Fiction - The Blue Torch

I got 'it' as a gift from an acquaintance. She was the hurdle in my workplace. I was lucky enough to be interning in the same department where she was the lead manager. I admired her but my ambition was more than the admiration. I wanted a spot in the company and I wanted it badly.

It was 3 months into my internship. My ebullient self was then gaining popularity. Thus, I was hopeful, certain even that I would be retained after my 6 months internship was done. I had completed my NYSC and I figured that I should do the internship instead of doing nothing at home. I loved the office environment, it was busy, hectic, serious and I loved the pressure that came with meeting deadlines.

That acquaintance, no, at this time, she was only a role model. It was her approval and recommendation that I needed to be retained at the end of the internship. I had become the darling of almost everyone except her, and I was desperate to have her stamp of approval. She was not giving me the time of the day.

Towards the 4th month, I overheard two employees plotting. The idea was to mess with the the accounts which my role model was directly in charge of. She had become too tough and hard on them. They needed her out of the way.

I was stunned for a while. I thought I had escaped the mad chase of politics in the corporate world. Little did I know that I was only getting started. 

The plan was already in motion, to be executed. I was in a state of dilemma, "Should I report these people or not?" An evil thought crept up to my mind, "I should let them go through with it"

I charged in on them, telling them that I overheard their conspiracy. I swore that I would report, and that I had a recording of their plan( although I didn't have any). They pleased and I acquiesced, on the promise that I will climb the ropes easily. In the span of a few minutes, I had become one of them.

The plan was simple. They would distort in numbers in the account to be sent to a client, and cost the credibility of the company. Someone will have to take the fall for the mishap and they preferred that my role model take the fall.

Unsurprisingly, the plan went through and my role model took the fall for that. She was sacked after the mistakes, as the stakeholders felt that the error was too obvious to be passed on just like that. It was the day her termination was announced that I realised the gravity of my actions.

Maybe my heart had gone so evil to care and I strolled past her office to be sure that she is done. I met her packing up her office and asked for permission to enter.

She looked up to me and said, "Be careful, you are too likeable for your own good." She told me that she had been friendly with all before being given the responsibility of leading them, thus she had to be tough to get things done.

I saw the blue torch on her desk. It was a LED revolvable torch. I kept staring at it and she said that I should take it. She spent the whole of yesternight with the torch, looking through the records to know where she went wrong. A costly mistake on her part. She said that I should take it in remembrance of her.

I asked why she was suddenly speaking to me after months of rebuttal. She said that she was just observing and trying not to be too familiar with me, as with other interns so that she wouldn't have a favourite when it comes to retaining one. 

She was assessing all fo the interns and saw that I fit in nicely in her department. Unfortunately, she will not be able to employ me as she has been deposed.

As she said that, she packed the last folder in a trunk, gave me a sardonic smile and bade me farewell. I dropped on the floor, shook my head and cursed myself for my horrible action.

It is a week to the end of my internship, and I have gotten my letter of appointment to stay with the company. As for my conspirators and I, we might be discovered one day but I am currently working on covering my back and holding on to that blue torch with me so that I will not forget my injustice to a fellow human being.