LJ Idol Week 13: Open Topic

This wasn't what I originally planned on doing as a career when I was a child. I had all the normal dreams....fireman....astronaut....policeman. Somewhere things changed, as they often do. Little girls weren't supposed to be those things. That's how I found myself standing in front of Armageddon Entertainment that day. A nondescript building that also houses an insurance agency and a Mom and Pop bookstore. You really have to be looking for it to be able to find it.

~*~

For LA it was an odd day. It had been raining hard for 3 days and the skies, while currently dry, threatened to open up again. Rumor had it there was a large boat being built near Mann's Chinese theater. I had just lost my job as one of the writers for "The Way We Were", that soap opera on channel 6. I thought I was doing a good job. But I guess the producers didn't see it the same way.

I helped them win six daytime Emmys. Ungrateful wretches. And now, here I am, jobless. All because of a little typo. I didn't mean to miswrite the star's name in for the latest murder victim. I was just a little angry with him for coming on to me in the coffee room that morning. Well, maybe coming on isn't the right term, since I had to dislocate one of his fingers to remove his hand from my.......well.....someone should have been proofreading the scripts anyway.

Hindsight is 20/20. If I knew I was going to be canned I would have broken his arm. That's what lead me here today, that and the crummy Temp agency I signed up with. Six interviews I'd been on and none of them what I needed. My job counselor swore this one was right up my alley. I stepped inside the door and found myself in a very dark lobby. Great, I thought, they're closed.

"May I help you?"

Shit! I dropped my briefcase when the voice called out from a dark corner. Scared the living daylights out of me. I could barely make out a desk and behind it the voice, the secretary.

"I have an 11 o'clock appointment with Mr. Smith" I said, picking up my briefcase and walking to the desk. "I'm Ms. Thompson"

"Yes, Mr. Smith will be with you shortly. Would you please fill out this paperwork and have a seat over there." She gestured with a clipboard to some chairs on the far side of the lobby. I took the clipboard and as my eyes adjusted began to fill it out. Basic questions on any application. Name, Birthday, Address.....hmmmm, this is odd. Religion. Do you have any religious beliefs that would prevent you from performing your job? For a writing job? I finished the papers as best I could and leaned back on the hard chair to wait. I didn't have to wait long.

The secretary looked up at me and said "He'll see you now, last door on the right." Odd, she didn't call to tell him I was here, much less tell him I was done with the paperwork. She points to a door behind her desk. I walk in and slip down the hall. Along the walls are pictures of movies. Some I know, some I don't. I had to raise an eyebrow at the picture next to the door I was to enter. Some artist's rendition of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Cheery.

I lift my hand to knock when I hear the order to enter. With a shrug, I set my shoulders back and swing the door open. My eyes are shocked by light. The big bay windows let in the gray light that, when compared to the darkness of the hall and lobby is blinding. With watering eyes I blink several times to adjust my sight.

"Come in and have a seat." The man behind the desk tells me. I have to assume this is the mysterious Mr. Smith. I take up a perch on the chair in front of his desk. "Is that your paperwork?", gesturing to the clipboard I had grasped in my hand.

"Oh, yes, it is" I passed him the papers and began to look around the office. For all the dark dreariness of the lobby, his office was very homey. The walls were warm and golden. There were plants in planters, on the bookshelves and near the windows. In the corner, next to a fax machine was a fountain. The water tumbled over the smooth stones. It would be relaxing any other day.

"You didn't finish filling this out." His voice jarred me back to reality.
" You didn't fill out the religion and belief questions."

"I didn't know exactly how to fill those out Sir." I figured honesty was the best policy here. This whole experience was unsettling to me. "This was the first time I have ever had questions like those on a job application."

"It isn't that hard to figure out Ms. Thompson, but I'll be patient with you. What we want to know is, do you have any religious beliefs or theories of faith that would prevent you from doing the job we set you to?", His voice had the tone one might use when explaining something to a child.

I hate that.

"Umm, No Mr. Smith, I can't say that I do. I have been out of organized religion for a long time now. And I can't think of any beliefs that would prevent me from doing my job."

He smiled. Somehow I was not comforted by that smile, but I returned it.

"This is good.", he looked over my application one last time., "We'll need to set up appointments for your fittings Emily. You don't mind if I call you Emily, do you? We'll be getting to know each other much better in the days to come. You'll start next week. Just sign this contract stating that until you are terminated, you'll work for Armageddon Entertainment Enterprises exclusively, foregoing any other employment."

First name basis already. Fittings? Pen in hand I bent over the contract and began to sign. My hand tingled slightly and I knew I had to ask, "Pardon me for asking Mr. Smith, but what exactly am I being hired for?"

He took the papers away from me and smiled. This time I didn't smile back. "Welcome to the Armageddon family Emily. You are going to be our new Death. You may call me Pestilence."

With a flash of light and a clap of thunder, the skies opened up again.

"By the way Emily, do you know how to ride a horse?"

Someone in the Temp agency was going to answer for this one.

~*~

(This is a WIP ~ Sorcha)