Dear Prudence

Training and Quality Office, 37th floor. Dim lights.

What's going on?

"Mermaid, I thought you resigned!"

"I did. I'm back. Pretty cool, huh?"

"But I thought I resigned as well! For good! Forever!"

"You must've been dreaming!"

It's too good to be true. Jill, Lovey, Jojo, Doods, Ariel, Me. Just us in our favorite room. We're all pooped from training and all talking quietly and laughing quietly and just taking advantage of each other's company before our Quality cousins come in and just burst with shrill chatter after the whole shift of just listening to all those boring calls.

I want to tell Jill, Lovey, Jojo, Doods and Ariel, "I really, really love you, you know?"

What's gonna happen if they find out I really resigned? Will I be escorted out of the building like the people who stole from company money?

All my passwords still work. My work station hasn't been touched. My headset is right here. I've never worn my ID but look, I'm wearing it now! Outside is... darkness. It's... night! I guess it's true. I'm back.

I should just keep printing these manuals before my passwords expire or before someone detects my presence and I'm called an impostor but, oh no, shit!

"Shit!"

"What?"

"The printer's not printing!"

"You'll have to print outside."

"Noooo!"

"It's simple! You can select the printer you want to print with, you know?"

"I know that! I'm not completely inane! I just don't want to step out to the colony! Please just let me stay in here! I don't want to leave! You might not be here when I get back! Please! I'm afraid! Things just change a lot around here and I don't want to lose you. And in my dreams I'm not going to be with you for long! Please!"

"Camille, we swear, we're not leaving this room."

So I go. Click, click, click, my shoes would say except that the floors are carpeted. So with my chin up I glide.

The colony is bigger than I remember. It stretches on and on. I hear the familiar drone of voices. I feel sick. But I carry on walking until I reach the printer and wait for my stuff to come out. Pages and pages of the training manual.

I'm so afraid. I wish it would finish printing already. All these people I love. Will I lose them? What will happen when I leave this place? Will we find a way to keep in touch and be friends? I'm scared!

To keep myself brave, I sing, "Dear Prudence, won't you come out to play? Dear Prudence, such a lovely day. The sun is up, the sky is blue. It's beautiful and so are you."

Eventually, a heavy drowsiness overtakes me and I fall asleep.