at me, “Well look what the cat drug in. I didn't take you for the type of person to listen to private conversations.”

“Anthony. Watch it. You are free to go.” Boss says.

Antonys tightens his jaw and looks down.

“Of course boss,” He says, and as he turns to leave he flashes an irritated expression at me before he closes the door behind him.

“So Issac,” the boss says and I quickly turn to look at him.

He smiles, “ Have a seat. Let me fill you in on what you missed.”

I'm trying hard to hold myself together. I clench my fists and try to calm myself down as I hear my heart thumping in my ears. I look at him. That man, sitting across from me. His eyes are laser-focused on me so much so that I'm afraid he's going to melt me on the spot. I wish I could be anywhere but here.

…

I pop my head over the top of my cubicle, “Hey Mary did you get a chance to look at my email?”

She ignores me and keeps typing away on her keyboard a grin forming on her face.

I reach over the wall and flick her computer, “Maryyyyyyyyyy. Answer me.”

“I don't really feel like it,” She says.

I flick her computer again, “Don't make me go get Anthony”

“He's busy and he's not going to do anything anyway”

“Ok. You asked for-”

“What are you doing Issac,” A voice says.

I whip around and look behind me and Anthony is leaning on the entryway to my cubicle.

Anthony walks over to me and taps my desk, “Issac you have work to do.”

I flop down in my swivel chair, “Well, so do you thank you very much and I'm trying to work but Mary over here won't respond to my email.”

Mary rises up from her desk and looks over at us, “That's because all of Issac's emails are just trying to sign me up for spam messages!”

Anthony looks at me and sighs, “Issac for the last time. You can't sign people up for spam!”

I twirl around in my chair ignoring him until he kicks at my chair, sending me crashing into my desk.

“Uh Ow?” I flash him an intimidating glare and he smirks.

“Mary should be thanking me, at least now she knows what to look out for if she ever gets any spam messages” I exclaim.

Anthony kicks my chair again and turns to leave, “Do your work, Issac”.

I hear footsteps and turn to see Boss walking into my cubical as Anthony moves aside to let him in.

“Hey Dylan, can you fix these two please?” Mary says pointing to us.

…

Boss looks at me, looks at Anthony who is now leaning against the wall, and raises his eyebrows, “What am I even paying you all to even do around here.”

Anthony laughs, “Hey Dylan I think that you should fire Issac he tried signing Mary up for spam again.”

“Isaac.’” Boss warns.

I put my hands up, “ Bosssss I was helping-”

Boss folds his arms, “And this folks is exactly why I blocked Issac from ever emailing me. You should try it out, Mary.”

I gasp, “What? You did that? What if I have some really important-”

He holds his hand up, “If you have something that important you would have already been in my office bothering me about it.”

I grumble as I glare at the Boss who is laughing.

Anthony walks over to Boss and pats him on the shoulder, “Hey Dylan can you take Issac with you when you leave next week?”

“And let him ruin everybody's emails at another company? No chance.”Boss jokes.

“Speaking of you Issac, come to my office I have something I would like to discuss with you.” He waves for me to follow him and I gulp as I stand up.

“Dylan, please tell me you're going to move him to the mail room.” Anthony pleads.

I roll my eyes at Anthony, “We don't even have a-”

“Let's get moving Issac” Boss calls after me and I elbow Anthony on my way out. I chase after Boss who is already halfway across the floor. When we finally make it to his office I hold the door open for him and follow him inside.

“Issac-”

I cut him off “I was just messing around! Please! Don't fire me for the emails-”

He sighs, “Issac. I could really care less about your emails. I want to talk about you being late to work every day.”

I frown as I shift my weight around.

He straightens up, “I'm not- Going to be around going forward and I need to know that you won’t send the next person in charge running for the door.”

I scratch my head, “I try to get here early. I really do, I just” trail off.

Boss watches me and his eyes soften. “Issac you are a smart and caring person and I need you to really try to make it easy for when things change around here.”

