4: Overtime Nightmare

I turned my attention to the entrance of the office and saw a dark looming figure enter the doorway. I squinted and tried my best to get a clearer view of the man but he already spotted me before I even realized who he was. A creepy and unsettling smile appeared on his face when his eyes landed on me and that's when it hit me. The two of us are alone, not only on my floor but probably the whole building.

"You're still here, Cathy." his deep raspy yet chilling voice said, making all the hairs at the back of my neck stood up. A sudden nervousness washed over me, my heart started ringing in my ears, my legs began to wobble and my palms became all sweaty. I swallowed a bit, trying to muster up enough courage to reply to him, but my throat and my mouth has become as dry as a desert.

"Ah. Lu-Luigi. What are you doing here? I'm about to head down myself." I said stuttering a bit, trying my best to hide the fact that I am creeped out. Instead of answering me, he slowly walked towards me and I unconsciously stepped back away from him, clutching my bag against my fast beating chest.

"Don't act so coy now, Cathy. I know you've been waiting for this too." he said as a statement like he was so sure and confident with everything that is coming out of his mouth.

"W*-what are you even ta-talking about?" I said as I continued to step backward as he gets closer and closer to me.

"I know you want me too, Cathy. You just act all indifferent because you don't want the others to find out, but you don't have to hide your feelings from me anymore, not when we're all alone." he continued his overconfident monologue while I looked around the office trying to look for a way out.

I figured I can outrun him If I get to the stairs. There is a clear path between the cubicles towards the exit. I swallowed the saliva that was building up in my mouth due to nervousness but I flinched as I felt a warm hand suddenly touch my face. I was so focused on looking for a way out that I didn't even notice that Luigi was already so close to me.

"I've been waiting for this for a long time, Cathy. Now you're mine." He said to me as he caressed my cheek with his hand. A shiver ran down my spine as he did so, and I can't help but feel disgusted by how he was looking at me as his hand began moving down from my face.

"Get off me!" I screamed as I push him off of me as hard as I could. He stumbled backward hitting the closest cubicle as I ran towards the exit. I screamed at the top of my lungs as I immediately stopped in my tracks when he suddenly appeared in front of me.

"Come on now Cathy. Don't play hard to get." He said as he stood in front of me with that creepy smile still attached to his face.

"Get lost! I don't like you, Luigi!" I screamed at him. I continued staring at him as his expression drastically changed as those words left my mouth. His creepy, perverted smile was gone and was completely replaced by a murderous look.

"Then why did you smile at me on my first day! Why did you keep hinting that you like me? Were you leading me on?" He said screaming as he ruffled his hair due to frustration.

"Calm down, Luigi. I never did those things to you. I was just trying to be friendly and polite. It wasn't my intention to lead you on or have any misunderstanding." I explained to him as I started to walk backward again.

"Stop! Messing! With! My! Head!" He screamed as he began to charge towards me. I immediately turned my back to him and started running too, but I just can't shake him off. He immediately caught up with me and tackled me to the ground. My back hit the ground together with a lot of knick-knacks from the nearest shelf, including a big glass vase.

I continued screaming, kicking, and trying to wriggle out of his grasp as he hover above me. I was able to crawl out from under him but he got hold of my clothes and started pulling on them. My eyes widened as I heard the fabric of my blouse ripping. Tears began streaming down my face as I tried my best to hold my clothes together but he just pulled harder and harder.

I kicked him as hard as I could and I finally freed myself from his grasp. I started crawling away from him, but I felt defeated as I saw a wall in front of me, it was a dead end. My limbs became numb as I leaned my back on the wall in exhaustion. I held my top in place as I tried to cover myself as best as I can while Luigi, slowly walked towards me, with the creepy smile plastered on his face again.

"Nowhere to go, Cathy!" He said to me as he stood tall in front of me. He squatted down leveling his face to mine and I closed my eyes in defeat. Is this happening to me? Am I going to lose myself to this creep? I wanted to fight, I wanted to scream at him, but it was like my body just shut down. I couldn't do anything but pray that this was all a dream and that I'll wake up soon and this nightmare will be over.

I let out another scream as I felt his hand on my arm and prepared myself for the worse. I felt his breath on my face, but then I felt a gust of wind swoosh across my head followed by a loud crash. I started sobbing as I felt the absence of Luigi on top of me. I clenched onto my clothes as hard as I could as I curled up into a ball at the corner of our office.

"Catherine? Are you okay?" I flinched as I felt a hand on my shoulder, but I recognized the voice right away. Tears started flooding out of my eyes as soon as I opened them. I could see that his mouth was opening, but I couldn't make out the words that he was saying. He placed his hand on both my shoulders and started lifting me, helping me to regain my balance, but as he did so, my vision became blurry and my legs began to crumble from under me, then everything faded to black.

I woke up with a bright light piercing through my closed eyes. I sat up, right away as soon as I remembered the state I was in when I fainted. I immediately groan in pain as I tried to close my right hand. I opened my eyes and saw my hand all bandaged up but blood began seeping onto the bandages. The curtains of my bed suddenly opened up revealing my boss.

"Are you okay Catherine?" He asked as he looked down at my hand and immediately noticed the blood-soaked bandages that were still wrapped around it.

"Nurse. Nurse." He called as he peeked out of the curtain and the nurse came as soon as he called.

"What's the problem sir?" she asked with a bright smile on her face as he made googly eyes at Sir Mitchel.

"She's bleeding." he coldly said to her and she turned to me looking all embarrassed. She placed her clipboard at the cart beside my bed and immediately take a quick look at my bleeding hand.

"I think your stitches opened up. I'll just call our resident to stitch it back up." she said giving me an apologetic smile as she walked away from me and went out of the curtains.

"Are you feeling any..." Sir Mitchel began but was immediately interrupted by the doctor.

"I was informed that you needed to be stitched up again?" he said to me and that's when I realized who he was.

"Caleb?" I exclaimed as soon as I recognized him. His smile widened as he sat down beside my bed taking out the things that he needed from the cart.

"Looks like you still have a knack for getting yourself in trouble, Z." He said as he started unwrapping my bandage.

"For the record, this time, it wasn't my fault." I said to him before yelping at the sudden pressure he gave my open wound.

"Can you be a bit gentle?" I asked as I bit my lower lip to suppress my groans of pain. He just chuckled at me and proceed on cleaning up my wound before getting out the anesthetic.

"Don't be such a baby. This will sting a little." he said then injected me immediately with it. It did sting a bit but a few seconds after my hand began to feel numb.

"So, how exactly did you get injured?" he asked as he began stitching up my wound again.

"There was this..." Sir Mitchel began to say, but I shot him a look, pleading with my life for him to not say anything.

"Just an accident at work. You know how clumsy I can be." I said to him faking a laugh, nervously. He just shook his head in disbelief, thankfully he knows me well enough to believe that I'm clumsy enough to get injured like this.

"There. All done." He finally said as he caressed my now bandaged hand with his.

"Make sure to clean your wound and change your bandages once a day, Also take this antibiotic, three times a day, for seven days. No skipping, Z. I know you." He said to me while giving me a prescription.

"Whatever Leb." I said to him taking the prescription as he stood up from the chair.

"Oh, right. Have you heard about Grayson and..." He was interrupted by the sudden announcement that blasted through the Emergency Room.

"Doc Hernandez to the Operating Room. Doc Hernandez to the Operating Room."

"That's my cue. Take care, Z. See you again sometime." Caleb said, giving me his oh, so famous killer smile before running out of the Emergency Room.

"She can be discharged now." said the nurse earlier.