Prologue: I Died

"VALERIE, YOU ARE FIRED!" My direct supervisor, Kevin, yelled, slamming a termination letter down on the table between us.

"What are you talking about?" I demanded, unable to believe what I was hearing. "Repeat that."

Why would I be getting fired? I had worked with the company for two years now, had never been written up, and had never broken a rule. Why would I be fired?

Unless.....

No, no way. There was absolutely no way this disgusting pig was firing me because I turned him down. He couldn't be, right?

"What grounds?"  I asked Kevin, slowly narrowing my eyes.

"Your performance has gone down the drain, Valerie." Kevin said, smirking.

My performance had gone down the drain. Right, this had nothing to do with my performance, and no amount of times he said that would change that fact.

"Give me an example." I said, slamming my hands on the table. "Where has my performance gone down?"

If he wanted to claim that was it, then he would need to prove it to me; otherwise, I would happily go above his head. If he thought I was easy to bully, he had another thing coming.

Kevin had begun to squirm under my defiance; good, he better be squirming. I would be damned if he was going to get one up on me.

"I don't need to show you anything." He said, beginning to look cocky again. "However..." Oh,there it was: "I'd be willing to overlook it if you're willing to scratch my back. You know what I mean, don't you, sweetheart?"

And there it was, folks. This had nothing to do with my work performance and everything to do with me rejecting this sleaze a few weeks ago.

"I will pass." Grimacing, I tried not to even think about how disgusting he was being right now. "I will just take this with the higher-ups."

Turning, I started making my way to the door. I couldn't continue to look at that disgusting pig any longer.

The sound of chair legs scraping against the ground came from behind, followed by quick footsteps. It seemed that Kevin wasn't going to let me leave that easily.

Picking up my pace, I quickly reached the door and began opening it, only to have a meaty hand fly past my face before connecting with the door before me. With a loud bang, it was slammed shut, trapping me inside.

Whirling around, I came face-to-face with a very red-faced and crazed-looking Kevin.

"What the hell are you doing?" I hissed, backing up a few steps so he wasn't directly on top of me. "MOVE YOUR HAND RIGHT NOW!"

"Or what?"  Kevin cackled, beginning to lean in close. "What is a defenseless woman like you going to do to me if I don't?"

I could feel a shiver run up my spine at Kevin's words. If I were actually a defenseless woman, as he said, then maybe I would be in trouble. However, being defenseless was something I absolutely wasn't, and he was about to find out that I wasn't the one to be trying to take advantage of.

"I'm giving you one chance to get the hell back and let me leave." I warned, stealing myself, if he was smart, he would take this chance; otherwise, well, he couldn't blame me.

Tilting back his head, Kevin let out a loud laugh that echoed around the room before fixing his deranged gaze on me.

"Go ahead, what will you do?" He puffed in between cackles. "Is the weak little Valerie going to beat me up?"

Instead of responding, I reached up, grabbing Kevin's hair. Quickly pulling down, I allowed my knee to connect with his face. A crunching sound filled the air as his nose broke from the impact. So taken off guard, Kevin removed his hand from the door, allowing me to escape.

"YOU BITCH!"  He wailed, grabbing his face as blood began to ooze. "You're going to pay for this!"

"I'm not going to stick around to pay for anything." I responded, eyeing the door.

Taking my chance, I lunged forward, yanking the door open and making my way out into the hallway.

Not bothering to look back, I raced towards the stairs that would lead to my escape.

It was still early morning, and everyone else hadn't appeared for work yet. I had only come at this time because I had received a message from Kevin in regards to a big project that was currently being worked on. Never in my wildest dreams would I have known that he had lied to get me alone.

I had managed to reach the stairwell when I heard Kevin huffing and puffing behind me. Taking the first step, I tried to start my descent only to feel my hair get yanked from behind.

Yelping, I began trying to claw at his hand to make him let me go, but to no avail.

"You stupid bitch!" Kevin growled, pulling hard enough to send me flying backwards and into a wall.

Feeling all the air leave my lungs, I gasped and began to try to suck in deep breaths while scrambling to get off the floor while Kevin began to make his way towards me, and he looked like he was ready to kill.

"HELP!" I screamed, hoping that maybe someone had arrived early. "HELP ME!"

"No one is here." Kevin laughed as he grabbed me by the neck. "You shouldn't have gone against me, Valerie. I could have been good to you, but now..."

Kevin trailed off as he began pushing me towards the stairs by my neck. Try as I might, he was just too strong for me.

"THIS IS MURDER!" I hissed as the floor beneath my feet began to disappear.

"You think I care?" Kevin asked, smiling wickedly. "No one will ever know I was the one that did it."

Finished speaking, Kevin released my neck as I began to fall backwards. Eyes widening, I grasped around for something, anything, to stop myself, even though I knew deep down that it was pointless.

Looking up, I caught Kevin's happy gaze. After blowing a kiss, he turned and walked away as my entire world turned black.