I exhale, “Ok. I will try.”

He smiles satisfied and pats my shoulder. “You know Issac I have a good feeling you will do good things around here once I leave.”

Unfortunately for me I came down with the flu the week our new Boss joined the company. A week later I remember running into work 5 minutes late and the moment I stepped onto the floor Mary yanked me aside.

Her eyes were wide, “Issac what are you doing?” She hissed.

“I only got here 5 minutes lat-”

“Boss is going to kill you!” she snapped.

I had never seen Mary like this before and I started to worry, “Mary?” I put a hand on her shoulder “You are starting to freak me out. What do you mean Boss is going to-”

Before I could finish I heard footsteps behind me and I slowly turned around. I looked at him. My new Boss. He looked harmless enough. I glanced over at Mary who had her head down. Was she scared of this guy? He looked far from threatening.

I smiled at him and extended my hand, “I'm Issac! You must be-

I heard Mary sigh behind me. I turned around to look at her when he finally spoke up.

“You little-”

He lashed his words at me for a solid 5 minutes maybe even longer. I stood there stunned at this man's display of anger towards me for being 5 minutes late. I remember feeling this rising tension in my chest the more he yelled. I felt my hands start shaking and I had to clench my finger hard into my hands so he wouldn't see. After he was done yelling I walked silently back to my cubical with eyes on me. I sat there trying to get my breathing back to normal and failing. Mary came to check on me later but I sat there silently.

…

Boss snaps his finger at me snapping me back to the moment, “Issac do you know what time it is”

I watch as he clicks his pen while staring at me.

I glance at the clock up on the wall behind him. My eyes flinch at the sound of the pen clicking.

It's 12:22.

“It's 12:22 sir,” I responded, gripping the ends of the chair.

“You can read a clock. I wish you had told me that sooner,” he chuckles.

I try not to make eye contact with him as the clicks of his pen are getting more intense.

“I have no car- I have to walk to work each day sir,” I'm playing with my hands while looking down like I am a child in trouble.

He stops clicking his pen and sits up “Likely an excuse, but I have no time to deal with that. Since you decided to be late you missed the little news I gave to your colleagues.

He continued, “We are down 80% of our sales.”

I feel the color drain from my face. 80%? I mean I knew we weren't doing too hot but I never expected it to be that low. This is bad. Really. Really bad.

“Not you. Not Anthony. No one. In this building, you can make anything. Worth my time!” He stands up and slams his hands down hard onto the desk.

I jerk back, almost falling out of my seat. I glance down and I see a crack from the impact in the wood of his desk.

“We were once on top! Once. With people lining down the street for hours. All in a starvation for us. All the other companies ran on jealousy from us but now? I am cursed with the dead weight that is my employees.” He screams

He leans in and shakes his finger at me, “I am giving you and your little team 2 weeks. That's 2 weeks to come up with an idea worth my time. And if you can't do that.”

He looks at me with a daunting stare,

“You are all fired.”

I look at him horrified but before I can say anything he screams and curses at me some more. I have to sit there as still as possible to show him I can take all his yelling. He screams at me to get out and I leave his office in desperation from the suffocating air in there.

I shut the door behind me and heave a sigh of relief that I am out of there but in the meantime, I am dealing with a thousand thoughts racing through my head. I look up to see a few of my coworkers glancing at me. I see how tired they all look and my heart aches for them. I walk over to them trying to straighten myself out again.

“So I'm guessing you got the talking to as well,” Mary says looking at me with pity.

Anthony grumbles something under his breath.

“What did you say? Wanna share what you said to the class?”Tim teased as he elbowed Anthony.

“Do that again and see what happens!”Anthony snapped, pulling away from Tim who smirks.

“Listen, we are all stressed out. The best thing we can do is to work-”

Anthony cuts Mary off “Work together? Well, news flash we tried that, and look where it got us. All on the chopping block. Look at us!”He throws his hands up in the air.

