Madi
Mascara streaked down my face as I sat down in front of my laptop. My eyes were bloodshot and my cheeks bright red under the foundation I’d just slapped on.
“Pull yourself together, Madi,” I sniffled.
It didn’t help. I attempted to drag air in through my nostrils and then winced as I made a sound closer to a dying lawnmower than a human.
“Come on,” I whispered. “Fuck.”
I snatched a tissue from the blue box on my desk and blotted it under my eyes. Everything was going to be fine. It was going to be great. This was the big meeting I’d been waiting for, I just needed to plaster on a big smile and focus on the positive instead of the fact that I’d wasted eight years of my life on someone who never loved me.
Like I said, it was going to be great.
The all too familiar ache lanced through my chest as I tilted my head back.Pull it together, Madi.I closed my eyes and visualized my future. The one where I was the art director at Dream Ink, I had enough money for bills and for fun, and I washappy. It’s right within my grasp, too. I just needed to stop crying and get through this meeting.
Exhaling slowly, I held onto that seed of hope. I focused on the camera and the virtual waiting room. My pulse skyrocketed as the screen flashed.
My boss appeared in one box, and then a second popped up. Melanie in HR. That made sense, right? For a promotion.
Working at Dream Ink had been my goal since I was eleven years old. They’d animated the movie that completely changed my life and had ignited the sort of dream everyone warned you about.
The dream to be an artist.
And I’d done it. I was an animator with a full-time job at a huge studio, making it in LA, and I’d been doingeverythingI could to show them I could handle a bigger role. Taking on extra tasks, working overtime, ensuring that all of my deliverables were perfectly executed.
“Hey Madison,” Tom said.
A warning bell went off at his perfectly neutral tone. He wasn’t his normal chipper self. Did I do something wrong?
“Hey, Tom,” I said. “Melanie. Good morning.”
“Good morning,” Melanie chimed.
Itwouldbe good soon. I wrenched my hands together under my desk.
“Right.” Tom’s brows furrowed together. “Well, let’s get started. So, Madison, I just want to start off by saying that we’ve valued you here at Dream Ink the last few years. You have been such a strong team member. You’re talented and wonderful to work with. I’ve truly enjoyed having you on our team.”
Some of the tension eased out of my shoulders. I’d been waiting for this. Waiting for?—
“That’s why it pains me to inform you we have to let you go. Dream Ink is having to rationalize the . . .”
The oxygen sucked out of the room. My ears started to ring as Tom kept blabbering, but I couldn’t hear a single word he said.
“. . . We’ve valued you as an animator on our team,but. . .”
Everything was clammy, too hot, too close. The texture of my clothes felt wrong. The weight of my favorite cardigan I always wore while working was simply too much.
It was alltoo much.
My heart sank. “You’re firing me?” I blurted out.
Tom paused, his expression softening. Melanie immediately jumped in.
“Unfortunately, Dream Ink is having to let you go, yes, that’s correct.” The perfectly practiced compassion in her voice made my skin crawl.
All the years scraping by at school. All the years spent pushing myself to be the best animator. The countless interviews, the constant ass-kissing, the nights I’d eaten cheap ramen just so I could spend money on new makeup so I’d look presentable by LA standards during networking events.
Justin telling me he wanted to break up because I wasmarriedto my job. Justincheating on mewith a woman named Veronica.
