Special: This didn't happen

"Excuse me?"

"Can I help you, Miss? Would you like to make an appointment?"

"No, I wouldn't."

"Reschedule? Hear about some of our other programs? I'd be happy to pull some information for you...."

"No."

"....Use the phone? Bathroom? Something?" Receptionist pushes up horn-rimmed glasses.

"No."

Impatient sigh. "Then what?"

"Fuck this office, sir."

".....What?"

"Fuck it. You think I don't recognize the what's going on here? The injustice in 'Do you need to Talk?' flashing in red lights while simuntaneously screaming 'We take Checks!'? What if I do need to talk? Talk to anyone? Talk to you? You think you'd answer me? You wouldn't. You'd sit there at that stupid desk, patter-patter-patter on your keyboard, pattering away your humanity.

 Don't think I don't know that you're at this minimum-wage job for the wage and not the good of it; don't you dare accuse me of not knowing! And everywhere out there"---jab a finger at the window--"there are people, just like you, not caring... Apathetic. Their unfeeling cruelty, the worst kind in point of fact, is what pays that wallet that you spend on bad porn videos and Mcdonalds when your mother isn't hounding you for a diet.

 And you have it, too. An unfeeling world of cows, a city of imbeciles, a crown jewel in the throne of suffering. Well, I know Suffering. I know Apathy, too. So fuck this office. I'd burn it down but the thought's delicious enough on it's own. I'd punch in these poorly-built walls.... and that sign--! So Eat your McDonalds with a grimace, like we who come here, people like me and like you and that fella over there, eat your food like a grimace like we take our lives with one.

See if that makes you feel better.

See if that makes you feel human.

See if you feel like me."

The horn-rimmed glasses had slipped again, and no movement was made to retrieve them.

"....Perhaps you'd like to see the Doctor, after all," came the reply. Tears streaked the stubbed chin.

"Miss?"

But she was gone.



Staring at the carpeting, hands trembling, the receptionist turned off the sign.