For this week, I opted for two half days. Sitting for long periods makes my leg stiff. Thankfully, I have a desk that can go from sitting to standing, but standing isn’t great either.
Now that I’m here, I’m having a lot of anxiety. What if I forgot how to do my job? What if my chair is too uncomfortable? What if my boss is an asshole again now that I’m back?
Chewing the inside of my lip, I continue to stare up. I know which floor is ours without looking. There’s a rainbow flag in the window. It always makes me smile when I see it. Right now is no different.
“Huntley?”
I shift slightly to look at the person who said my name. Kylie, Ross, and Marnie are walking toward me. As soon as I facethem, smiles split their faces, and Kylie is running toward me. Thankfully, she doesn’t collide with me. As unbalanced as I am with a crutch taking much of my weight, I’d have toppled over.
Her arms wrap around me, and she squeezes me tightly. “Oh my god, we were so worried. No one would tell us a thing! You just vanished.”
“I was shot,” I say, and she steps backward. Three gasps meet my explanation. “Admittedly, I didn’t call in for almost a week. I was a little loopy and didn’t think about it.”
“Shot?”
“From the gang violence?”
“Where?”
“How are you still walking?”
I laugh at their million questions and raise my hand to stop them. “I don’t know if it was a gang, but yes, from the hate violence. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time when they were driving down my street.”
“They didn’t catch those people!” Marnie says, placing a hand over her mouth. Her eyes are wide as saucers.
“I know. No one thinks I was a target. I was a happenstance. That means I should be safe enough.”
“You’re so brave,” Kylie says.
“Or stupid,” Ross mutters.
I look back at the building. “How has work been?”
“Nick was fuming for a while that you were out, and then got extra mad one day. The very next day…” Marnie’s voice trails off. She shakes her head.
“Wait till you see him, man,” Ross says. “Come on.” He grips my elbow gently and helps guide me inside. It’s a series of holding doors and waiting for the elevator, flashing our badges, and stopping when someone recognizes me to answer where I’ve been.
I’m not sure what people are expecting, but that I was shot as a victim of hate isn’t it. I suppose, like so many things, being the victim of a hate crime is firmly listed under everyone’s ‘that’ll never happen to anyone I know or me’ thoughts. The absolute mortification is almost comical when I prove them wrong.
My wound is healed enough that there’s only a soft bandage over it, and it’s only there so the fabric of my pant leg doesn’t rub it uncomfortably. I brought pictures on my phone, though. A whole slew of them. Bob in reception didn’t believe me until I showed him the pictures. I offered to drop my pants for him to show him my wound if he wanted to continue being an idiot.
My floor is quiet. I’m early because I’m always early. Today, being early wasn’t so much a habit as it was me wanting to get settled without everyone’s eyes on me.
Our desk huddles are set up in groups of four. Ross, Kylie, and Marnie are my huddle buddies. We share workloads and companies. The four of us have been working together for almost a year now.
I sit in my chair and take a breath. That’s the most I’ve walked in ages. I could seriously use a nap. Already I’m glancing at the clock on my phone to count down how long it’ll be before I can go home.
Four hours. I still have four hours!
Would it be so bad to be a kept man? Oxleydidoffer to take care of me.
It isn’t long before more coworkers begin trickling in. Each one of them stops to talk to me. I’m actually surprised they don’t know why I’ve been absent. I get that HR is confidential, but I never for a minute took Nick as the type of person not to share what he knew.
When Nick comes in and I meet his eyes, I literally see the color drain from his face. It’s… weird as fuck. He doesn’t approach me right away. In fact, an hour goes by before he comes toward me. His hesitance is weird as fuck.
“Welcome back, Huntley,” Nick says.
I smile. “Thank you.”