“I am constantly being dragged down because of you all. I am done. I hope you all are gone by tomorrow” he scolds as he storms off.

“Anthony!” Mary calls after him.

“Shut your stupid mouth, Mary!” He hisses.

Mary whips around, tears forming in her eyes.

I put a hand on Mary's shoulder and she looked at me as she wiped a tear from her face.

“Listen, I'll talk to Anthony. Whether we like it or not he is right. None of us have gotten as close to success as he has. But we need him.”

Tim rolls his eyes, “I do not want to work with that a-”

I hold my hand up, “Let me try,” I say.

“Thanks, Issac, you know you probably have the most optimism out of all of us,” Mary says sniffling.

I fake laugh and smile as I walk away, when I turn around my smile drops instantly and I feel like I'm about to collapse from exhaustion. Mary. Anthony. Tim. We used to all be a family. We used to all get along and we would hang out all the time together the minute we all got off work. Our old Boss would even join us. Those were some of the most fond memories I have of being here. But then it all went away. Like a photograph frozen, our time of happiness was destroyed. After Boss took over the company Mary barely spoke a word, Anthony stopped incorporating with us and Tim just looked for trouble. How are we supposed to become united again like we once were in 2 weeks? 2 weeks won't build the trust we lost, and 2 weeks won't build a plan that's going to be good enough! The more I think about it the more my eyes start to strain and there is a heavy weight looming in my chest but I try to push past it. Now is not the time to be caught up in my head. I have to talk to Anthony if any of us have a chance of staying.

I walked around the office seeing if I could find where Anthony ran off to. I check his office and find no one. I check the break room, and the drawing board room but still nothing. I am about to give up when I see a closed conference room with the light on. The rooms are all frosted so I can't see who is inside but I decide to test my luck by knocking.

“Anthony? Are you in there?” I say and hear no response

“Come on Anthony let me in. I can help-”

The door swings open and Anthony is staring coldly at me.

“Uh-” I shift my weight.

He folds his arms and leans against the door frame, “Are you going to talk down to me like being a team player or some sloppy boring stuff as Mary does?”

I was going to do exactly that. Well, there goes that plan.

“I get it. I do want to stay just as much as you. Maybe even more. But we can’t get anywhere with you always storming off.”

He stands up straight and for a moment I thought maybe he would say something. Then he proceeds to slam the door in my face. I act quickly and try to catch the door with my arm but the force of the door shutting immediately sends a sharp pain up my arm.

“OH S-” I stop myself and clench my teeth. I need to say something to him before he decides to take my whole arm with the door.

“Come on Anthony! You have always had the best ideas! You are so talented and I just need-”

“Oh cut that out I know what you're doing.” He says widening the door.

I give him a weak smile as I rub my arm. “So. Is it working?”

He sighs. “I can’t believe this.”

He opens the door all the way and I run inside before he can change his mind but my quick movements just make me faceplant on the floor.

“Just sit there,” he points to a chair next to the table.

“And if you make a sound I'll kill you.” He says turning and picking up a folder.
I lift myself off the ground and sit in the chair. I am just staring at him before he whips around and I look away.

“So…Do you have any ideas?”

“I don't even know.” He says as he throws a bunch of blueprints up in the air.

I watch as they all fall to the ground, one landing at my feet. I picked it up. It's a blueprint for a new model camera for a phone.
“Hey, this one seems promising!”I say, jumping up.

“Did you do this one?” I exclaim.

He sighs, “Yes I did and it didn't even make it past the first stage of development.” He purses his lips.

“Oh,” I murmured.

I look down at it. It has all properties carefully calculated to perfection. If Anthony's plans can’t even make it, what could? I feel a wave of dread come over me and I slump into the chair. My head is pounding and that oh-so-familiar weight is in my chest again.

I put my face into my hands, “What's going to happen to us.”

