That night, I was in my worst mood since the beginning of the year. My beautifully made-up face was squeezed up in anger and disappointment as I walked down the street that led to my home. With my angry strides and an unfriendly demeanor, people knew better than to try and stop me for a chat. No one even greeted me as I cut through the night crowd like Moses through the Red Sea. I preferred it that way.
And the reason for my anger? It was no one but the know-it-all and good-for-nothing Cynthia whom I thought was a friend. Matter of fact, I even felt she was my best friend. How could I have known she would stab me in the back like this? But then, as the saying went, you could only be betrayed by those you trusted. And I had been betrayed big time.
Cynthia was from one of the richest families in the area, she had been born with a silver spoon, and all her life she has been fed with it. And as the heir to an international conglomerate, she had everything handed down to her, even her job. She never could do anything for herself. I'm sure she didn't want to ruin her perfect manicure.
I had met her two years ago when I had gotten employed by the conglomerate and assigned to the Regional Office. Back then, we had been on the same level. I had been young and naive then, with dreams of becoming Regional Director before my fifth year was over.
And as I've always had to do since I was born, I had to work my way up the ladder from the bottom. It was tiring work, but I had a goal and I was determined to achieve it.
But apparently, the good life was not meant for those who worked hard. Nine months later, by the time I got my first promotion, dear Cynthia had already been promoted three times!
It was not fair. It was maddening. But I endured and took it as an opportunity.
I knew she was the heir and therefore she had some strings to pull. So I befriended her. Maybe if we were friends she would make sure I got promoted along with her.
How wrong I was. I was only able to get promoted twice. And that had been all my doing!
Over the next months, I went out of my way to be nice to her, making her feel comfortable in my company. I could be charming when I put my mind to it, soon she was confessing that she enjoyed my friendship. And she was calling me her best friend and all that crap.
Lies.
If she had felt that way, she would not have stabbed me in the back like that.
A month ago, the Regional Director where we both worked was due to retire, so that meant the post would be vacant. I saw it as an opportunity to achieve my goal even before my scheduled five years.
And so, I approached Cynthia whom I had thought was my good friend.
"What?" She had gasped, genuinely shocked when I told her my wish.
"Please Cynthia, I've told you how much getting that promotion would mean to me. Just tell your Dad, he can talk to the Board and make it happen."
"Being the Regional Director means you will be the boss of the Regional Office, do you think you can handle that?"
"Of course, you think I'm not capable?"
"That's not it, it's just that it's a coveted seat. What if I want it as well?"
I had expected that from her, so I had my answer ready, "why should you settle for Regional when you can be National Director? After all, that's what your family has been grooming you for all these while."
Eventually, after much persuasion, she agreed to talk to her Dad to pull the strings in my favor. And so I had relaxed, thinking my work was done and my friendship with her was finally paying off.
Until I saw the new memo posted on the notice board this evening.
"What!!!" In my rage, I spat out the coffee I had been drinking.
Cynthia had become the new Regional Director. And guess who she made her assistant. Yeah, ME!!!
"Hell no!" I rasped as I stormed to her office in a rage and slammed the door shut.
She stood up at once, looking apologetic, but I was not buying that. "I take it you've seen the memo. I'm sorry."
"You're sorry?" I echoed, feeling hurt. "Oh please! The least you could have done was to warn me. Unless you didn't know about it. You didn't know, right?"
Oh God, I wanted her to say she didn't know. It would have made it all easier to bear.
"I'm sorry," she said again. "I knew it all along. Even before you asked me to talk to my father."
"I don't understand. Why didn't you say anything?"
"I guess I didn't want to hurt your feelings."
"Don't be stupid! You're just selfish and envious of me! You could have gone on to become National Director but you stayed back just to have me under your thumb? To remind me who was the boss, right?"
"That's a lie. Please..."
"You didn't tell your father, did you?" When she shook her head, I hissed in temper. "And you call me your best friend! Kudos to the best friend of the year!"
"Do not blame this on me, okay?" She fired back suddenly, in a way I have never seen before. "All this is your fault! You're right, I chose not to go to the National Office because of you! But do you know why? The moment I leave this Regional Office, your time here would be over!!"
"Excuse me?"
