Proluge

Sienta smiled as she stretched languorously on her pink bedspread. Her small pink teddy rode up her thigh. She had worked so hard all week. Friday night was hers to enjoy and there was nothing she enjoyed more than a good night's sleep. Her eyes drooped and she turned on her side, then frowned when she saw her phone screen light up. Then came the unmistakeable PING of an incoming message. She frowned. She thought of not checking the email, but her curiosity won out and she reached for the phone.

Who on earth could be sending her an email at this hour? She opened the message and all the blood drained from her face.

"How can this be happening?" she asked.

Her hands trembled as the words on the screen swam before her eyes. There was a loud pounding in her ears, and tears flooded her eyes. She looked at the email again. Surely if she stared at it long enough it would seem more real. She read the words again as a numbness began to spread throughout her body.

"Hi Sienta, your contract has been terminated effective immediately. Nathan."

Eventually as the shock began to wear off, Sienta felt her anger begin to build. How dare that man do this to her! She turned to the one man who had never disappointed her in her life. She knew it was late but he always up late, so she took a chance and dialled his number with shaking fingers.

He answered on the second ring. As soon as she heard his deep, slow voice she erupted in a tear-filled tirade.

"Daddy! I just can't understand for three years I have worked hard building this place from rags to riches. I was right beside him all the way in the good times and the bad. I stayed back late, we shared coffee, laughs, tears, and even the occasional hug, I came in on the weekends just to make sure things were ready for the conventions and just like that like a thief in the night I am out, terminated. I feel like a criminal."

"What has happened to daddy's little baby?"

"I have no idea. I got an excellent appraisal from him two days ago and we left each other on very good terms. Then tonight when I was about to pack up my desk in order to go off on my much-deserved vacation leave, I received this hateful mail from him. I thought we were more than just co-workers or friends, I mean we really connected in the five years, but things took a turn for the worst when he came back from a trip to Spain."

"Spain?"

"Yes, daddy he is from Spain and I swore we had a chance."

"There is something you are not telling me baby."

"Daddy! I did all the right things. In his absence I acted on his behalf and the only thing I can recall doing was to refuse to reimburse the chairman for plane tickets for his mistress."

"Well baby girl welcome to the real world, it's an old boys' club and that is what you get for playing by the rules."

"What am I going to do daddy? You are right I am not telling you everything. He was much more than a friend… I thought he loved me! I have a mortgage to pay and we were supposed to be getting married in a few months!"

She gripped the sheets and twisted it as she spoke. She could see all her dreams turning to dust.

"What else can you do baby? Come home."