I laugh, “I-I don't know what I'm going to do”

Anthony looks over at me and for a moment I can see his eyes drop. I almost see a glimpse of his old self. He takes a breath and straightens himself up.

“I have-” He hesitates. “A sort of solution but it's a last resort solution.”

“Well, we are already on our last resort,” I say gesturing to the blueprints on the ground.

“Well-” he begins before I cut him off.

“Anthony we are all hanging on by a thread. Any answer has to be the right choice.” I insist.

He looks at me carefully as he leans back against the table tapping his foot.

He walked over to the window and looked out.

“When you look outside, what do you see,” he asks.

I look at him confused. I walk over to the window and look down at the city below us. I see people out for lunch, people driving by, and I can sort of see the park where people are having picnics and walking dogs.

“Uh, I see people?”

“No! You-” He puts his face in his hands and mumbles something.

“What are all those people holding?” He says impatiently.

I look down in a frenzy at the people again and notice something different. People are on their phones. Phones of all different companies, some of them even being from ours. People were taking pictures. People take selfies with each other, making videos of the world around them.

“I see cameras everywhere,” I say.

“Cameras. People want cameras that show the quality of their lives. They want to post them but they have to use the best cameras.” He says.

“Well, then they should use their eyes,” I joke.

He snaps his finger, “Exactly. We need to go from the source of all cameras. The eyes are what capture everything. So I was thinking-” he trails off.

“ What are you suggesting?”

“That we have to study. Our own eyes. That is the only way we can replicate and use them to create a model of a camera unlike any other. One is so good that it looks like you captured it from your own eyes.” he explains.

“How would- we even do that?”

“There is only one way. We have to research ourselves. Well, that might mean” He pauses as he struggles to speak.

“The way I am looking at it for this plan to even work. Is that it might mean that someone would lose their eyesight in the process,” he says looking at me.

“You mean like we use our eyes for a model. An experiment.” I say.

“Yes, but I'm not even sure it would even-”

His voice is trailing off.

What is he on about? Is he crazy? I wish I knew what was going on in that thick head of his. An experiment? We are a technology company, not a let's experiment on people's eyes so we don't get fired.

No. He's right though. I know he is. But what he wants is for someone. To make a sacrifice. What if. What if I did it? No. No, that's crazy. That's crazy, isn't it? My eyes? My way of seeing the world. For what? A job? No. No. No.

I'm so-

Tired.

So tired of the yelling, the friendships I lost. I'm tired. There is no other option. No one else will be willing to do it. I can't think. I can't think straight.

Maybe-

This is what Boss meant for me to do when he left. Those last words he gave me before everything changed. I don't want to let him down now. I don’t want to let it go. Anyone down.

Maybe. Just maybe.

“I’ll do it,” I say blurting as I freeze.

He looks at me stunned.

He walks towards me, “Issac I didn't mean you would have to- I just assume we could maybe find someone-”

“In 2 weeks you're going to find someone else wanting to have their eyesight ripped away from them-” I stagger.

A shiver runs down my spine,“ But you are a smart man Anthony. If you think you can-”

I take a big breath, “If you can use my eyes to not let us all get fired then so be it.”

He paces, “That's ridiculous, I'm not doing that to you, Issac. I can just do research from books instead or-”

“Anthony. I'm giving you one chance. One choice that could save us all. Take it or leave it.”

“Issac even if I did there's no way saying that it would even work, and even so it's probably all sorts of illegal to do such a thing.”

“Look around you Anthony. All these people are cheating, all going behind each other's backs just to get a chance. A chance at survival. So it's up to you now.”

Anthony huffs, “Issac it's only an idea. An idea I just blurted out. And why would you do it? Of all people.”

I cross my arms, “I do not need to tell you that.”

We stand there in silence for what seems like forever. I glance up at the clock, “It's almost time to leave. So what is it going to be?”

He studies me until he finally says “Fine. But if this doesn't work you can’t pin the blame on me if things go wrong. You were willing to do this on your terms.”