"You've been messing up. I've been covering for you but it's no secret to the Board. You don't have a good record in the company; you're rude to clients, you misplace company finances, and you mess up accounting all the time. You still have a job here because you are my best friend! The promotion you've been getting is all thanks to me!!!
"My Dad gave me a choice, I become National Director and you are let go or I stay here as Regional Director and keep an eye on you. I chose to stay, okay? So get off your high horse and stop looking at me like I'm the cause of your problems!"
I kept quiet as she finished speaking. This could not be true. Yes, I had received a lot of queries from the executives, especially one time when I had misplaced over a hundred thousand dollars worth of company resources. Back then, I had thought it was the end for me. But I was sure I had gotten through it because of my merit.
Anything Cynthia was saying was a lie.
"So, that is your excuse for taking my job? By telling me you could have become National Director but chose to stick with Regional? If this is your idea of a taunt, you suck at it!"
"This doesn't have to get out of hand," Cynthia said taking a deep breath. "We can talk this out."
"You've made your point, and I see it clearly. You're a backstabbing bitch and I'm done being in your shadow."
"My shadow is the reason you still get a paycheck!" She cried out, tears falling from her eyes, "my shadow is the reason you're able to take care of your Mom and your sister that's in school. So shut the hell up because you've done nothing to be in the position you are today."
"Since you feel that way," I muttered, tears falling from my eyes as well. "I quit."
"Fine! It's no loss to me!"
"Goodbye," I said and turned to leave.
"Hey," she called out as I got to the door. "Know that once you leave here, I would have no reason to remain here. If you walk out that door I'll be going on to the National Office. Think about this, please."
"Screw you!" I replied and I had marched out.
From there I had gone to my office and taken my few things and then carted them out of the building.
And now, after dark, I'm still marching. Riding on my anger and sense of betrayal because it's all I have left. Once it's gone though, I know I'll be left with nothing but loss and regret.
The End.
Image by Ashley Byrd
Thank you for reading.
Feel free to contact me via my Discord Handle below:
bruno-kema#1355
I love this sort of story. It is a type of internal dialogue in which the narrator betrays character flaws. All the while the narrator expects the reader to be sympathetic, and as the story unfolds the narrator's self-delusion becomes evident. You do this very well. It's easy to overplay the self delusion so it's not believable. You strike a nice balance.
I leave a small tip instead of a vote for now, because my VP is low. I couldn't resist commenting, though.
Thank you very much @agmoore for your support. I'm glad I was able to deliver the message just how i wanted it delivered.
You have done very well. At first I thought it was the main character who had been betrayed, but it turned out that he was just a selfish person, who saw something behind his own jealousy. It's a very bad temper. Cynthia! you are a good person who is considered evil! I'm sorry I misjudged you.
And I believe Cynthia would not hold it against you, @mosin-nagant. Especially now that you know her side of the story.
Thank you for reading dear friend, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
This is beautiful and touches on the reality of relationships, the belief that a person is always right without regard for what another person thinks.
Your main character was self-deluded and egotistic to believe her promotion had been on merit, not knowing Cynthia had stayed true as a friend.
This is what we do sometimes - live in a world of self-delusion believing we are right, not knowing we may be wrong. Nicely done.
Yeah, very correct about we humans. But there will always be that moment when one would have to take a step back and realize what's really going on.
We can only hope we do so sooner rather than later.
This is a powerful story, and you captured such an intriguing human dynamic around the lust for power, the abuse of friendships and how we can fabricate a reality that is far from the truth. This is expertly told through the eyes of an "unreliable narrator," which is a great mechanism for fiction. We believe when she describes how she has been betrayed, only to discover that she is living in an altered reality. Well done, @bruno-kema.
Thank you very much @jayna, once again I'm warmed by your words.
As it is said, it's only that which we believe in that can be true. The narrator believes she has been betrayed, hence the boldness and confidence in her accusations.
I'm glad you enjoyed my story.
This is a wonderful character study, @bruno-kema. The woman's vanity and self delusion are paving the way to her ruin.
Thank you for posting this story in the Ink Well community and thank you for engaging with other members of the community.
Thank you very much for your support. I'm glad I posted it here.
A familiar situation captured nicely with a great twist!
Thank you for reading. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Congratulations, @bruno-kema. This story was chosen for our weekly highlights magazine: https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/the-ink-well-highlights-magazine-24!
Thank you very much for this.