I turn to leave and put my hand on the handle of the door. I glance back at him. “Meet me here after dark. We can get started then”.

I don't wait for his response as I close the door behind me. I can hear my heart racing in my ears, my hands shaking and sweating all at the same time. I rush to get out of there as fast as I can ignoring everyone's voices of concern. I push past them and go into the elevator. When the doors close I collapse on the floor. My breathing is out of control and I'm shaking like a leaf. My vision is blurring while I'm trying to make myself calm down but I am panicking even more.

As I am trying to grasp the weight of all of this I feel a tear fall down my cheek and land on the floor. My tears. The last time I may cry. I look up and see the light of the elevator.

Such.

a beautiful light.

…

I make my way to the basement of the building. Everything looks frozen in time on the floor. Papers left computers wiring. The place looks haunted. I knock on the basement door and Anthony lets me in and gestures to the corner of the room where he has set things up.

I sit down in the chair he has for me, “What exactly is the plan?”

He sets up computers around us and lays out different blueprints.“We try to do the best we can with research and observations for now.” I watch him put on some rubber gloves, “I'm just going to run a few tests. But. Again you do realize that-”

“Yes, I know I can lose my eyesight!” I say bitterly.

“...I still don't understand why you're letting me even try to do this!” he says, facing me.

I glare at him, “Can we just get started before I decide to take your eyes instead?”

He shifts his weight and walks over to the computers, “...Fine.”

He pulls up a chair next to me and begins typing on a document, “Hey uh if this makes you feel any better I did a little bit of reading on how to run these tests-”

“Yeah, that doesn't really make me feel any better,” I say.

“Fair enough.”

“Can you see ok?”
I take a deep breath, “Yup”

“Ok. Let's begin. I just need to see a little how your eyes are structured. The answer is here. I just know it.” I hear the slightest amount of hope in his voice that almost reassures me.

“Do you think anyone will find us here?” I ask.

“Let's hope no one finds us down here. And.. try to keep still.”

He works for a little over an hour before he takes a break. “Ok well, that didn't work. I’m going to try something else now are you still doing ok?” he says as he wipes sweat from his forehead.

“Yes-I’m fine.” I lied.

I'm starting to get tired. My eyes hurt. We've tried everything but Anthony is starting to get more tired and stressed as he scribbles things down beside me. I try to focus as much as I can on the overhead light to distract myself from the pain.

Anthony takes a breath, “Issac. I want to know. Why did you want to do this?”

I lean back in the chair, “I don’t really feel like talking right now Anthony.”

“Issac I can clearly see you're in pain there's no way you aren't doing this without a reason.” Anthony protests.

He's not going to give this up.“It was something that our old Boss said to me.”

Anthony looks at me confused, “Our old Boss?”

“You know- Dylan?” I say.

His eyes lit up, “Oh Dylan. What did he say to you?”

“He just-” I trailed off.

He just believed in me.

I run my fingers through my hair, “He just told me something that I need to follow through on.”

“I see,” Anthony says.

I look up at him, “You asked me a question now I get to ask you a question.”

“Thats not-” he began before I cut him off.

“Why did you completely ignore all of us the minute Boss joined the company.”

Anthony looks at me and opens his mouth as if he's about to say something but then sighs.

“ I didn't ignore you guys.”

“You most certainly did. You acted like you never knew us. You turned into this giant-”

He huffs, “I was getting the bulk of Bosses torment. You all had it easy.”

“Define easy. Easy as in oh I don't know late hours, assignments on assignments the yelling the-”

His voice goes up, “I had even more on top of that! I didn't have a choice!”

I glare at him, “You had a choice. You had a choice to at least treat us like decent human beings. I used to consider you one of my closest friends.”

His head jerks back and he stares at the ceiling.“I-. I don't know. How to change the past. I can't go back. That doesn't mean I would change anything I did for your sake. But I can't go back and change anything. What I can do is this. This moment right now. This moment that I maybe won't screw up. That I might do something right this time. ”

We sit in silence for a few moments before I speak up, “What are we going to do now?”

He pauses and walks over to the computers studying them. He sighs, “Issac- I'm going to try one final thing ok?”

I nod.

He grabs some wires and tapes them around my eyes. He grabs something from the table next to me, leans over me, and puts some substance in my eye and suddenly my eyes are burning. I cry out and jolt up and clasp my hands over my eyes.

“Uh hey. Anthony! What exactly did you do!?!

I hear the shuffling of paper and objects.

He doesn't answer. I want to ask him again but the pain is making me unable to move. Suddenly I hear a gasp and then, I feel arms wrapped around me.

“Issac! We did it! I- I did it! It's perfect! Oh my gosh, we- actually did it! The image! It's! It's crystal clear! Look!”

I remove my hands from my eyes.

…

“Ant-”

“Anthon-”

…

“Anthony.”

“ I can't-”

“ see.”

…

“The time is 12:20.” my phone says.

I'm going to be late again.

I scramble to get my things together and hear the clack of my keys falling to the floor. I grumble and pat around on the floor until I find them.

I hear a knock on the door and I fumble around with the knob until it finally opens.

“Issac. We are going to be-”

I cut Anthony off, “I know I know. I'm trying.”

I hear him take a raspy breath, “So how do you want me to? You know. Help you?”

I tug on my bandages “Can you just make sure I get to work in one piece and not walk me into oncoming traffic?”

“I suppose I can do that,” Anthony says, helping me out of my apartment.

I'm trying to get used to it but I have to admit it's hard.

We start walking and I feel my cane smack against something.

“Ow,” Anthony says.

“Sorry.”

“I mean you can't really- You know help it. Just try to focus. We are about to leave your apartment building.”

I focus on the carpet underneath my feet turning into the hard concrete of the busy streets. I hear cars honking their horns, conversations overlapping conversations, it's all really overwhelming.

“Are you doing ok?” Anthony asks.

I nod.

We come to a stop and I feel Anthony lean over and hear the pressing of a button. We must be at a crosswalk. I try to step back a few steps and I run into something behind me.

“Ugh. Hey! Watch where you are-” I hear a voice say.

“Sorry!” I say spinning around panicking.

“Oh! No, I'm sorry! I didn't-” I feel a hand on my shoulder and I flinch away.

“Issac it's just me,” Anthony whispers.

“Sorry ma'am he's a little new to all this,” Anthony explains.

“No, I'm sorry I didn't realize he was. Well, you know.” The voice says.

“Right,” Anthony says.

“Let's get moving,” he murmurs to me, nudging me to move forward.

I never realized how vulnerable this would make me. To the world. Will I ever be able to walk down a street without someone's help? Will I even be able to look after myself again?

Anthony's voice interrupts my train of thought, “We are almost there. But I want to talk to you about something first.”

“What is it?”

“Well, I had to come up with a cover story. Something to tell the others so they don't get suspicious. Something that made sense why you were gone for such a long time.”

“Well, what did you say to them?”

“I said that you were in a car crash. It was the only thing that made sense to me.”

“That's a pretty good cover story.”
“Well, I tried. Just try to branch off that if anyone asks about it.”

“Issac!” I hear Mary call off in the distance.

I smile, “Hey, Mary!”

I hear footsteps come towards us, “Hey Issac, and Anthony. How are you doing? How are you feeling, how are you adjusting-”

My head was spinning trying to process all that she just said.
She laughed softly, “Sorry I just. We were all really worried about you. I mean after what Anthony told us about the accident- We didn't know if you were ok or not.”

I chuckle, “Well I'm glad to be back.”

“Anthony nudges me, “Issac. I have to go to a meeting so I'm going to head up now. Marry, do you mind helping Issac up to the floor?”

Mary wraps her arm around mine,“Yes I can do that see you later Anthony!”

I hear Anthony walk away and Mary starts to help me to the elevator. I'm fumbling around a lot more even though I'm trying as hard as I can to walk in a straight line.

She hit the button to the elevator and helped me inside. I flinch at the sudden jerking of the elevator going up.

Mary sucks in her breath, “Sorry I should have warned you”

“It's ok Mary,” I say reassuring her.

I hear her shifting around, “So what is it? Like? Is that rude? That's rude of me you do not have to tell-”

“No, it's ok really. You're actually the first person to ask me that.”

I reach up and touch the bandages and flinch from the sharp pain.

“Is-”

“Iss-”

“Issa”

“Issac”

“Issac!”

I'm drifting in and out of consciousness. My eyes. They hurt so-

“Issac, are you ok? What do you mean you can't-” Anthony stammers.

My throat is closed and my whole body is frozen in shock.

I feel a woosh of air over my eyes followed by Anthony gasping.

“Shi-”

“Issac! I- I don't know what to do!” his voice gasps.

I feel my body start twitching uncontrollably, My voice cracks,” Just. Just make the pain go away-”

“Issac! Come on man,” I feel him shaking my arm trying to keep me awake.

“ I promise I’ll think so something-”

Thats the last thing I remember hearing before I passed out.

I felt a lump in my throat as that memory washed over me. I take a deep breath to calm myself.

I cleared my throat, “It hurts a little but what hurts the most is the fact that I've never been this vulnerable before. But I know one thing for sure.”

“What is it?”

I don't want her to worry about me, “I'm really thankful. I'm thankful for Anthony helping me, and I'm thankful for you and I'm excited to see everyone again. Well, I guess not to see them but you know what I mean.”

Mary pats my back, “You really are a good person Issac.”

A good person. I smile. I was willing to make that sacrifice. That makes me a good person. Whether they know exactly what I sacrificed or not it was me who was willing to do it. Mary's words are what is starting to make it worth it. Even though it hurt, it would have hurt even more if I had to see my friends be subjected to the unknown future.

“So how are things now? You know, on the floor.” I ask.

“Well, our sales are higher than ever! Anthony told us that you had helped him with it before your accident. He has been working tirelessly to refine and perfect it.”

I smile to myself.

The elevator dings and I hear the metal doors slide open. The others greet me and I laugh and talk with them and I feel safe with them.

“Ahem.”

Everyone stops talking and I freeze. What was that?

“Issac.” Boss says.

I stiffen.

I feel him clasp his hand on my shoulder. “Good work son! Here let me help you!”

Boss pulls me away from the group and guides me to what I assume is my cubicle. I walk inside and fumble around to find my desk. I slowly sit down in my chair. My throat feels tight, I don't like not being able to see him.

“A little bird told me that you aren’t as useless as I thought you were.”

I suck in my breath.

“Well, I am pleased with you. A revolutionary camera!”

He claps his hands, “Now why don't you put your talent to use?

I hear something thud on my desk. I pat around only my desk until I feel what I think is a stack of paper.

“What is this?” I ask.

“This is your next assignment. What did you think you were done? Nope, the world moves on. We have finally perfected the camera but there is more to technology than just cameras. You will complete this new assignment by next week. On top of that, I want you to collaborate with Anthony again, this time I want to see some new hearing technology.”

I didn't even know where to start. I had just got back! He wants me to do all this on top of trying to figure out how to deal with being-

I plead, “Sir. I can't see. How do I even-”

I hear him tap my desk, “Issac. You will figure it out. Just how you figured out the camera. I believe in you. Let me know your status at the end of the day.”

“Truly though Issac. Truly your camera idea was brilliant. If only.” He chuckles

“You could see it.”

© 2024 Lola J

Author's Note

This is the updated version of the story longer and better than ever but be warned of any grammar problems that are hiding. Feel to provide any feedback :)
Like the story? Well, I am planning on expanding this little world so look forward to more updates to come!